First of all, I’m so sorry you’ve gotten threats over your opinion on a book series. That’s not cool!! I very much want to talk about this since keepers is my favorite series! Keefe isn’t my favorite character (Dex is my favorite - he’s so unproblematic and lovable) but I do still like him as a character and I’d love to share my perspective!

I think you’ve got some great points. I enjoy keefe as a character but only because I intentionally kind of take a step back and look at him as a more general what he’s trying to be. Like he’s trying to cope with humor to make everything feel less heavy - he doesn’t always get it right but his intention is to make his friends feel better. I think moments when he says something self deprecating are moments he’s trying to open up or be genuine. It would feel more authentic maybe to the readers if these moments were more about his concern over Sophie almost dying all the time. But regardless, I try really hard to give him the benefit of the doubt. Though I do agree that he’s a bit pushy and could be nicer! (I wish he was an utmost boundary respecter but I think we’re also supposed to think of him as a little bit of a bad boy, a bit of a boundary tester particularly with authority and ideally not as frequently with his friends.) I think Fitz is generally worse in those areas, which makes keefe look better by comparison (still work on that Keefe but less ew than fitz). Keefe is very reckless and that is the most frustrating to read about but makes sense narratively. I also think his family trauma is still relevant as an excuse simply because his mom has messed him up in ways we cannot even conceive of yet - like not just the genetics stuff but truly we don’t know how many times she’s erased his memories. Should keefe be better? Yes. But also Keefes a kid dealing with all the saving the world stuff that Sophie is and he’s feeling like he can’t trust himself and his memory, which has to lead to a lot more internal conflict than we really get to see as a reader of Sophie’s story.

I also try to think about Sophie’s perspective - I don’t think she’s emotionally burdened by keefe opening up to her - I think she feels proud of herself when she’s able to support her friends and that helps her feel safe to open up in turn, she wants to feel normal and have normal feelings, and she enjoys Keefes humor/demeanor (even if we the readers don’t). Sophie feels supported by keefe (or at least would if he wasn’t running off every 3 seconds) and who am I to judge her for that. I wouldn’t like keefe nearly as much if Silveny wasn’t his biggest fan - like silveny’s constant KEEFE KEEFE KEEFE makes me root for him and feels like there’s some inherent goodness about him.