05/11/2006 10:33 PM
Posted by VeggieSteph

Lucky by Alice Sebold

Lucky is one of the most difficult books I have ever read. The book is difficult, not in its words, but in its subject matter. In Lucky, Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones, writes a memoir detailing her rape when she was a college freshman, her pursuit for justice, and the years of her life spent recovering afterwards. The subject matter is dark, and Alice Sebold pulls no punches. Honestly, this book spent almost two years on my shelf before I worked up the courage to read it. It pulled me in completely, and while I wanted to put it down, close my eyes, and walk away, I just couldn’t.



Alice Sebold writes about her rape in a matter of fact way, and yet still is able to give you a sense of the fear and the emotion involved. You are thankful for the straight speaking. Her determination to find her rapist and bring him to justice is mapped out completely, and the scenes in which she sees him and eventually brings him to trial are difficult and satisfying. She takes you through her testimony, and she documents her thoughts while she is speaking. Alice Sebold is honest enough to show that justice doesn’t always bring closure. She struggles with her survival, turns to drugs and to living in constant fear, all the while telling herself she doesn’t fear anything. Ten years later, she finally discovers that she is dealing with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and comes to as much of an accepting of her rape and her life as she can. She is finally able to not let her rape define her life, as her mother long before told her.

This book was breathtaking without being too “Chicken Soup for the Soul”, but, on the other hand, it was so painful to read. You see the solitude a victim of terrible violence faces, and you find that Alice Sebold saves herself using her words. She reaches out with this book and breaks through the isolation that victims are faced with every day. Even if you or someone you know has never experienced this violence, you will learn from this book. It will open your eyes to fear, to helping yourself, to the reactions women can have and are faced with when they are raped.

I don’t know that I can recommend this book. I know that I didn’t want to write this review, but I didn’t know how I couldn’t do it either. I know what this experience is like, and I know women who have faced far worse than I. This book is truly a light in the darkness. If Alice Sebold writes this truthfully when writing about this most complicated thing, I know that her other works will be remarkable.