“Inexcusable” by Chris Lynch

“Inexcusable” tells the story of Keir Sarafein, a self-proclaimed Good Guy. The story begins with Keir and Gigi, his dream girl, arguing within a locked bedroom. She appears terrified as he blocks her way from exiting the room, yet he reassures her over and over again that he has done nothing to hurt her, as good guys do not hurt girls, and they especially recognize that no means no. While this is an incredibly suspicious beginning to the story, it is hard to not trust Keir as he reinforces the statement that he is an upstanding person, loved by all who surround him. Keir describes his father as wonderful and highly devoted to his children, yet again suspicions arise as he and his father are seen drinking excessive amounts of beer on several occasions. Despite this, I felt incredibly sorry for his father throughout the entirety of the novel as he depended upon his children and both of Keir’s sisters had already left for college, with Keir was preparing to leave in the fall. In time, Keir convinces Gigi to ride with him to visit his sister’s on their graduation night, only to prove that both sisters had lied and had simply chosen to not attend Keir’s graduation. For the first time, Keir is portrayed as the far from perfect character that he truly is as his sister reveals each of his faults. Throughout the story, Keir has been able to maintain that he truly is a good person who is respected by his sisters, but the animosity his sister shows upon this night reveals that he is far from trust worthy. Later, the truth is revealed about the prospective rape. Suddenly, the reader is in the room with Keir and Gigi, only to witness Keir narrating his rape of Gigi as though she were willing. This scene is horrendous to read as it is incredibly evident what he is doing, yet he still sees himself as innocent. Finally, Keir narrates back to the argument which began the book, showing that despite his reassurance that he would never hurt her, he has done just that. To make matters worse, he begins to rape her a second time, only to finally realize what he is doing and release her from his grasp.

I was horrified upon realizing that he was an untrustworthy narrator, as this showed before the actual rape scene that he had in fact raped Gigi. I would not teach this as a whole class book as I believe that this could trigger problems for many of my students. I would keep this book in my classroom as an optional read, yet I do not think that I would even recommend it for my students. While I enjoyed the book to some extent, it left me very uncomfortable and I would rather not put my students in this position.