Inexcusable

UGHHHH!! Before I get too deep into this, I have to admit that I HATED this book. I gave it 2 stars on Goodreads and that was pretty generous. I found myself skimming through pages quite often and found myself dreading reading it (but also kind of just wanting to read it all the time to get it over with). 

Inexcusable caused me to be internally conflicted with whether or not I liked the protagonist, Keir. The book starts off with, "The way it looks is not the way it is...And I don't feel guilty. That is, I don't feel like I am guilty. But I sure as hell feel sorry" (1). OKAY PEOPLE, let's just start off with the fact that he raped a girl!! I understand that he said he was sorry, but saying you're sorry after an action like that is hardly forgivable. My issue with Keir right-off the bat was that he DIDN'T FEEL GUILTY! How can he not feel guilty? I guess that I was not digging the book right away because I felt so angry towards him for claiming he was sorry but saying he didn't feel guilty. Those two things go against each other, in my opinion. Keir seemed to also really like himself and straight out said that he liked being liked. Honestly, who doesn't like being liked? However, Keir took this to a different level (others may disagree with me). 

I did, however, enjoy Keir's relationship with his father and sisters. Keir's mother passed away, and he became very close with his father. Keir and his father were always joking around and playing Risk. I felt at times though that they were more-so "friends" than father and son. This relationship grew to bother me throughout the book because I felt that Keir had no true parental figure to guide him. Could that have been the difference in some of the decisions he made? Also, I felt that Keir's sisters leaving and going to college helped to even create a stronger "friend" bond between Keir and his father. I think that if Keir had a stronger parental connection with his father that it could have possibly changed many events within the book including his partying, his alcohol use, drug use, which all lead to him raping his "friend", Gigi. 

At the end of the book, Gigi just sort of walks out and says "...you are a rapist" (163) to Keir. I HATED THIS! If you are going to have a book from the rapists point-of-view, at least allow for the victim to receive help and not just walk away! He still denies it though saying, "I didn't rape you, Gigi" (163). It made me mad because he still couldn't man-up for his actions. 

The last line of the book is, "I roll over onto my other side, face the cinder-block wall, and wait for whoever is going to come for me" (165).  That is an extremely lame ending in my opinion! I feel that it shows some of Keir's cowardliness and guiltiness that he just waits for something to happen to him instead of trying to make things right with Gigi or explain to her his side of the situation.

As you can probably tell, this book was NOT my favorite and it made me angry (and bored). I'm bummed because the author, Chris Lynch, could have made this into an extremely eye-opening experience from the rapists perspective and for the reader. Instead, it was nothing other than an utter letdown....