tash1531718's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Racism, Drug use, and Drug abuse
alexthereadingdragon's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, and Drug abuse
Minor: Incest
giftofbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.75
This was a hard read, especially with recent events surrounding this story. She doesn’t pull punches when she’s describing the process of being raped. And how the trauma doesn’t stop after the success of the trial during the time. She still had so many issues after it all happened.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Rape
emlovely's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
tosiapoleszak's review against another edition
4.0
heartbreaking is the word to describe this book. I had no idea what I was getting into first of all (I recommend you search up the TWs) but either way, I was lucky for it not to bother me as much. as I had read Sebold’s ‘The Lovely Bones’ I had an average idea of the plot for this but I was extremely shocked when I found out it was actually Alice’s story. The emotions she persuades you to feel are amazing and she tells it in such an innocent yet gut-wrenching way. I absolutely loved it. It put my mind in another perspective.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
gscully21's review against another edition
I started this memoir not connecting it with the overturned conviction case from late last year. Eventually I connected the dots and once I reached the section where she identifies her attacker, I couldn’t continue knowing it was based on a false identification. Nothing on the writing, it just wasn’t nonfiction anymore.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual violence
james1star's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.5
TW: this book contains graphic descriptions of rape and sexual assault. Additionally, racism, misogyny, drug use, alcoholism, mental illness and other possible triggers are mentioned/alluded to.
It is so difficult to write a review for this book. It was an extremely difficult read - making me feel intense mental and physical emotions. From the get-go, Alice’s graphic retelling of her rape is not for the faint hearted but I do appreciate her matter of fact and ‘telling it like it is’ approach which continues throughout the book. Albeit hard to read and quite sickening in parts, I do feel it is worth reading. Her rape, her story and life is worth telling and we should always listen to those who have lived through such a traumatic event. It is sadly the case that rape victim’s stories of their experience is too often ignored, not believed, not taken seriously, not taken further, not given the full force of the law that it deserves and so it brings up the point of discussion that a whole rejigging of the police system and law enforcement needs to occur to drive it home that victims matter, their stories matter and rape needs to be a thing banished to history.
Coming back to the book (I will touch on the trial effects later), it is written very well. Alice paints a very vivid image in your mind as to what is being described and brings out intense emotions in the reader. This is very well done and the memoir does flow well. You are gripped and want to read on. If it was a piece of fiction I personally would have ended it after chapter 12, this seems like a good ending - you have accompanied Alice through an extremely difficult event, it’s affect on her and her relationships with friends and family, her studies and future, you have felt her emotions in the poem (my personal highlight - the anger and revenge portrayed speaks volumes “I need the blood of your hide
on my hands. I want to kill you with boots and guns and glass.
I want to fuck you with knives. Come to me, Come to me, Come die and lie, beside me.” Is a snippet) and have been through the trial with her, all the questioning and tension she is feeling but perfect professionalism (and bit of one-upping her opponent in parts) despite being so young, she gets the outcome we all wanted, shows signs of recovery and starting to get her life back. But… it’s not fiction, it’s her memoir and the events in the last chapter and aftermath (slightly glossed over and rushed in my opinion) did happen and as horrifying as they are, are part of her story which needed to be shared.
As a book alone, I believe it is really well written and flows great - the topic is obviously not pleasant but it is gripping, emotive and you do want to read on. Now that being said, the fact that the man accused and jailed for her rape was innocent makes it very hard to fully comprehend this book. On this matter, Alice clearly has PTSD from the rape and it’s brutality affected her in profound ways. I would like to believe she wasn’t lying and accusing the man for the sake of it, she did believe him to be the man who raped her and whom she saw on the street in the fall of that same year. The police system are at larger fault with dependance on the hair testing (later considered unreliable) and how they may have just thought he was the same person the officer had seen when Alice did. I am not downplaying the horrific and unjust fact that an innocent man lost 16 years of his life spent in prison and other long term impacts on relationships, employment and so on but reviewers flat out saying Alice lied I believe to be wrong. I believe, not know. She did, in my opinion, have certainty that that was the same man who raped her, who she saw again on the street and who was on trial, the fact it wasn’t is due to her PTSD and probable other mental health issues.
To end this very hard review, a quote quite early on in the book really stuck with me:
“The cosmetics of rape are central to proving any case. So far, in appearance, I was two for two: I wore loose, unenticing clothes; I had clearly been beaten. Add this to my virginity, and you will begin to understand much of what matters inside the courtroom.”
This was her take on a rape that occurred in 1981, wrote about in 1999 but sadly remains true in 2022. Too often the ‘cosmetics of rape’ are focused on when in reality it doesn’t matter. A rape doesn’t occur because of anything other then a rapist committed a rape - doesn’t matter to who, what they were wearing, if they were drunk or high, what their gender, sexuality, age or anything. Never blame the victim.
Another quote, this from the trial section follows:
“I will seething. I had gotten my energy back because what my clothes had to do with why or how I was raped seemed obvious: nothing.”
Exactly that.
It is so difficult to write a review for this book. It was an extremely difficult read - making me feel intense mental and physical emotions. From the get-go, Alice’s graphic retelling of her rape is not for the faint hearted but I do appreciate her matter of fact and ‘telling it like it is’ approach which continues throughout the book. Albeit hard to read and quite sickening in parts, I do feel it is worth reading. Her rape, her story and life is worth telling and we should always listen to those who have lived through such a traumatic event. It is sadly the case that rape victim’s stories of their experience is too often ignored, not believed, not taken seriously, not taken further, not given the full force of the law that it deserves and so it brings up the point of discussion that a whole rejigging of the police system and law enforcement needs to occur to drive it home that victims matter, their stories matter and rape needs to be a thing banished to history.
Coming back to the book (I will touch on the trial effects later), it is written very well. Alice paints a very vivid image in your mind as to what is being described and brings out intense emotions in the reader. This is very well done and the memoir does flow well. You are gripped and want to read on. If it was a piece of fiction I personally would have ended it after chapter 12, this seems like a good ending - you have accompanied Alice through an extremely difficult event, it’s affect on her and her relationships with friends and family, her studies and future, you have felt her emotions in the poem (my personal highlight - the anger and revenge portrayed speaks volumes “I need the blood of your hide
on my hands. I want to kill you with boots and guns and glass.
I want to fuck you with knives. Come to me, Come to me, Come die and lie, beside me.” Is a snippet) and have been through the trial with her, all the questioning and tension she is feeling but perfect professionalism (and bit of one-upping her opponent in parts) despite being so young, she gets the outcome we all wanted, shows signs of recovery and starting to get her life back. But… it’s not fiction, it’s her memoir and the events in the last chapter and aftermath (slightly glossed over and rushed in my opinion) did happen and as horrifying as they are, are part of her story which needed to be shared.
As a book alone, I believe it is really well written and flows great - the topic is obviously not pleasant but it is gripping, emotive and you do want to read on. Now that being said, the fact that the man accused and jailed for her rape was innocent makes it very hard to fully comprehend this book. On this matter, Alice clearly has PTSD from the rape and it’s brutality affected her in profound ways. I would like to believe she wasn’t lying and accusing the man for the sake of it, she did believe him to be the man who raped her and whom she saw on the street in the fall of that same year. The police system are at larger fault with dependance on the hair testing (later considered unreliable) and how they may have just thought he was the same person the officer had seen when Alice did. I am not downplaying the horrific and unjust fact that an innocent man lost 16 years of his life spent in prison and other long term impacts on relationships, employment and so on but reviewers flat out saying Alice lied I believe to be wrong. I believe, not know. She did, in my opinion, have certainty that that was the same man who raped her, who she saw again on the street and who was on trial, the fact it wasn’t is due to her PTSD and probable other mental health issues.
To end this very hard review, a quote quite early on in the book really stuck with me:
“The cosmetics of rape are central to proving any case. So far, in appearance, I was two for two: I wore loose, unenticing clothes; I had clearly been beaten. Add this to my virginity, and you will begin to understand much of what matters inside the courtroom.”
This was her take on a rape that occurred in 1981, wrote about in 1999 but sadly remains true in 2022. Too often the ‘cosmetics of rape’ are focused on when in reality it doesn’t matter. A rape doesn’t occur because of anything other then a rapist committed a rape - doesn’t matter to who, what they were wearing, if they were drunk or high, what their gender, sexuality, age or anything. Never blame the victim.
Another quote, this from the trial section follows:
“I will seething. I had gotten my energy back because what my clothes had to do with why or how I was raped seemed obvious: nothing.”
Exactly that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Misogyny, Mental illness, Racism, Blood, Drug abuse, and Drug use
rainrkive's review against another edition
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
jodieworton's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
2.0
This book I picked up from a charity shop. Before reading on, please note the following Trigger Warnings:
Rape, Sexual Assault.
This book was the first memoir I have read and the content was quite difficult to read.
This review will not focus majorly on the story as this is a persons truth, it will instead focus on how it was written and how it made me feel.
Firstly the book centres around the authors story of Rape, you read through the rape itself, the aftermath, the incarceration of her rapist and the future.
The narrative around the rape is brutal, raw and honest, with all the feelings she felt in that moment and subsequently for the rest of her life.
For clarity and I think it’s important to note, the author and victim of the Rape is a white cis woman, and her rapist a black cis man. This is a thread that is presented all the way through the memoir. After the rape, a few months later she sees a man who she thinks is her rapist and reports this to the police.
This leads to the man accused being incarcerated for 16 years*
The book feels like it’s written by a person who is out of touch with the modern world, I understand it was written in 1999 and for events that occurred in the 80s but some of the language used was uncomfortable and I found myself frowning a lot.
*After reading Lucky I wanted to read further on the news story. In 2021, the man who was accused of her rape was cleared of all charges and was confirmed to be a wrongful conviction. Alice Sebold has since issued an apology. Lucky's publisher announced that it would stop distributing the memoir while working with Ms Sebold to "consider how the work might be revised".
Rape, Sexual Assault.
This book was the first memoir I have read and the content was quite difficult to read.
This review will not focus majorly on the story as this is a persons truth, it will instead focus on how it was written and how it made me feel.
Firstly the book centres around the authors story of Rape, you read through the rape itself, the aftermath, the incarceration of her rapist and the future.
The narrative around the rape is brutal, raw and honest, with all the feelings she felt in that moment and subsequently for the rest of her life.
For clarity and I think it’s important to note, the author and victim of the Rape is a white cis woman, and her rapist a black cis man. This is a thread that is presented all the way through the memoir. After the rape, a few months later she sees a man who she thinks is her rapist and reports this to the police.
This leads to the man accused being incarcerated for 16 years*
The book feels like it’s written by a person who is out of touch with the modern world, I understand it was written in 1999 and for events that occurred in the 80s but some of the language used was uncomfortable and I found myself frowning a lot.
*After reading Lucky I wanted to read further on the news story. In 2021, the man who was accused of her rape was cleared of all charges and was confirmed to be a wrongful conviction. Alice Sebold has since issued an apology. Lucky's publisher announced that it would stop distributing the memoir while working with Ms Sebold to "consider how the work might be revised".
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexual violence