"I am a good guy. Good guys don't do bad things. Good guys understand that no means no, and so I could not have done this because I understand." Keir Sarafian knows many things about himself. He is a talented football player, a loyal friend, a devoted son and brother. Most of all, he is a good guy. And yet the love of his life thinks otherwise. Gigi says Keir has done something awful. Something unforgivable. Keir doesn't understand. He loves Gigi. He would never do anything to hurt her. So Keir carefully recounts the events leading up to that one fateful night, in order to uncover the truth. Clearly, there has been a mistake. But what has happened is, indeed, something inexcusable.
Publication Year: 2007
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0 0I almost feel weird giving this book four stars because the narrator was the definition of unreliable, not to mention a horrible person. The story is about Keir Sarrafian, a high school senior who considers himself one of the "good guys" until his friend Gigi Boudakian accuses him of raping her. If you're experienced with questionable characters it takes all of five seconds to figure out that Keir isn't exactly right in the head. In fact, reading it reminded me a lot of reading [b:Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight|15841837|Confessions of a Sociopath A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight|M.E. Thomas|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1364852893s/15841837.jpg|21583841] Confessions of a Sociopath except that Keir hasn't recognized that he's a sociopath yet. Keir constantly has to point out why he's a good person but then inserts little phrases that make it all too clear that he isn't. He's a kicker for his highschool football team but has to fill in on a cornerback during a game and tackles an opposing player so hard that he cripples the other kid. Does he feel guilt or a desire to visit the kid in the hospital? No. He's just sad that some of the kids look at him strangely afterwards and don't like him as much until a committee declares it an accident and all is forgiven. Keir points to this committee as evidence that he didn't do anything wrong, even though he's responsible for crippling someone. Chris Lynch carefully unfolds the events that lead up to his actions with Gigi with tiny chapters in between that give sudden snapshots of that night. It's well done, Keir is at the same time menacing and familiar. It really brings home the point that so many rapes are committed by people who know the victim. While I can't say that I really enjoyed seeing things through Keir's twisted perspective, I was fascinated, horrified and unable to look away. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a dark perspective on an already dark subject and anyone who's okay with a narrator that you were never meant to like.
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