Rating: 
Summary: It was OK
Review: The story was a good, strong story, but the read was so sloooow. She writes very well, but to me, it's seems so slow. Perhaps she needed more elaboration and interactions with the characters.
Rating: 
Summary: Conversion of a Misogynist
Review: I picked up this book(Audio Version) by mistake.I was going on a long trip and wanted to make driving productive time...so I got several books.
When I started with "Lucky" I was caught in the relentless grip of the author reading her book.I had no chance.For the first time ever I understood what rape is really about.It certainly is not the date rape stories I heard about in college,nor the threats from women using sex for leverage"Do this or I'll yell rape,and no one will believe you".For years if not most of my life ,I was decidedly unsympathetic and even a little suspicious of "rape" allegations. All that changed after Ms.Sebold's narrative.
I felt anger at all rapists,and even more so for the lawyers who defend such scum and go to great lengths to put the victim on trial as happened in this book.
It was obvious in the Sebold case that the lawyer,like many lawyers couldn't care less about justice and were interested only in "winning the case" so they could get a reputation and charge higher fees for the next rapist they defend.
It was obvious in this true story the lawyer and his relentless cross-examination had nothing to do with justice and everything to do with self aggrandizement and ego. 500 years ago Shakespeare in King Henry the VI had a character (Dick the Butcher) say "First we'll kill all the lawyers".....sentiment hasn't changed much
....
Ms Sebold was affected for years afterward and even entered the world of drugs and other self destructive pursuits.Was there a touch,though transitory feeling of Lesbian attraction?
Was this a predictable backlash?
The only thing not made clear in the book is why Sebold seemed to be blamed for a subseqent rape of someone close to her.Was this contagious ?
The humor is subtle but very much there..and she reveals herself as the intelligent, creative ,sensitive personality she must be. This is undoubtedly one of the best,well written and spell binding books I have ever experienced.
I recommend it highly especially to men,and anyone who may someday serve on a jury. John Rodanis Margatis Douglas
Rating:
Summary: Startling and Memorable
Review: I read The Lovely Bones prior to reading this memoir, and together these two books make for a powerful journey that crosses the lines of fiction and memoir. By itself, Lucky is a startling and sometimes horrific survival story. Alice Sebold describes her violent attack and the subsequent events in painful clarity. I found the descriptions of her family's and friends' reactions to be both disturbing and painfully real. After reading the book I was left with disgust of the judicial system, fear for young women on campuses everywhere, and respect for a talented writer who is able to cut through "Law and Order" type detail and tell her story with the perfect balance of heart and mind. My advice? Read them both.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping story - you'll finish it quickly!
Review: This book was a hauntingly good read. I spent 3 days reading this book in between work and caring for children - while I cooked dinner, while I fed the baby, whenever I could. It's the type of book that you can't put down because you really can't predict what's going to happen. Alice is a unique individual, and this story is written with such clarity and honesty that I actually had nightmares from it. Never had I thought so long and hard about the brutal aftermath of a rape - it was very enlightening.
Rating:
Summary: Not her best effort!
Review: I did not walk away from this book feeling moved and blown away like I did the Lovely Bones. I know this is her personal story but I don't think she captured the emotions that she did in the Lovely Bones.
Rating:
Summary: A necessary story.
Review: In many ways, Alice Sebold's memoir, Lucky, is a relief from the indomitable statistics that go along with 'rape' in the modern brain, the faceless inconceivability of it all. Sebold (The Lovely Bones) tells the story of her rape at eighteen with the eye of a novelist, and of one familiar with the tendency of a girl's story to be over-written. We get the crime thriller stats alongside the girl's: she remembers the mistakes of the cop who took her first affidavit, and she remembers picking out what she would wear to console her mom when she arrived. Bringing together these extremes'the real life and the real crime'makes Sebold's story as inhabitable as it is emblematic.
In surveys, one in four female coeds report sexual offenses; less than half of these make it to the police, and less than half of these make it to court. An offense as violent as the one Sebold describes is not uncommon, but the telling of it, strangely, is. This and the fact that Sebold is successful in convicting her rapist make her a natural heroine for purposes beyond the literary. But she is literary, and careful to deconstruct her heroism where it matters. Sebold describes herself as a character predefined by her family and secondarily by her rape, both of which events bring out the best and the worst in her. Her story is full of recovery, of herself, her humor, and her independence, and yet she never recovers. What makes Lucky a page-turner is not a straight path through conflict to resolution, but Sebold's sense of plot. She has a way of darting between a courtroom scene and a dorm-room giggle-fest and making it all feel equally relevant, the mutual conspiracy of her life. There is also the relevance of how others respond, or are unable to respond, to her life, a thread that Sebold sticks to with meticulous journalism. What emerges is a naturalistic review of the sexual politics and cultural demons that cannot and must not be separated from rape, but that, in any context but the personal, are all too easy to deny. As Sebold says, facts don't graduate from fiction until they are assigned to a name. The reactions in particular of the men in her story who encounter rape are vengeful at best. 'I could understand it,' she says near the end, 'but I didn't have much patience for it anymore. Violence only begat more violence. Couldn't they see it left all the real work to the women? The comforting and the near impossible task of acceptance.' Such commentary is direct and well earned. What keeps the story personal is the actions that linger. There is a sentence written in ball-point pen on her leg, underneath the long skirt she smoothes primly on the witness stand. It reads, You Will Die. And, she emphasizes, 'I didn't mean me.' Lucky is the kind of story whose justification for existence is inherent'it is a story shared by many, and heard by few. The fact that it is, while devastating, more palatable than statistical rape awareness is crucial precisely because it shares the need to include, and to be included. There is a prevalent sense in reading it that Sebold is speaking from beyond the grave, from a no man's land defined by a reality of fundamental violence that only she can recognize. 'In the tunnel where I was raped,' the book begins, ''a girl had been murdered and dismembered. I was told this story by the police. In comparison, they said, I was lucky. But at the time, I felt I had more in common with the dead girl than with the large, beefy police officers or my stunned freshman-year girlfriends. The dead girl and I had been in the same low place. We had lain among the dead leaves and broken beer bottles.' Her answer: to put us there too.
Rating:
Summary: Only The Strong Survive
Review: Pertaing to the novel, "Lucky," I percieved this book to be quite astounding and miraculous. I mean the story of a young, eighteen year old college freshman being brutally raped and beaten and her triumphant will and strenght to go on with her life or at least what was left of it. What I loved most about the book was the idea that despite Alice's horrific rape, she still manages to go on to the next milestone in her life. Alice does indeed learn to trust and confide in herself as well as other people. Tricia is one of Alice's peers from the Rape Crisis Center and Alice feels that the two of them are on the same page, dealing with rape and all. Alice feels like she can talk and confide in Tricia and that in return she will understand. Alice also comes accross Gail, her lawyer. Gail is everything Alice wants to be and accomplish. Gail throughout the story prepares Alice for the enevidable and instills in her faith and hope. Gail is in a way a sort of role model for Alice. The toughest challenge Alice has to face is convicting and facing Gregorey Madison, her rapist. Alice won't stop until he is behind bars. Overall, I thought this novel was a page turner and it gave me alot of honor to read it. Alice Sebold is an amazing woman.
Rating:
Summary: Only The Strong Survive
Review: Pertaining to the novel, "Lucky," a young, eighteen year old college freshman was brutally raped and beaten in a park off campus late on night. This novel truly stounded me! Alice's ability to recover from her tragic experience and keep going with her life. Alice's ability to rebuild and construct her life was absolutely remarkable. Of course, Alice did recieve a little help from her friend Tricia at The Rape Crisis Center, and her lawyer Gail, whom was sort of like Alice's role model. I believe in order for Alice to go on she must first find a place inside of herself to shine again. Alice accomplishes this horrific feat by facing her fears and reliving that dismal night of shame. Overall, I believe Alice grows and prospers with every step she takes to eventually put her rape behind her. In the end all of Alice's hard work and will pays off when she can finally sleep at night knowing that she has sought justice and is finally at peace with herself.
Rating:
Summary: Only The Strong Survive
Review: Ideally, I considered this book quite interesting and very formal in the description of Alice Sebold's rape. I thought this story proved to be an astounding story of a young, eighteen year old woman's will to go on and accomplish the biggest mmilestone in her life. This book very throughly takes us from the p[erfect life of a college freshman with so much to offer and look forward to, down to a scared, feared Alice. Alice's rape has cost her grief, pain, and resteration. What I thought was amazing about the book was that even though Alice had been stripped away from her pride, she still manages to go on and achieve new heights and overcome her rape. Alice comes accross a few characters whom help her through. Alice's character is very strong willed and independant. It's nice to read about something you believe and instill faith in. Alice instilled faith in herself, and nshe never gave up.
Rating: 
Summary: A must read....
Review: Alice Sebold wrote a very powerful memoir. I did at times find myself skimming pages to get on wtih the story. I found the ending to be a little disappointing though. I think Alice fell short at the end. It is almost as if she was tired of writing and just ended it. I would have like to have heard a little more about how her drug habit started and more on her life up to the point of writing her memoire. I do hope that Alice comes out with another book. I have shared this and The Lovely Bones with friends and family.
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