Lucky

By Alice Sebold

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Average Rating: (See all 6 reviews) Format: Paperback, 272 pages Published In: United States, September 2002 Quantity Available: 2 24 hour shipping Enormously visceral, emotionally gripping, and imbued with the belief that justice is possible even after the most horrific of crimes, Sebold's compelling memoir of her rape at the age of 18 is a story that takes hold and won't let go. Publisher: Back Bay Books ISBN: 0316096199 EAN: 9780316096195 Dimensions: 20.83 x 14.17 x 1.83 centimeters (0.25 kg)

What an amazing and brave person Alice Sebold is. Her personal account of her rape and the aftermath of this event is gut-wrenching. Sebold writes in a manner most anyone can relate to, none more so than teenage to young adult women. It is a frightening account of rape and later redemption. She shows such personal strength to overcome her fears and comes out on top. A brilliant read for anyone interested in tales of people overcoming awful situations to come out a stronger being. Awesome book.

I just finished reading this book, and......wow.
Alice Sebold's description of her rape and its aftermath is so honest and so candid that it was hard to put down, it was if I was face to face with Alice telling me her story.
She pulls no punches - from her family's difficulty using or hearing the word rape - "I felt I had to say it. But I felt also that saying it was akin to vandalism. As if I had thrown a bucket of blood out across the living room...", to the difficulties surrounding the fact her rapist was black - "I was guilty for the race of my rapist...".
Sebold also describes the long term effects of her rape - she experiences symptoms of PTSD -"I cried in hysterical trills that no one understood, least of all me." and dabbles with heroin.
I admire Ms Sebold for researching and writing this novel, I think it may help a lot of people. I highly recommend this book.

In the early 1980s, in her first year of university, author Alice Sebold was beaten and raped in a park on-campus. This non-fiction account of the rape and her subsequent recovery is both horrific and riveting. The rape changed Sebold’s character utterly and it took her many years to understand the manifold ways the event affected her. The pace of the book is a little uneven. The first half of the book – about the rape and trial of her rapist – is told in painstaking detail. The second half of the book – about her recovery – seems to skip over many years quickly and detail about interesting events are skimmed. For example, Sebold briefly became a heroin addict, but skips enigmatically over the details of this period of her life.

Ultimately, this is a story of triumph. Sebold finds the strength to live with the crime committed against her. She says she now lives “in a world where two truths co-exist; where both hell and hope lie together in the palm of my hand.” I found this a searingly honest and inspiring book.

Alice Sebold is an amazing woman and to write about her ordeal so candidly takes tremendious strength. Apart from the first chapter I didn't cry while reading this book - which I found surprising, but perhaps this can be put down to the mater-of-fact tone that the book was written.
The reasons I didn't give this book a five star rating was it is not the sort of book you enjoy reading and as previously mentioned you are left wanting to know more about the bits of her life that she skims over - perhaps this book is coming. Recommend to all woman, this is a book you have to read.

Lucky is a heart-breaking novel and is Alice Sebolds way of coping with her traumatic life changing event. It has several things with remind me of her book " the Lovely Bones" which was equally as good. She is a powerful writer and though she is scarred for life by this event in her personal life, it has brought out a lot in her writing that others learn from.

Compared to another memoir (Katie.com) that I read recently, this book tears at your heart. The first chapter covers every heart-wrenching detail of Alice Sebold's ordeal, and the fact that it's no fictional tale makes it even more shocking. It's not a TV show, it's not a movie, this was something real that happened to a young girl and would consume her for most of her life. With Katie.com, I did not feel much sympathy for the author, I could not connect with her story. While I'm not a rape victim and can probably never truly understand what Alice Sebold went through, her words will stay with me - "You save yourself or you remain unsaved" - and even though it was a long and arduous journey, she has made it out of the abyss. I hope that she has attained some peace and is leading a blissful life with her partner. I applaud her for sharing such a horrific and intimate experience with the world, and I hope that women everywhere will find strength and courage in her story.