false 82970 22 Enormously visceral, emotionally gripping, and imbued with the belief that justice is possible even after the most horrific of crimes, Alice Sebold's compelling memoir of her rape at the age of eighteen is a story that takes hold of you and won't let go.<P>Sebold fulfills a promise that she made to herself in the very tunnel where she was raped: someday she would write a book about her experience. With <I>Lucky</I> she delivers on that promise with mordant wit and an eye for life's absurdities, as she describes what she was like both as a young girl before the rape and how that rape changed but did not sink the woman she later became.<P>It is Alice's indomitable spirit that we come to know in these pages. The same young woman who sets her sights on becoming an Ethel Merman-style diva one day (despite her braces, bad complexion, and extra weight) encounters what is still thought of today as the crime from which no woman can ever really recover. In an account that is at once heartrending and hilarious, we see Alice's spirit prevail as she struggles to have a normal college experience in the aftermath of this harrowing, life-changing event.<P>No less gripping is the almost unbelievable role that coincidence plays in the unfolding of Sebold's narrative. Her case, placed in the inactive file, is miraculously opened again six months later when she sees her rapist on the street. This begins the long road to what dominates these pages: the struggle for triumph and understanding -- in the courtroom and outside in the world.<P><I>Lucky</I> is, quite simply, a real-life thriller. In its literary style and narrative tension we never lose sight of why this life story is worth reading. At the end we are left standing in the wake of devastating violence, and, like the writer, we have come to know what it means to survive.<P> 1822441 book 1999 Lucky total:13712|5:2699|4:5412|3:4302|2:1060|1:239| 13712 50408 17870 1639 4 19 false false Tue Nov 18 17:14:16 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 18 17:43:28 -0800 2008 This is what I remember.

This is the first line in Lucky, Alice Sebold's rape/survival memoir, which begins in media res, as Sebold is violently sexually assaulted.

Before this beginning, however, Sebold presents a short, lyrical prologue, in which the title of the book is ex...more...]]> 3 7 false false Wed Jun 11 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 01 04:59:57 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 11 05:22:05 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 6 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Thu Jun 28 15:19:42 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 28 15:25:44 -0700 2007 Lovely Bones, in part because i wanted to see how she dealt with her own history, in part because well, i'm a sucker for memoirs. i classify this as a crazypeoplememoir not lightly - my definition of "crazy" is a little loose.

alice sebold was raped b...more...]]> 4 4 false false Sun Aug 20 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Mon Jun 16 01:26:38 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 01:26:53 -0700 2008 "It is not just forcible intercourse; rape means to inhabit and destroy everything" (p.123). No wonder it had taken so long for Alice to come to terms with it. Such brutal destruction of everything one knew and was could not be overcome quickly or easily. I found ...more...]]> 4 2 false false Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Thu May 10 08:42:51 -0700 2007 Thu May 10 08:43:18 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 2 false false Wed Aug 23 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Mon Jan 28 10:14:52 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 28 10:27:46 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 1 false false Tue Mar 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 03 11:30:26 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 10 12:53:27 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 2 false false Fri Jul 11 20:22:07 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 17 13:16:50 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jul 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 21 19:19:05 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 15 10:36:26 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 2 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 04 18:21:01 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 04 18:28:13 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 03 23:13:22 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 03 23:18:45 -0700 2007
From the very beginning, I was impressed with Sebold and the actions she chose to take regarding her rape: dealing with everyone’s mixed emotions, going back to school where s...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Nov 14 20:04:02 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 10 09:56:29 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 27 16:36:40 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 24 21:39:32 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 2 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 03 08:38:02 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 03 08:47:26 -0800 2009 3 1 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 30 20:59:51 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 10 09:36:25 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 30 16:51:27 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 30 16:52:04 -0800 2007 more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Mar 11 20:35:33 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 11 20:49:53 -0700 2009   Lucky is about Alice Sebold and her life after she had been raped in a tunnel. S...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Fri Jan 02 19:23:05 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 02 19:25:31 -0800 2009 The Lovely Bones, but I didn't know it was a full-on straight-talk version of her actual story.

My thoughts? They are many and random:...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Jan 02 13:55:29 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 02 13:56:24 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Aug 05 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Thu Jan 01 16:59:11 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 01 16:59:11 -0800 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=82970