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    Lucky
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    Lucky
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    Lucky
    Audiobook9 hours

    Lucky

    Published by Simon & Schuster Audio

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook


    The critically acclaimed memoir from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lovely Bones

    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 and beaten in a park near campus. What propels this chronicle of her recovery is Sebold's indomitable spirit - as she struggles for understanding; 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 a trauma victim even as she imparts wisdom profoundly hard-won: "You save yourself or remain unsaved."

    Editor's Note

    Bold & brave…

    Sebold’s bold, brave memoir not only sets the stage for her 2002 bestseller “The Lovely Bones,” but also encourages conversation surrounding an incredibly difficult subject.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateJan 1, 2003
    ISBN9780743568777

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    Reviews for Lucky

    4.5/5

    85 ratings63 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The book opens with Alice's rape. The scene is graphic and the reader will know immediately whether this book is for them or not. It is fantastic! Alice Sebold is honest. This book will inspire and empower anyone who has been in a similar situation or who has let obstacles in life overwhelm them.Alice wants revenge and she stands up for herself. She fights for a life worth living.I, also, enjoyed the end where Alice shares the 'after the story' part of her life. You really get a sense that you know this writer. I look forward to reading more by her!
    • 4/5
      Un libro sorprendente. Me enganch? a la historia desde las primeras l?neas. Alice Sebold narra un duro y violento episodio de su vida - su violaci?n a la edad de 19 a?os -; mostr?ndonos como un suceso tr?gico puede dejar huellas indelebles en nuestras vidas; sin embargo, nos ense?a tambi?n la fortaleza para sobrevivir a tan horrible experiencia. La buena literatura nos ense?a a ser mejores y a curar nuestras propias heridas. Alice Sebold lo consigue.An astonishing book. I was hooked on it from first lines... Alice Sebold tells us a rough and hard episode of her life - her rape at age of 19- showing us how tragic events leave permanent marks in our lifes but her story remarks too the strength of spirit to survive so horrible event. Good literature teaches us to become better human beings and to heal our wounds. Alice Sebold achieves it.
    • 4/5
      I wasn't taken with The Lovely Bones, but this memoir had a smooth feel of honesty that appealed to me. Very difficult book to read, but worthwhile.
    • 2/5
      This book is a shocking, honest and revealing memoir about the authors' vicious, savage rape when she was a college student. Normally I wouldn't want to read a book like this, but the author is Alice Sebold, who wrote "The Lovely Bones', which I adored.That she could recover from something like that and move on, that *anyone* can, is incredible.I certainly learned why so few women actually go through with pressing charges and a trial. Honestly? I don't know if I'd have the courage that Alice showed throughout her ordeal.Not a fun book, but rape is not a fun topic.
    • 3/5
      I'm really ambivalent about this book.On the one hand, I understand the impulse & need to write through & past such an enormously life-changing experience. On the other hand, I found myself skimming my way through chunks of the book about two-thirds of the way through because it just started to get disjointed & flat & jarring in some way that I just couldn't bear to read.The first 100 or so pages are excellent, especially if you can get past the first chapter - an excruciatingly detailed explanation of what happened to the author. It's ironic that she notes at some point in the book that an essay she wrote for The New York Times Magazine about the experience was quoted in the "Trauma" part of a book on trauma & recovery & this inspired her to figure out more about what she needed to do to move forward - ironic because I think I'd still include her solidly in the trauma category & that makes me very sad for her & angry that this happens so often.
    • 3/5
      This is the true story of the rape of Alice Sebold and some of the experiences that she had after the rape. I really enjoyed the first part of this book, but once Alice went back home with her parents it started to drag a bit. When I realized that I was basically forcing myself to read this book about halfway through, I just skimmed through the rest of it and read the ending.I think that the things Alice had to go through were horrible, both the rape and the horrible way that she was treated by some people after the rape. I was most shocked by her father's initial reaction and the reaction of the psychiatrist that her mother took her to. Since her father was a bit of a jerk, I loved the part where she let the dog eat biscuits on his blue silk chair (which she was forbidden to sit in) and took pictures of it to give to him as a framed gift. That was priceless! It's amazing that Alice has kept her sense of humor after everything that she has been through.
    • 1/5
      I was gripped in the beginning of this book but soon found myself lost and bored. I absolutely adored The Lovely Bones so this was a great let down for me.
    • 5/5
      Alice Sebold, the author of "The Lovely Bones," one of my favorite books, writes this memoir about the rape she experienced when she was 18, as a freshman at Syracuse University. Sebold's prose is always clear and incisive, and in this memoir, she gets to the crime very quickly. Her writing is bracing and takes you into the event in a way that no true crime writing ever does, at least in my experience. She takes you with her on her journey from victim to survivor, from the crime, through the legal process, as she reports the rape, goes through the rape kit and evidence-collection process, to the hearing and trial. It is a difficult and often harrowing read, but Sebold is a survivor, and she is able to rise above the awful event that threatens to suck the life out of her and poison her relationships. That she does not allow that to happen, and that she uses the creative process of writing to heal is a testament to her resiliency, intelligence and heart. She refuses to let the crime destroy her humanity. As difficult as this book was to read, I would recommend it. Sebold is an excellent writer, and she carries you along with her through rage and hatred, to come out on the other side, to not just survive, but thrive, and continue to love.
    • 5/5
      Getting right to the point, Alice Sebold opens her memoir recalling her rape at Syracuse University. She details what happened after, the trial, and life beyond. She's refreshingly open, honest while describing her reactions, her families reactions, and the reactions of everyone else around her. The details themselves are not the easiest to read, especially when you remind yourself this is not a work of fiction, but what really happened to the author, but it is a good read and very eye-opening.
    • 3/5
      After reading one of Alice Sebolds other book The lovely bones I was extreamly curious to see her inspiration behind it. Lucky definetly pulled from personal experiances. It was a little bit hard to read because Alice Sebold went throught so much. She got raped on her way back to her college dorm, got into drugs and other stuff. I enjoyed comparing it to her other book but towards the end I started to lose intrest. Although, I was inspired by how she overcamegreat obsticles and in the end became a best selling author.
    • 4/5
      One of the most difficult things to read I've ever picked up. So gut grabbingly realistic I felt like I was living through it with her. Reccomended for everyone impacted by rape
    • 5/5
      I had read Sebold's debut novel, The Lovely Bones (2002) last year and found that story about a 14-year-old girl who is raped and murdered and her family to be amazing. This book, published in 1999, is a memoir of Sebold's own experience with being raped as an 18-year-old college freshman in 1981.Sebold writes about her experience frankly and graphically, but not gratuitously. She also skillfully communicates where she was intellectually and emotionally throughout the assault, investigation, pre-trial and trial of her rapist (she ran into him randomly on the street and was able to ID him) and in the years that followed this. The book also discusses how her rape effected her family, friends, and other relationships.Sebold is a great writer who is able to discuss difficult, disturbing topics without getting bogged down in pity or platitudes. I feel I better understand, if in a small way, what a severe trauma can do to a person and how people can cope, heal, and not heal in their aftermath after having read this book.This book backs up the assertion that a novelist's first book is always autobiographical; I understand The Lovely Bones better now for reading this. I'm also bumping Sebold's second novel, The Almost Moon up my reading queue.Highly recommended, unless the subject matter would be too distressing. 5/5.
    • 5/5
      Lucky by Alice SeboldThis woman can really write. This book is a memoir of the author's rape when she was just a Freshman in college. This autobio shines in the face of a terrible adversity. Sebold's style of writing takes you through the events actually bringing you along with her but without the sentimentality that many writers would bring to a memoir such as this. I found it to be brilliantly written and wish that I had read The Lovely Bones before reading this but I know that anything written by this author will be a mind blower! I highly recommend this book and rated it a 4 1/2.
    • 3/5
      Very straightforward story of Alice Sebold, acclaimed author of The Lonely Bones, who is raped in her freshman year of college. The story is at once disarming and at the same time the honesty leaves you with a new respect for someone who is going through such an ordeal. You root for her as the victim and hope for prosecution as you learn that the laws are in favor of the rapists, not the victims. Great book!
    • 5/5
      Having thoroughly enjoyed The Lovely Bones (if you haven't read it, go to buy it NOW), I picked up the author's memoir. The book opens with her being raped when she is a freshman in college and details the rape trial, the rest of her college education and ends 10 years after the rape. Both Lucky and The Lovely Bones open with a rape scene...I wish I had read Lucky first so that I could have picked up on the autobiographical elements of The Lovely Bones. May I say that it was completely fucked up the way Lila stopped talking to Alice after she was raped. It was as if she blamed Alice for her own rape, although Alice did come on a little strong with the "join the rape victims club" vibe. I thought the contrast between the two girls was interesting...Alice was the strong, empowered woman who made sure her rapist was put behind bars while Lila did what so many victims do, hide from it and refuse to prosecute. I recommend this book to every woman...Alice is a remarkable role model for rape victims. The book is raw and at often times uncomfortable...it is a relief that the issue is dealt with so honestly.
    • 5/5
      Another great book. Truly heartbreaking. She had the courage though to do what needed to be done. Kudos to her!
    • 5/5
      From the harrowing opening pages?a brutal rape scene?this brave memoir reads, at times, more like a literary thriller. Sebold's story unfolds through the crime's aftermath, her recovery, and a frustrating journey through the judicial system as she and the police search for her attacker. The pacing is superb throughout, as in when Sebold actually spies her attacker on the street for the first time and fights off panic to call her case detective. The author expertly weaves relevant moments from childhood through present-day events. Lucky is the real-life roots to Sebold's award-winning novel The Lovely Bones.
    • 3/5
      A tough read, but a good one. Read this after 'The Lovely Bones' - a very different book tho.
    • 4/5
      Alice Sebold has written a searingly honest and brutally explicit memoir about what it is like to experience rape ... and then how to move forward through life following such a savage attack. This is not an enjoyable read. It shocked me. Made me angry. Made me weep for what was stolen from Ms. Sebold on the night she was raped. And scared the wits out of me.Alice Sebold writes with a rawness that is uncomfortable for the reader. She reveals the coldness of the legal and medical systems in how they deal with rape victims. And ultimately she demonstrates the strength of self a victim needs to survive this type of crime.A book like Lucky is one that is difficult to read, but I believe it is an important book. I imagine it took Ms. Sebold a tremendous amount of courage to write it. I turned the last page with a new found understanding of what it truly means to be a survivor.Recommended with a warning that some sections are graphic and disturbing.
    • 5/5
      Oh my god, this is an amazing book. It's a memoir of Alice Sebold's rape and her how she picked up the pieces of her life after it. It's a great read for rape survivors, friends/family members of rape survivors, and just the general public. Ms. Sebold is brutally honest and give a fully detailed account of what happened, which is difficult to read and I can only imagine how difficult it was for her to write. She is a brave, strong woman and this is a great book. It's heavy and sad at times but it is something that should be read. This book is one of my favorites because it means a great deal to me personally and it is a great addition to the literature out there.
    • 4/5
      A brave memoir based on Sebold's rape by a stranger as a college freshman and its aftermath. There are no holds barred in her telling of this story, of the night that undid her and her long, arduous attempt to get herself back together. Graphic and honest and not easy to get through, this book is an important read though not a particularly pleasurable one. Sebold opens up in a way that rape victims rarely do, and takes her story far from being a dark secret by sharing the details of her grieving process, the reactions of her family and friends, her subsequent legal trial. For a matter that is so often brushed under the rug, whether for the sake of the perpetrator or the victim, I believe this book is groundbreaking. It doesn't make the subject matter any easier to digest, though.
    • 4/5
      Lucky is the true account of novelist Alice Sebold's savage rape whilst a student at Syracuse University in the early '80s. With incredible candour and occasional dashes of odd and jarring humour, Sebold retraces her long and potholed road to recovery. It's not an easy read, and Sebold's parents - the mother a recovering alcoholic and the father an incredibly insensitive fop who at one point asked Alice why she didn't just run away from her attacker - are just two of many unpleasant characters readers will encounter.
    • 5/5
      this was a very good, intriguing and difficult read. it details the author's experience of her rape at age eighteen near syracuse university, which she attended. the opening pages start immediately with her walk home from a last day of school party and subsequent attack. it is told in journalistic detail. very objective, somewhat cold and very brutal. this was the hardest part to read. i was right there with her. felt her pain and shock and fear. the story follows her closely in the immediate aftermath. her trip to the dorm, the call to the police, the medical examination. the thing that struck me the most about this book is all the details you don't really think about when you read or hear about these things happening to people. the excruciating detail of the experience. the whispers, the reactions of others. the way she is gossiped about. the way she becomes defined by the rape in the eyes of others. she lost alot of friends along the way. the book mainly focuses on the year following the rape. when she arrives back at school the following semester (to most people's surprise) she spots her rapist on the street a month later, which springboards her into action. she goes to the police, he is arrested and proceedings begin. she makes it all the way to the grand jury and she ultimately wins. but not without a price. her best friend and roommate is raped in alice's bedroom not too long after. the police suspect it is a revenge rape but they will never know because the girl opts out of pursuing legal proceedings. her friendship with alice quickly deteriorates after that.it is a fascinating read. it is almost like watching a movie or csi in the detail she includes about her trial. especially the cross examinations. it is fascinating to be right there with her and that smarmy defense attorney, knowing what she is thinking in response to his attacks, her sharp focus, her quick mind, her steely determination. the author has seen a lot of tragedy in her early life. it made me feel sad and somehow lucky that i have not experienced such outside violence. but i have experienced enough of it inside the borders of friends and family that i suppose it could be construed as a simple cosmic relief. it made me think of a friend i met recently who experienced a brutal rape right outside her home while she was walking her dog. i felt renewed horror for her now having a stirred up imagination for what that night must have been like for her.i was really surprised at the way people reacted to her. how people didn't feel she had the right to return to school. that by doing so she somehow was admitting fault. a boy she met and shared a mutual attraction with was immediately pulled aside by a group of boys, asking him, you know she was raped right? yeah, so? do i have to spell it out for you?the injustice of being so judged for a crime that she did not ask for. that happened TO her.this book is not a dry, factual read. it is a compelling story of humanity and one person's struggle to recover from a trauma and remain herself. my favorite line in the whole book is "Nobody can save you. You save yourself or you remain unsaved."
    • 4/5
      Very powerful. I think it took great courage to write this memoir.
    • 4/5
      I tried reading this book once, but for some reason I put it down. (same thing happened when I tried to read Lovely Bones) But, I am glad I picked it back up. I really got back into the story line once I started reading it again. What I can't believe is that it is all true! I was amazed. It's quite the story. At times it was a little wordy and there was too much explanation of certain things, but once I got past that and used to the style, it went pretty smoothly. Good read.
    • 3/5
      Kudos for Sebold for tackling such a subject as her rape. The firstpart of the novel was extremely gripping. Her descriptions of the rape,and her early childhood scenes including the maxi-pad loving dogqualified as very fine writing indeed. The part of the trial waspage-turning. However the story after that left much to be desired. Theparts of the story about Lisa's rape and her bingeing and lover-filledlater years left me feeling completely unconnected to her recoveryexperience, and indeed doubting (if it's my place to doubt) that shehas completed the healing. So for courage and the quality of writing inthe beginning of the novel I give it three stars.
    • 5/5
      Rape is never a pretty subject, but if you have a strong stomach, Lucky is a great literary choice. Sebold graphically describes her rape while at Syracuse University in the late 70's/early 80's. She brings the reader through all of it - the attack, the police line-ups, the trials, and the ways in which her relationships and self perceptions were forever changed. The last chapter or two could have been omitted, but overall Lucky is worth reading.
    • 5/5
      Gives hope to all rape victims by naming the pain and showing that recovery will happen and that justice is possible
    • 4/5
      Harrowing, involved, frightening and heartbreaking story of Alice's Rape and the fallout that happened afterwards. Her experince at her rape trial was harrowing reading and I can't imagine it was any better in person.Although it kind of glosses over some of her later experiences I'd say that it's been a long uphill battle to any real improvement.
    • 5/5
      I both cringed and laughed out loud to this book. Interesting to read after first reading "Lovely Bones." Quick and easy regardless of the subject matter.