Rating: 
Summary: WOW! Powerful and necessary read.
Review: This is a very powerful book. The opening chapter describes the brutal rape of the author at the end of her freshman year at University. The subsequent chapters deal with feelings of guilt and anger and her struggle to relate to those closest to her, her mother father and sister and good friends. She also has difficulties with the police who are depicted as something less than sympathetic. On her return to University her spots the rapist on the street and turns him into the police where he is subsequently charged and convicted through the courageous tenacity of Alice.
The power in the telling of this true story lies in the uncompromising steely eyed look and description of the emotions surrounding Alice's rape. How does the victim react to those who love her but are incapable or at least unable to express support in a meaningful way? How do the prejudices and biases harboured by police, friends, family and psychiatrists fail to give the needed support? And not only that, they blame the victim.
Then when a close friend of Alice is raped and Alice is not able to comfort or support her does it become clear that there is little anyone can offer the victim except warm and caring love, and even that is not enough and as Alice says at the end of the fourth chapter "No one can pull anyone back from anywhere. You save yourself or you remain unsaved."In the final chapter "Aftermath" Alice describes her life during the next ten years and we see that the rape is not an incident in the past that one "gets over" but a defining moment that affects Alice and all rape victims in way that is permanent and like survivors of the Vietnam war is identified as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. As a man I wondered how would I respond to a rape victim. Is loving care the best we can do? It becomes evident that the only positive way is to work to prevent rapes. This is a book worth reading as difficult as that is. Alice Seabold has done a great service in telling her story. 4.5/5
Rating: 
Summary: The one to read.
Review: While 'The Lovely Bones' deserves a wide audience, this is the one to read. A true crime autobiography, this account of Alice Sebold's rape, identification of her assailant, and depiction of his trial and conviction is a moving and exceptional read. It is a heroic tale, presenting both the heroism of her testimony and the heroism of her tenacity in committing herself to ultimate victory. Painfully honest in its details (principally with regard to the members of her family and their reactions) there is a final sense of collective redemption that parallels that of 'The Lovely Bones.' A powerful debut. Violence enters a sweet and fragile world and ends up wishing it hadn't. Read this book. Bonus: no political correctness here.
Rating:
Summary: Hell & Hope
Review: A college co-ed is brutally raped in her freshmen year. Six months later, while trying to sort out her shattered life, she spots her rapist near the university. Her relentless pursuit leads to his arrest and eventually a trial. Will retribution lead to salvation or does it just open the doorway to a darker journey? Author Alice Sebold provides passion and insight to this tragic story. "Lucky" is her autobiography. Sebold pulls no punches in sharing her story. The violence rips you. The language cuts. Her revenge sears at your soul. Alice's despair leaves you hollow. The author is courageous in admitting all of the peculiarities about her family and acknowledging her own flaws. In doing so, she weaves an edgy story about physical and psychological terror, giving this reader a new perspective of rape and its punishing aftermath. By listening to the audio version, read by the author, you appreciate how two decades have only dusted a still very raw nerve. This is no fairy tale with a Cinderella ending. However, Seybold shares a triumphant realization in the end. " . . . I live in a world where the two truths coexist, where both hell and hope lie in the palm of my hand."
Rating:
Summary: Terribly sad & very intriguing...
Review: Lucky is a courageous tale of overcoming a brutal rape. It was *terribly* sad, disturbing and COURAGEOUS. I commend Sebold for her bravery and complete honesty. I could not put this book down; it was an intriguing page turner. This book is very graphic & not a read for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: raw, disturbing and compelling
Review: One would think, that following the sheer violent impact of the rape that the author experienced, anything else would be less-than-compelling. Quite the contrary. The disturbing effects of the rape don't stop with the night in question, but continue with the assortment of family, friends and strangers Alice deals with following the rape. Those who are supportive are not always loved ones, and those who add to the trauma of the initial experience are not always strangers. All in all, this book is a masterpiece for anyone who might want to know what sort of range of emotion a victim of violent crime might experience. I found myself angry at various people as the events unfolded in the book, and amazed at Alice's fortitude. Her intelligence, insight and wit, throughout the experiences of the rape, the investigation and the trial of her rapist, are impressive. Alice is able to look at her case impassively enough to see that she had many things going for her in achieving a conviction; Things that were a matter of chance, as it happens, but which allowed her to see it through in a way that someone of different circumstances might not have. She amazingly, is able to portray herself, subtly, as "lucky" - lucky to be bright, well-spoken;
lucky to have been wearing concealing rather than revealing clothes on the night of the rape;
lucky to have had no sexual history to hold against her;
lucky to be alive. Any woman (hopefully any person) reading the book, should be simulaneously convinced of her "lucky" status, and of the irony of the situation and the use of the word "lucky". She is a hero, not a survivor. My use of her first name is in no way intended as disrespect, but as an indication that it is difficult to read so much of the inside of another person's head, without feeling that we're on a first-name basis. Within a year or so after the initial crime, a close friend of Alice's is subjected to a similar violent act, and deals with it very differently. This, too, is disturbing, in its avoidance of what happened... interesting. I hope that many people read this book and feel LUCKY after reading it. I did.
Rating:
Summary: couragous
Review: It's difficult for a man to read books like Ms. Sebold's "Lucky". Throughout the entire experience I wanted to hold the author and reassure her that 'we all aren't like this'. At least we aren't with eachother, nor with ourselves, but in our most private moments I wonder what alot of us, both male and female are capeable of. If Ms. Sebold should ever happen to stumble across this review, please accept it as a 'hug' from one man who prays that he is decent.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful...meaningful book!
Review: I read Sebold's The Lovely Bones before I read this. I was very anxious to hear the real life story of the author's real life rape and how it affected her life. I was not surprised to find that, like The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold knows how to write...and she does it well! The rape description and courtroom drama are extremely gripping. I had a hard time putting this book down. I also found her life after the rape was described so well and deeply touched me. I had never thought much about how rape may affect someone in their later years, and Sebold beautifully describes every detail.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful story
Review: This book is an incredibly vivid account of rape.... She also shows the way in which loved ones and other "helpers" can sometimes say hurtful things because they are unaware of what it is like to be overpowered (emotionally or physically) by a rapist. I think young women in similar circumstances would really relate to her experience, and there are few books that capture this so well. This is an important book for young women, given how common rape is on college campuses. It was also amazing to read about the circumstances that led up to the arrest of the rapist, and the entire court proceedings. If you are going through the legal system yourself, this book may be helpful. ... This book provides an example in which sexual violence is not only a one-time occurrence, but can often re-enter a person's life in many different ways.
Rating:
Summary: LOOK FOR THIS TO BE A BIG BOOKCLUB SELECTION SOON!
Review: I'm giving this book five stars as it really is a fantastic book. The best non fiction always reads like fiction and Lucky does that and does it well. Alice's description of the rape and aftermath are so well done you feel as though you were there in Syracuse at the time. However, the book does have a MAJOR fault. The ending. I couldn't believe when I got to the ending and there was a short chapter on her heroin use following college with no real warning this was coming. You are reading along and in the entire book I don't think any substance beyond alcohol is mentioned (as least as far as Alice's intake is concerned). Suddenly, there in the last chapter she's discussing smoking heroin and living the life of a vagabond. She just doesn't segue into this very well. There's no real description of how she began, how she stopped, etc. I felt like I was reading a different book by a different author. Considering how much of her family she exposed, her mother's "flaps" (anxiety attacks-the poor woman was clearly under-medicated or improperly medicated), her parent's indifferent style of loving not only each other but their children; she seems to clam up about this side of herself. It seems impossible to think that she's intentionally clamming up after vividly and explicitly describing everything else that's happened to her. It's as though she doesn't think her substance abuse problem was connected to the fallout from the rape. This being stated, Alice Seebold is one author that I eagerly anticipate reading any and everything she writes.
Rating:
Summary: A fabulous story of survival!
Review: Loved the author's second book, " The Lovely Bones" so much that I felt compelled to read her first one. I knew a little of her background from various interviews but had no idea the full extent of her horror. Her memoir is both sad and inspiring-such a young girl to be facing so much so soon. The maturity forced on her from growing up with a dysfunctional family obviously prepared her to deal more successfully with the rape. Still, the crime was horrific and her resiliance is amazing.
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