Lucky

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. Rape is a form of abuse, no less than child abuse,incest,or molestation. 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.

Rating:
Summary: Astonishing writing
Review: "Lucky" is a stunning, grueling account of the rape Sebold experienced as a college freshman. Sebold spares herself and us no detail in describing the rape and its devastating aftermath on her and everyone she knew. It is an incredibly courageous and honest piece of work, and, in my view, vastly superior to the much-lauded "Lovely Bones," which I thought spun out of control in the second half. Sebold is unsparing of herself and her dysfunctional family, but the one area she leaves unexplored is the end of an important friendship with a college classmate who is also raped, probably in retaliation for Sebold's decision to press charges against her attacker. This is a minor issue in a work that is a must-read.

Rating:
Summary: A Real Book, A Real Story
Review: "Lucky" is one of those books that get under your skin, both emotionally and physically. I was drawn to it, both from the aspect of what the author went through, the ordeal that played again and again in her mind. But, I was also drawn in by the courage of this wonderful author. She gives us her soul in the words of this book. Tells us her life, which could not have been easy, but will in the end lend inspiration to others.
I would have to say "Lucky" is as great a book as that of "Nightmares Echo" by Katlyn Stewart or "A Paper Life" by Tatum O'Neil

Rating:
Summary: "Lucky", By Alice Sebold
Review: After reading ,"The Lovely Bones", I felt i understood Alice Sebold's style of writing. However, she managed to amaze me once again with her memoir,"Lucky". The idea of being raped is inconceivable to me, but her vivd detail and precise recollections of her horrible experience, allows the reader to at least begin to understand what she must have gone through. I never put the book down. The book Started off with chilling accounts of the night her rape happened, and continued intriguing the reader. The events in the book held my attention at all times. I also admire Alice Sebold for her courage and ability to share her rape experience with the world. In the book, she remained so incredibly strong, even at times where she could have easily just given up her struggle to find and send her rapist to prison. Her family in the memoir was very paculiar. Alice seemed to always be the care-giver for them, even though she was the one who needed to be taken care of after her rape. While I know her parents cared about what happened to her, they seem to still be wrapped up in their own world, and their own agendas. I particularly loved Alice's cut-to-the-chase attitude, and her hatred for being pitied. She wanted to be treated as a normal human being, not as a lost cause, just because she had been raped. I also admired her ability to carry on and try new relationships with other men, even after her rape. I give this book four stars ,and recommend this book to everyone , since everyone can learn from Sebold's experience, and can sympathize to what she must have been feeling at the time. If you liked "The Lovely Bones", you'll love "Lucky".

Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: I read Lucky after I finished The Lovely Bones, also by Sebold. The thing that I loved about Lucky is that it could happend to anyone. This could be about you, your wife, daughter, sister, neighbor, anyone. Rape happens in all walks of life and Lucky tells the tale of how it not only effects the victim, but an entire community. An enthralling read.

Rating:
Summary: Very moving
Review: I read Lucky for my senoir english class and really enjoyed it. It is brutal and honest, and would help any reader better understand rape and what happens to a person who experiences such a horrible thing. It is very well written and riveting

Rating:
Summary: Heart-wrenching and honest.
Review: I really enjoyed this book on tape as read by the author. This tale of her life before and after a brutal rape was candid and harrowing. I think that this is an important subject that is too often overlooked and that Sebold did an excellent job narrating her own story. I would recommend this to any of my female readers.

Rating:
Summary: A TRIUMPH OVER TRAGEDY
Review: Like her wonderful novel The Lovely Bones - which I've also reviewed and which you must read - Lucky is a harrowing, heart-wrenching book about the worst possible thing that can happen to a woman. Alice Sebold tells the raw story of her rape ordeal and her subsequent struggle for recovery with an honesty and warmth which is compelling. Lucky reads almost like a novel itself at times, with gripping moments of suspense, particularly during the court trial scenes.
Alice Sebold was the innocent victim of an unforgivable crime - but she doesn't ask for our sympathy or pity in these beautifully written pages. She earns our respect and admiration for the courageous way she tells how the traumatic events changed and shaped her life; how the naive college student would eventually become a hardened, determined aggressor herself in her brave fight for justice against her attacker. Sadly, this natural reaction to her personal violation came with a price - destructive behavioural damage that brought a later downward spiral into drugs. What the author didn't know at the time is that she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder; an anxiety syndrome that emerges following a psychologically distressing traumatic event such as rape, which she battles to overcome.
Can someone really, truly, get over something so savage and brutal as rape is the numbing thought you're left with long after you put the book aside? The past can never be forgotten, but Alice Sebold has managed to crawl from the wreckage and move on with her life to a happier future that has brought her international fame and acclaim. That says something about the human spirit - and everything about this remarkable woman.

Rating:
Summary: Very lucky
Review: Lucky by Alice Sebold is a very good and emotional book. It is about a girl (Alice) who was an 18 when year old college freshman, attending Syracuse University to study poetry. After a party Alice was walking back to her dorm when she was forced off a park path, pulled into a tunnel and then brutally raped. The rape not only changed Alices life, but the rest of her families life and the people she knew as well. After the rape Alice went to the hospital to get checked out and get evidence if she chose to go to trial. It turned out that Alice had been beat up pretty bad and because of that she decided to go to trial and prove that her rapist, Madison, guilty. Going to trial was not only to make Alice feel safer, but to keep Madison from doing it again. After going through two pre-trials Alice finally got to go to the real trial that would determine if Madison was guilty or not. The trial lasted a few days, and on the last day Alice was asked to testify. She was asked many hard and grousome questions about the rape that she did not want to answer. After the long excruciating pain of the trial Madison was found guilty and was sent to prison.

A few months after the trial Alice began to get her life back on track, but then another devistating event happened in her life. Alices best friend, Lila, was raped. After Lilas rape Alice went into a total meltdown mode and was not able to recover from it for many years.

Lucky is an excellent book. The way Alice Sebold wrote about her rape made you feel like you knew exactly what she was feeling. It is a very grousome book and will make you think about what is going on until the late hours of the night. Lucky is a book that really keeps you interested and wanting to read more. I recommend this book to anyone who likes suspense, and doesn't mind a very detailed, grousome book. It is a must read book!

Rating:
Summary: A Male's Perspective
Review: Straight away, let me mention that I also read The Lovely Bones; my opinion of that book was that it was contrived; after the first 60 pages it didn't really work for me.

Now this book: Very Impressive! This is a tough story to tell and the author did a great job. The voice is authentic and the details make it real, and I learned alot: i.e. how men convicted of rape usually beat the rap. (I didn't know this; thought in fact the opposite was true!) Hang on through the entire book. The beginning is violent and intense -- and you may want to turn away or put it down -- don't! Keep reading. You heart will go out to this young woman, as my heart did. Keep reading, even through the later sections, the trial which, for me, was toughest part because it almost reads like a court transcription.

Now the kicker. Right when you think the book is over and you think the protagonist (or the author) is a "winner" -- pow! -- flashforward to the East Village years later. Here you'll see how although she managed to convict her rapist, she hasn't managed to put the entire event behind her. This is not a Hollywood ending. The protagonist/author experiences an aftershock of fear and self-loathing that she is unable to control, that pursues her even into another city, even years later; she can't seem to escape it. This epilogue is what really made me love this book. Life goes on, yes -- but misfortune sometimes takes a huge chunk of our spirit. And yet you must still go on! This book is a tribute to a true survivor, a book about real life; it now has a permanent place in my library. I recommend it strongly for those of you not afraid of entering the darkness, even for a moment; sometimes you need to enter the darkness in order to appreciate the light. I feel as if this book will stay with me a long time -- now that's great art! Along with this memoir, another book I'd like to recommend -- a much lighter, funnier book ('cause we all need to laugh too, my God) -- is The Losers' Club by Richard Perez. Quite sweet and haunting, too; a comedy with a soul.