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Lucky
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Lucky
Unavailable
Lucky
Ebook354 pages5 hours

Lucky

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this ebook

Enormously visceral, emotionally gripping, and imbued with the belief that justice is possible even after the most horrific of crimes, Alice Sebold's compelling memoir of her rape at the age of eighteen is a story that takes hold of you and won't let go.
Sebold fulfills a promise that she made to herself in the very tunnel where she was raped: someday she would write a book about her experience. With Lucky she delivers on that promise with mordant wit and an eye for life's absurdities, as she describes what she was like both as a young girl before the rape and how that rape changed but did not sink the woman she later became.


It is Alice's indomitable spirit that we come to know in these pages. The same young woman who sets her sights on becoming an Ethel Merman-style diva one day (despite her braces, bad complexion, and extra weight) encounters what is still thought of today as the crime from which no woman can ever really recover. In an account that is at once heartrending and hilarious, we see Alice's spirit prevail as she struggles to have a normal college experience in the aftermath of this harrowing, life-changing event.


No less gripping is the almost unbelievable role that coincidence plays in the unfolding of Sebold's narrative. Her case, placed in the inactive file, is miraculously opened again six months later when she sees her rapist on the street. This begins the long road to what dominates these pages: the struggle for triumph and understanding -- in the courtroom and outside in the world.


Lucky is, quite simply, a real-life thriller. In its literary style and narrative tension we never lose sight of why this life story is worth reading. At the end we are left standing in the wake of devastating violence, and, like the writer, we have come to know what it means to survive.

Editor's Note

Bold & brave…

Sebold’s bold, brave memoir not only sets the stage for her 2002 bestseller “The Lovely Bones,” but also encourages conversation surrounding an incredibly difficult subject.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherScribner
Release dateSep 22, 2009
ISBN9781439130858
Unavailable
Lucky
Author

Alice Sebold

Alice Sebold is the author of the bestselling novels The Lovely Bones and The Almost Moon, and the memoir Lucky. She lives in California.

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Reviews for Lucky

Rating: 3.8059795311704834 out of 5 stars
4/5

1,572 ratings75 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Hard to read at times due to the subject matter, but a very well told and honest tale of Sebold's experience with rape and the aftermath.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Not sure how one can write an autobiographical account of being raped without being either intensely angry or mawkish in the retelling, but Alice Sebold does. It's a lovely book about a horrible event -- rather like The Lovely Bones in that way, but more meaningful because you're constantly aware (at least, I was) that these things actually happened.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Harrowing.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Powerful survivorship story about a young girl at college who is attacked and raped by a stranger, who then bumps into him in the street six months later and prosecutes. A book that pulls no punches about the horrificness of the rape, or the horrificness of the trial, and that ends on a disturbingly ambiguous note which is either 'if you fight this, there will be retribution and revenge attacks', or 'this sort of horribleness is very common'. Or, you know, weird things happen in large enough populations and this is just hugely bad luck. The depths of anger about what happened and how much she wants to hurt her attacker are ugly and unfiltered, which is a very uncomfortable read. The whole book is an uncomfortable read, and that is how it should be. Excellent story of overcoming trauma, fighting back, and how society handles rape victims.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Lucky made me sad and happy and angry and i enjoyed reading it. It was very insightful. I think the author did a very good job of explaining why she did what she did when she was attacked and her feelings during and after. There's also more humor in it than one would expect from a memoir about rape.*Review written on August 17, 2014.*
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Excellent book!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What a disturbing, moving story! This is definitely not for the weak-stomached, with graphic descriptions of rape and violence. Still, I'd recommend it for any woman, especially one entering college.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Good book. Thoughtful and gripping. Increased my understanding of the experience of rape in a useful way.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I think it was a liberation for the author.I found it difficult to follow at times and a little lengthy.Overall it was interesting.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    With her book "The Lovely Bones", Alice Sebold wowed us all. This book, although dark and somewhat disturbing, is a true account of her personal trials through rape. She draws you in with her evocative prose style and makes you feel the terrors and sadness of her ordeal.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Her writing is at times mesmerizing and vivid
    In imagery and has a wit that made me laugh hard ... the one of her dad walking into the room with his reading glasses as if awoken from his life in Spain ... laughed out LOUD.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Alice Sebold's fierce personality and survivor mindset shines in this book. I rooted for her the whole time and got swept up completely in her words. Glad to hear someone speaking truth informed by experience.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book is written with brutal honesty. Alice Sebold opens the book with her own rape and follows the arc of her recovery. Throughout we learn about her difficult relationship with her family, the capture and trial of her rapist, and the rape of her roommate. Not for the faint of heart.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Amazing memoir. It seems so raw and brutally honest. And yet it wasnt painful to read. I enjoyed reading this, even though it was a difficult subject.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Heartbreaking. Tough. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing this with us.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I was afraid to read this memoir. I knew it would bring back undesired memories; it did. Alice Sebold was 19 in college when she was brutally raped; she was a virgin. I was 18 in college, a virgin, when a guy forced himself upon me. I was lucky; he didn’t go through with it. Sebold was not as “Lucky”, but a police officer told her she was because another girl was murdered and dismembered where she was raped. We live with the trauma and the fear that will never completely go away. I can’t forget his weight on me, his hands tearing at my clothing. Sebold has much worse to forget.Honest, blunt, factual, simply harrowing at times, Sebold began the research on this book 15 years after the rape took place; it marked the beginning of her truly reflecting on this event. Professor Wolff, when he learned of her rape ordeal, had advised her to remember EVERYTHING. The result is this book. The rape is detailed at the start; it is difficult to read to say the least. The rape is horrific enough; what comes after the rape is even worse. The judicial system favors the defendant – innocent until proven guilty. The next chapters detailed the line-up, the hearing, and the trail. Her non-supporting family members irate me – the dad who couldn’t understand how she “let” the rapist rape her without his knife (no, you can’t fuck someone and threaten her with a knife at the same time), the sister who distanced herself continued to live in her own world, and her mom with anxiety attacks, well, provided moral support if nothing else. I felt Alice’s loneliness. Rape distanced her from those who couldn’t handle such a topic. It’s still a taboo. “Ruined” – that’s what Sebold had thought of herself. At times, I shivered. Certain passages made my lips quiver. I broke down when Sebold revealed her roommate was raped during the fourth year, possibly as a revenge towards her, tearing their friendship apart. Other rapes surfaced when Sebold’s story was known in her community – a mom who was raped at 18, a college roommate who remembered her own incest, raped by her brothers for years. She attempted suicide. Sebold did not present herself to be sweet and likeable. She’s flawed like the rest of us. Alcohol and drugs mixed into her means to be normal. She had sex for the sake of having sex even though it hurts. Gregory Madison – Rapist, Sebold’s rapist. The name frightened me. The words held personal meaning. Only 13% of rapes are trialed and convicted. This means up to 87% remain nameless. When Sebold was able to identify her assailant, her rapist went from “rapist” to “Gregory Madison”. Greg Madison. Somehow this passage was incredibly powerful. To have a name, she is not one of many; she is not general. It gave her focus. Parents – Read this and learn what not to do for your children in crisis.Everyone – Read this and learn how to protect yourself in crisis, especially the aftermath. No quotes. I can’t quote from something like this.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    What I liked most about this book, was Alice Sebold's realism. She was not your average [if there is such a thing] rape victim. It shattered her world, in ways that were not common.

    It changed her relationships, her course of life, her thinking -- but not in any way you'd predict.

    I enjoyed her candor, her bluntness, her strength.

    Perhaps more thorough review in the morning..

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Rape, drugs, sex, misfortune, and recovery. Intense opening rape scene. Do NOT want to be raped.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read this after reading 'The Lovely Bones' and was unable to put it down until finished. It's not a long book so it didnt tie me up for days, but it was compelling. The emotion with which it was written was certainly felt. A very very thought provoking book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Very straightforward story of Alice Sebold, acclaimed author of The Lonely Bones, who is raped in her freshman year of college. The story is at once disarming and at the same time the honesty leaves you with a new respect for someone who is going through such an ordeal. You root for her as the victim and hope for prosecution as you learn that the laws are in favor of the rapists, not the victims. Great book!

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I had read Sebold's debut novel, The Lovely Bones (2002) last year and found that story about a 14-year-old girl who is raped and murdered and her family to be amazing. This book, published in 1999, is a memoir of Sebold's own experience with being raped as an 18-year-old college freshman in 1981.Sebold writes about her experience frankly and graphically, but not gratuitously. She also skillfully communicates where she was intellectually and emotionally throughout the assault, investigation, pre-trial and trial of her rapist (she ran into him randomly on the street and was able to ID him) and in the years that followed this. The book also discusses how her rape effected her family, friends, and other relationships.Sebold is a great writer who is able to discuss difficult, disturbing topics without getting bogged down in pity or platitudes. I feel I better understand, if in a small way, what a severe trauma can do to a person and how people can cope, heal, and not heal in their aftermath after having read this book.This book backs up the assertion that a novelist's first book is always autobiographical; I understand The Lovely Bones better now for reading this. I'm also bumping Sebold's second novel, The Almost Moon up my reading queue.Highly recommended, unless the subject matter would be too distressing. 5/5.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I feel that it took alot of courage to write this book; even more so than the investigation and courtroom testimony did. I thank Alice Sebold for having the courage to press charges against her attacker and stick with it through the prosecution. So, so many, like her friend Lila are not able to find the strength. Thank you Alice.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Alice Sebold, the author of "The Lovely Bones," one of my favorite books, writes this memoir about the rape she experienced when she was 18, as a freshman at Syracuse University. Sebold's prose is always clear and incisive, and in this memoir, she gets to the crime very quickly. Her writing is bracing and takes you into the event in a way that no true crime writing ever does, at least in my experience. She takes you with her on her journey from victim to survivor, from the crime, through the legal process, as she reports the rape, goes through the rape kit and evidence-collection process, to the hearing and trial. It is a difficult and often harrowing read, but Sebold is a survivor, and she is able to rise above the awful event that threatens to suck the life out of her and poison her relationships. That she does not allow that to happen, and that she uses the creative process of writing to heal is a testament to her resiliency, intelligence and heart. She refuses to let the crime destroy her humanity. As difficult as this book was to read, I would recommend it. Sebold is an excellent writer, and she carries you along with her through rage and hatred, to come out on the other side, to not just survive, but thrive, and continue to love.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is such a great book! Alice Sebold delivers a jarring, haunting, revealing look at her rape in college. The author brings you into her dark world detailing every moment of her assault. This is the first account of a rape that I've read. And, the author doesn't hold back. Sebold succeeds in telling a story that takes you through her family life, upbringing and her rape trial. It's a very well written memoir.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is the tragic, yet ultimately uplifting story of the author's horrific rape and beating at the age of 18 on a college campus. The detailed description of her rape was incredibly disturbing, but the book itself was her eventual triumph over many of her fears and the difficult journey to get there. Highly recommend.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is what it is like to experience a traumatic event and this is what it is like to survive.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    From the very first words, Alice Sebold grabs the reader and begins to tell the brutal rape. With honesty and directness, she describes the next three years of her life. Obviously, her life did not begin -- or end -- at the entrance to the park tunnel. The descriptions of her parents and her older sister are clear and make it obvious that she knows how they will react. They don't disappoint her.The strength which Alice showed as she fought through the criminal justice system, the surprising fortitude that came from unexpected sourcesss, the unexpectedd kindness from profesaors ... amazing. I am most impressed by her efforts to maintain herself throughout, by her efforts to not become bigoted, to not become prejudiced. That's not easy, but she did it.After reading The Lovely Bones, I wanted to meet her, get to know her. Now, I think that a little of that desire has been fulfilled.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An excellent and extremely powerful memoir about rape, survival, and all the things that come between. Sebold is an evocative author, with the ability to make you hear and feel and smell an event as it happens. Her honesty here is brutal - about what rape makes you feel, about what the reactions of others to your rape makes you feel, about what survival really means. Some of the strongest and most impactful sections come after the trial of her rapist, after Sebold's appearance on national talk shows, after she looks, to the outward world, strong and recovered and a fighter, and inside she is still destructive.Well-told, hard to read in places, but very good.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Unforgettable, haunting, hard-to-read, "Lucky" is a memoir that will stay with you for a long time. There's no feel-good answer nor a neat conclusion, just a stream of raw emotion seeping through the pages.

    1 person found this helpful