Rating: 
Summary: A survival story
Review: Lucky is an amazing book. Although it was difficult for me to read about a young woman's rape, I thought it was extremely interesting. The fact that it was a true story and she had the strength to write about it and tell the whole world just made her a greater author. The book sends out a strong message to females that have been victims of rape.
The book had a very strong beginning and a very shocking but interesting ending. The book had only one problem, it was too detailed especially during the prosecution of the rape trial. I couldn't understand the defense that the prosecution lawyer was trying to make. I am also currently trying to find out if the rape of Alice's friend (Lila) was linked with Alice's rape and the person who assaulted Alice.
Overall the book was definitely worth reading. The book gives rape victims a sign of hope and courage, which will help them go on with life. I strongly recommend this book for men because I want all males to think twice before forcing sex on any female. When someone says no to sex and the other person violates it, it's called RAPE.
Rating: 
Summary: Rape Survivor's Take
Review: I read this book strictly because I am a rape survivor. I was raped in June of 2003. My attack and rape were so similar to Seebold's that it was eerie. One aspect of rape therapy is to re-tell your own story; re-write it. However, when you are attacked so brutally and aren't 'supposed' to be alive, the re-telling is difficult. Events are lost in memory almost as quickly as they occur. The brain is too preoccupied with dying as painlessly as possible, while simultaneously looking for any escape (at least in my own case).
Because of the way that my brain functioned under such duress, I am finding this book to be a useful tool lately. As I re-read Seebold's account of her own rape, I am better able to remember. I can say, 'yes! exactly what happened!' or 'no, I did this instead.' I write in the margins. I do it for personal use, to better help in my own recovery. If you are a survivor, I would ask your counselor if she recommends this for you. It is helping me now. Hence, on that score, this book has been invaluable to me.However, I must agree with previous reviewers regarding the rather selfish tone of the author. I also found her to be overly self-centered and amazingly insensitive to others around her. I did get the impression that she really believed that she was the only one that had been hurt and even if she wasn't, her pain was the only pain that mattered (not just to her, but in general.) Yet, it is important to remember that this is a *memoir* and not fiction. Therefore, Ms. Seebold can only tell the story as it is. If there is not much written on recovery, well, perhaps this is because there hasn't been much experience in the way of recovery. I would certainly not have picked this book up had I not shared a similar experience. I read it the first time (within a week afer my own rape) merely for company. To survive such an ordeal absolutely leaves you as a complete alien, walking in a daze in a world that you never expected to see again. Merely associating with people around you -- co-workers, neighbors, your grocery store cashiers, etc., leaves you lonely for company of someone who has been just where you are. Books like this one can fill this need initially. To those who have survived such a rape and are interested in reading more, I must recommend the phenomenal book by Susan Brison called Aftermath.
Rating:
Summary: Laura H - Review on Lucky
Review: "Lucky" by Alice Sebold is a memoir of her own freshman year at Syracuse University where she is brutally raped near the campus. Sebold describes the trauma, mental and physical pain inflicted upon her that night, the response of friends and family and the police that helped her after the attack. One policeman told her that a young woman was raped and murder at the same place she was attacked so she should consider herself lucky. Sebold was unsure of whether to consider herself lucky after the attack. Her post-rape trauma affected her whole life. She remembers her parents' addiction to alcohol and relates it to her own addiction to heroin after the rape. Despite the fact that her attack occurred at Syracuse University, she returns to the school. Sebold describes how many people pretended to be friends with her and acted like they knew her just because of the tragedy. Even years later a woman told her she was writing a book about the rape. Unaware she was talking to Sebold, the woman claimed she was the victim's best friend. Sebold had no idea who she was. The book shows Sebold's courage at being able to return to Syracuse and to find her attacker. She addresses rape and how it affects not just the victim but everyone surrounding the victim as well.
Sebold identified the issue in a way that someone who has not experienced a rape cannot. She shows understanding of the issue, having been a victim herself where someone who had not dealt with rape couldn't possibly know. She explains how she got through the trauma, heroin, alcohol and all and managed to carry on with her life. "Lucky" was touching and memorable and helped me to think about how a victim might feel and how they would want to be treated.
Rating: 
Summary: Incredibly Entertaining
Review: "Lucky", by Alice Sebold is a wonderful book from the viewpoint of a rape victim and how it affected her in her daily life. This is an important read for all adults. An honest opinion from Sebold, helps us understand the process and aftermath of any rape victim. It's very pleasurable to read and I reccomend it.
Rating:
Summary: So Lucky
Review: There are several books out there at the moment that tell the truth without sensationalising what really happens during any time of abuse to a child/teen. This book, LUCKY, and then NIGHMARES ECHO and A CHILD CALLED IT. If you have a chance to read the three books you will come away with the understanding of the mind of the victim and the difficulty in overcoming what is put upon thier shoulders. More than that, you realize just how fragile a childs life is and yet they have more courage and determination to survive than many of the people I know that have never dealt with a terrible past. I belive this book stands out, it is extrememly well done without going overboard. The emotions are strong. Extremely good book. Marrissa Diangelo
Rating:
Summary: Heroic and Painfully Real
Review: I read the 'Lovely Bones' before reading 'Lucky' and I must admit that I was initially skeptical reading 'Lucky.' However, Sebold's account of the rape and her experience reveals that she is strong, yet human. The effects of the experience lingered with her long after it occured. In addition, it is quite enlightening to see how her personal experience may have influenced her "fictional" writing in the 'Lovely Bones'. What a therepeutic mechanism for overcoming such a devestating event!
Rating:
Summary: I Need to Talk to This Author!!
Review: I've been thinking about writing Alice Seabold. Mainly because the ending to her book and the ending to mine is a bit similar. My book is about living with veterans of WWII - actually being a "veteran" of living with veterans - and also ending up with Post Traumatic Shock Syndrome... My book is called "Eating Corn Through a Picket Fence" and I hopes she reads it - and this too!!
Rating:
Summary: Alice Sebold's masterpiece
Review: Frankly, I liked (if that's a word that can be used about a book concerning the subject of personal rape) Lucky more than The Lovely Bones, her second book, the one that put her on the map. Perhaps 'appreciated' would be a better word for my feelings about Lucky.
To bare oneself, to detail the experience of rape so unsparingly, to extend the memoir back to her childhood and forward to her downward spiral into heroin addiction and depression is to strip naked for your public. It takes guts, something Alice Sebold has in spades.
The book's title comes from a comment by a cop that she should consider herself "lucky" to have just been raped, as another young woman was murdered in the same spot just a short time earlier. Not feeling very "lucky," Sebold proceeds to show how this incident of brutality and violence changed the course of her life.
I have heard Alice Sebold speak on several occasions and greatly admire her candor, her honesty, and her insistence on calling rape by its true name. Bravo for this sere and scathing memoir by a remarkable woman and writer.
Rating:
Summary: Not a Self Help book but...
Review: This memoir rang true to me. In no way is it a self help book, it probably won't help anybody 'get over it'. It reflects so closely my own experience of the detachement and the impact on my close familly that it was scary. I must say it was compelling for me to hear her story. Some readers have commented on the lack of advice on how to get over it, well, is she really over it? Are you?
Rating:
Summary: an evocative but flat account
Review: "Lucky" is Alice Sebold's memoir of her psychosexual development, centering on her rape as a college freshman. Intelligent and keenly observed, it recounts the rape itself, the rapist's trial, and the aftermath during the remaining years of Sebold's college career; it also delves into Sebold's childhood and her adult attempts to heal. There is much that is good about this book. Like its teller, the story is smart and strong. The voice is wry and sympathetic. Sebold's extensive recounting of the long-term aftereffects of the rape is valuable, since all too often a victim's trauma is seen as ending after several months or a year. But "Lucky" is not, ultimately, a really good book. Something is missing, an emotional connection between the narrator and the reader, or the narrator and the other characters, that is not made. The ending seems not to resonate. Perhaps this is because, in writing her story as a memoir, Sebold has chosen a form that does not allow for evolution in the narrator or for extensive authorial knowledge of the other characters. Ultimately, she is unable to rise out of this form: "Lucky" is the skilled telling of a story, nothing less and nothing more.
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