Product Description

In a memoir hailed for its searing candor and wit, Alice Sebold reveals how her life was utterly transformed when, as an eighteen-year-old college freshman, she was brutally raped ad beaten in a park near campus. What propels this chronicle of her recovery is Sebold's indomitable spirit - as she struggles for understanding ("After telling the hard facts to anyone, from lover to friend, I have changed in their eyes"); as her dazed family and friends sometimes bungle their efforts to provide comfort and support; and as, ultimately, she triumphs, managing through grit and coincidence to help secure her attacker's arrest and conviction. In a narrative by turns disturbing, thrilling, and inspiring. Alice Sebold illuminates the experience of trauma victims even as she imparts wisdom profoundly hard-won: "You save yourself or you remain unsaved."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6858 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Guardian, 7 June
'Stunning candour'

Company, July 2003
'A powerful, disturbing, but essential read'

Sunday Times, 1 June 2003
'Remarkable . . . Injustice and sheer malice are made vivid, and Sebold communicates the utter precariousness of one's personal safety'

Customer Reviews

A TRIUMPH OVER TRAGEDY
Like her 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.

Stunningly real and moving
Having been a victim of rape myself, I was a little unsure of whether reading this book was a good idea...drudging up old memories I'd rather forget. However, after the first page I knew this was a book I should read. Alice Sebold explains how she was raped and how she coped with it, about how other people percieve you as a rape victim and how you percieve yourself. I found this a very moving account and something which had me crying and nodding understanding all the things she said. Especially when you wonder, if i've been raped, am I still allowed to enjoy sex? This book was kind of like therapy to me. I found her first novel, The Lovely Bones, a very moving read too, however, nothing could be more moving than her brave and frank account of her own terrifying experience. It is the sort of book more people should read, whether you have been a victim of rape, know someone who was, or have had no contact with this kind of crime. In this day and age where victims still have trouble speaking out - we need a role model who can show us its ok to tell someone - you are not an outcast and anyone who thinks different is not worthy of your time. This book will not wave a magic wand and make it all go away, but it certainly helps get some things off your mind. A wonderful, moving and helpful read.

A TRIUMPH OVER TRAGEDY
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. 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.