Rating: 
Summary: Becoming the Victim
Review: This wonderful account of a teenage rape, "Lucky", is one of the best books I have ever read. It gives insight into this world of rape and the healing process that goes along with it. It allows the reader to actually feel as though they are the victim living in Alice Sebold's shoes. Although this novel is a memoir, it was very exhilerating to read and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time trying to figure out what was going to happen next. This idea of a real life rape victim helps the reader to acknowledge the real world and the problems that come along with it. It is hard to realize, but anyone and/or everyone has a chance at being this rape victim. It is a nightmare. I believe that every teenage/adolescent girl should read this to gain the knowledge about rape that will keep them safe in todays society!
Rating: 
Summary: Harrowing and courageous
Review: As I read "The Lovely Bones" (also remarkably well-written by Sebold) I remember thinking how the author must have endured some kind of emotional trauma to give her such insight into the pulsing anger and isolation of being violated. Here in her memoir I am devastated to know just how victimized she was at such a young age. Yet despite the gruesome topic, details of her rape at 18, and subsequent emotional destitution, this book is a story of conquest. Her narrative is a discussion of her life's emotional storms and her vanquish over situations that gave rise to her pain. She incorporates wit and detail to paint her vivid narrative. The title "Lucky" is ironic. A police officer told her after her rape that she should consider herself "lucky" she wasn't killed because they had found a dead woman in the very same place she had been raped. That sentiment is a reflection on the awkward feelings people express to try to comfort a victim. Sebold explores how so many of those dialogues actually gave her more feelings of disassociation. We've come a long way in our attempts to support vitims but could never come close enough. The violation of penetration without consent will always be one of the most emotionally scarring events a woman can ever experience. Hopefully this book will be part of a kit given to victims to give them hope that although you can never go back to who you were before you were assaulted you can surmount the pain and regain your goals and aspirations and thrive despite the violence. What an amazingly well written book. I wish I could give this book more than five stars.
Rating:
Summary: Prying....
Review: I never finished this book to be honest... it felt like I was prying and spying on Alice. It felt like it was none of my business to know what kind of hell she went through... I honestly felt guilty reading it but I admit it did touch me in a way and made me a little more self conscience of what is going on in the world and how girls- women, young and old, need to know how to defend themselves or know what to do if ever faced with a situation such as her's...
I recomend you read The Lovely Bones... it comforts me knowing it's a fiction... Alice Sebold is truly a brave woman for sharing her story with the world.
Rating:
Summary: Openly honest
Review: The author deals with the story of her own rape in an honest forthright manner. The reader will feel as though he is alongside Ms. Sebold as she recounts events of her childhood and young adulthood. I found myself cringing for her as she related the reactions of friends and family to the news of her rape. It was disconcerting to see how being the victim of rape led to circumstances in which the victim continues to be victimized. My daughter just started college and I gave her the book to read. While I don't want her to live her whole life looking over her shoulder, I think this book provides a graphic, long-term look at how events can unfold in an innocent person's life.
Rating:
Summary: Horrifyingly Detailed
Review: Sebold tells the story of her being raped at 17, its aftermath, the case, and how it affected people surround her and the rest of her life - socially, sexually, emotionally. The horrifying details made me cringe in disbelief, but she does it without imposing too much drama - matter-of-factly as if she's detached from it. She actually suffered from the trauma for many years and didn't even realize that. She went through it all and journeyed the recovery. And the brave soul finally found home.
Rating:
Summary: A great writing that goes deep into the soul.
Review: From the moment I started reading, I couldn't put this book down. There was just something there that kept you holding on, wanting to know more.
This book is a definate read! From the beginning you feel like you are standing with Alice, going through the same emotions and feelings that she writes. It's a heavy book that weighs on your mind and gets you thinking and feeling.
Rating:
Summary: another amazing book by alice sebold
Review: This is another dark, haunting book by Alice Sebold. The author decribes her brutal rape while in college and how the police tell her she is "lucky." The story follows Alice as she and her family deal with the aftermath and the profound effect it has on all aspects of her life. The pain and trauma just goes on and on through many twists and turns of the story.
This is a graphic story that may be difficult for many to read.
Rating:
Summary: Disturbing, real, haunting
Review: This book is so many things, but the one that comes first to mind is "brave." For Seabold to have written this is amazing--the courage it must have taken. But that aside, it is well-written. I read "Lovely Bones" first, and then this one. While the premise of "Lovely" was great, I found "Lucky" to be a better book. Don't get me wrong, I like both of them, but "Lucky" was by far the more "real" tale. Try them both and then decide for yourself. Also recommended: McCrae's Bark of the Dogwood, A Boy Called It
Rating: 
Summary: Unbearably Unlucky
Review: All I could say when I was reading this book was: "God help me," It was horrible. I had just come off of the cusp of The Lovely Bones (Which was breathtaking beautiful) and I greatly looked forward to reading her first novel. I was quickly sorry for that longing. How could an author stray so differently. This was just a yawn through of her rape to which to projected unrealist characters (her family and friends) while she gave off the aoura that nothing was wronge and then all of the sudden she would burst into tears and we- the reader- would have no idea why. The chapter with just the rape in it was captivating, but that's pretty much it, and toward the end theirs a courtroom chapter that drags on forever and is completly dry when it comes to feelings and emotions. I can only hope that when Alice Sebold's next book comes out that it swims into the same vain as The Lovely Bones and not this strange and dry work that was its predecessor.
Rating: 
Summary: Incomplete but still a useful read
Review: The majority of reviewers here are rape survivors, as am I. But my rape occurred 30 years ago and I thought I 'was over it'. Thirty years ago there was no counseling; woman generally kept it a secret and just got on with life as best they could. I bought this book because I was interested in reading about how someone else 'got on with it' and found that she apparently didn't. What I gained from reading this material was the personal discovery that having been raped was still affecting my life and relationships and, I resolved to cover this old ground with a therapist so I could really move past it. I agree with one reviewer that the ending felt like being dropped from a ten-story building - it was incomplete and sudden. The book contains the author's recollections of this horrific event albeit written in a curiously detached and emotionless voice and she never really fleshes out the story or provides a satisfactory conclusion. I sincerely hope that she finds the resources to help her really come to terms with her rape and to see her family in a more realistic light - they don't deserve to be thanked at the end of her book - and see damaging and isolating dysfunction in its true light. In the end, the book is a useful read for anyone who's survived the violation of rape. Because the book is not 'about you' it's easier to see that it's illustrative of what to avoid, how to recognise when people are supportive or not, putting blame where the blame belongs and recognising the cathartic value of real anger. I disagree with some of the reviewers here that she was too self-centered. A memoir, by definition, is self-centered and I didn't get the sense that she wrote this for anything other than catharsis. It has the same value as listening to someone else's tale and recognising in yourself what you could improve, change or acknowledge.
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