Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: I agree with the reviwers who say that this book is even better than the wonderful "The Lovely Bones," which was published after "Lucky." Sebold tells her story honestly and from the heart. It will keep you interested until the end. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Hard to read, hard to put down
Review: This book opens with a terribly vivid description of the rape and beating Sebold endured as a freshman at Syracuse. Is it possible to say I liked such a book? Can you like a book that frightens you, challenges you and makes you fearful of modern America? I was riveted-maybe that's a more apt description. Sebold's writing is captivating, as is the story of the aftermath of the rape, including her attempt to prosecute the rapist. Lucky mostly deals with the very complicated business of getting on with your life after such a life-changing event. How do you act after a rape? How do people treat you? These are some the questions Sebold answers, and they are not easy answers. At the end of the book, you don't get the feeling that she's "over it,"-not by a long shot, but you do get the feeling that there is hope. So you won't finish this book feeling totally despondent and helpless, but you won't exactly feel good.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to Read but You Can't Put it Down
Review: Alice Sebold has a gift for not tiptoeing politely around raw, painful issues. Her opening account of the actual rape is stunning in it's brutality and while you want to avert your eyes, you don't. I love her honest creativity. She does what few writers can.
Rating:
Summary: Alice Sebold is amazing!
Review: What a strong woman who managed to overcome her past, even with considerable obstacles. I loved this book, it is even better than THE LOVELY BONES. It was very difficult to put down!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing first-hand account...
Review: I was captivated by this woman's story, and impressed with the courageous way she dealt with being raped. When most girls in her situation kept quiet and felt ashamed, Alice does the opposite. I felt a little cheated with how she described her life after the trial though. I finished the book wondering if her life is good now, or if she's depressed, alone, and suffering from substance abuse problems. I can't wait to read Lovely Bones now and see how that book compares.
Rating:
Summary: A VERY REALISTIC MEMOIR OF A RAPE TRAUMA.
Review: I'm a seventeen year-old student from Boston, Massachusetts and I read 'Lucky' by Alice Sebold as part of an assignment. Alice is a college freshman and the main character of this book. The first chapter describes how Alice gets raped in the entrance of an amphitheater. The author is very graphic and detailed and eventually she uses that narration form throughout the book. The story itself tells us how Alice had to deal with society's lack of comprehension towards her rape and how her life changed after such a horrible experience. A sense of irony is added to the book when people constantly remind Alice how 'lucky' she was that she survived the rape. I recommend this book; I found Alice Sebold's memories to be very courageous, strong and realistic. You definitely will end up admiring the author of this literary piece.
Rating:
Summary: Tremendous
Review: This is an amazing book about an all too common and all too ignored crime. It is also about the continual victimization that may come along with it. Despite a review or two to the contrary I found it's writing to be superb and I could not put it down (finishing it in 2 days). Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and mine is that this book is excellent. This is not "the lovely bones" this is not fiction and the guts necessary to write and publish this book is beyond the comprehension of many.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, Heart Wrenching, Stunning
Review: It's hard to truly imagine what it's like to be raped, but after reading Alice Sebold's searing memoir I have an all-too vivid picture of its brutality, the emotional toll it exacts, and the impact it can have on one's relationships with family, friends and lovers. Sebold weaves her brutal tale with flashbacks of her family life, her parent's and sister's reaction to the rape and the reactions of those close to her. Instead of being supportive, her father casts blame on her. Her self-absorbed mother who suffers from episode's of anxiety attacks cannot even attend her own daughter's court case when her attacker is brought to trial. Alice Sebold makes the reader painfully aware of the lonliness the victim suffers. Treated like a pariah by both the women and the men on campus, where she is a freshman in college, Alice has to struggle each day just to continue her college education amidst an atmosphere where she is ignored, gossiped about and treated like she is damaged goods by boys she longs to date and befriend. The ironic title of the story reflects a remark made by a policeman after she reports her crime that she is lucky to have survived. Another rape victim was found murdered in the very spot where Alice was raped. Alice's rape was her initiation into sex. She was a virgin when she was raped, making the crime against all the more cruel. But Alice is lucky in a way. She has true courage and prevails in this searing story that includes a gripping court room drama, complex characters and writing at its finest. I picked up this book because I enjoyed the Lovely Bones, and was not disappointed by Lucky, which captivated me as much as her novel did. Sebold is a gifted writer. Lucky is compelling, powerful and ultimately heart-wrenching without being at all sensational or melodramatic. The book never falters from its first page to the end, taking the reader on a journey that is both powerful and poignant, disturbing and inspirational. Sebold illuminates a brutal subject with brillance and sensitivity. She evokes the horrors of rape -- both physical and psychological -- with such realistically rendered scenes, eloquence and honesty and weaves such a stunning tale that the reader can't help but be captivated. I couldn't put the book down and read it in two days. I can't wait for Sebold's next book.
Rating:
Summary: The True Voice of a Victim
Review: Bravo! This is, by far, one of the most powerful memoirs I have read thus far (and I read a lot of them). I have to say that I am glad I read this book after reading "The Lovely Bones". It is a testament of the talent Ms. Sebold has to tell the gritty truth. It gave me perspective regarding what troubled me about Sebold's novel. In "The Lovely Bones", she did no justice to the young girl by allowing her soul to come back to Earth to claim what she had lost through violence. The brutal truth is that violence steals something from its victims that is permanent. Alice will never recover the things that she lost the night she was attacked in the park. For any victim of violence, to wish for recovery of the emotional loss they will suffer is futile. Her courage and composure throughout her ordeal, the trial, and the endless fear that must have followed her throughout is something to be awed by. The blame that she feels, and that is shoved upon her when her roommate is attacked is not warranted. That part of the memoir was the hardest to read, for me. To have survived everything prior to that, and to then be blamed for something that she couldn't possibly have foreseen, prevented, or been at fault for was harder for me to read than anything preceding it. I am truly, truly grateful that Alice did not say that she had recovered from, or let go of her anger or her pain. While I am sure to live without it would be bliss, how do you redeem the person that sends you into a personal hell? I am so tired of talk shows and therapists telling everyone to forgive. That you must forgive to heal. Ms. Sebold's poem, Conviction, attests to the true feelings a victim sustains after an act of violence. Anger is a victim's salvation. It was refreshing to hear a victim point out people that were insensitive, and even rude regarding the rape. The officer that announces to the curious audience of students that Alice has just been raped as they take her away on a gurney, the pastor that has no concern for her anonymity, the students who act as friends for the celebrity factor of knowing the victim of a crime. That part of the story of rape needs to be told. Read the book. Question the human need for chaos, the interest in pain and suffering. Teach the next generation not to hate, by not hating. Alice, thank you.
Rating:
Summary: The Care of a Raped Survivor
Review: I am an East Boston High School student from Massachusetts and I personally think this memoir is fairly interesting. It is difficult to understand how the people around Alice handled that situation. I feel that there was not enough explanation for the reader to comprehend their reactions. It is awesome how the author is not afraid to express her thoughts and feelings. By the end of the book, my disappointment was in that she did not give enough information about what happened after her obstacles with struggling were gone. Overall, I would recommend this memoir; it benefits people in that it helps them to express their feelings comfortably and helps their understanding of others.
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