Reviews with content warning for Rape - Lucky

It feels odd, and almost wrong, to rate a memoir like this with a star rating, as if this book can be rated with an arbitrary system like that.

This was not easy to read, of course, and from the first page as Sebold launches straight into the night of her attack and rape, I was unsure if I could read this, unsure if I had the bravery and power in me to immerse myself in that kind of trauma.

But I am so glad I did. I cried so many times reading this book, but Sebold writes so well, allowing us full access into her thoughts, feelings and emotions, while also giving us the cold, hard facts, and entwining both of these things together, that it was hard to pull away from this. I have been reading this book for the past 4 days, and every moment I wasn’t reading this book, I was thinking of it. I feel like I know Sebold now, like an old friend almost, speaking so candidly and openly about her life and her time in college.

This book is ultimately about her rape and its consequences and how it definitively changed her life, but it expands on her life in college, her relationships with her family, her friends, boyfriends, her interests, her jobs, her studies, and all of the many nuanced people she meets along the way.

It offers a brilliant insight into the American judicial system which was fascinating, especially the long chapter about midway through which detailed the trial and the court proceedings. It ruminates on patriarchy, race, gender, sexuality and double standards.

Definitely a book I will be thinking about for a very long time.

Content Warnings