Lucky

Lucky by Alice Sebold

"In the tunnel where I was raped, a tunnel that was once an underground entry to an amphitheater, a place where actors burst forth from underneath the seats of a crowd, a girl had been murdered and dismembered. I was told this story by the police. In comparison, they said, I was lucky."

I'd had Lucky sitting on my bookshelf for over three years now. I got it after reading The Lovely Bones, an absolutely fantastic novel (see post), but I was reluctant to start reading it because, based on the subject matter, I expected it to be a very difficult read. I needed a non-fiction title for January's book of the month so I decided to give it a chance. When I did, I was pleasantly surprised. While Lucky is not a fun read, it was much less arduous than I expected it to be. That's not to say that the memoir isn't both brutally honest and graphic.

Lucky begins with the rape, but its scope is much broader. Readers follow Sebold through her recovery, the rapist's trial, revelations of other rapes (both close to home and not), and what might be the most horrific thing of all. Through it all Sebold's openness and honesty is what makes the book accessible.

I'll be posting about Lucky on the student services blog next week.