In society, there are few topics that feel as controversial as rape. It's a deeply traumatic and hateful act, attempting to rob people of their humanity. While it has become easier for people to talk about in light of The Me Too Movement, it's still difficult for people to understand the full experience, the way that it can alienate and create lingering insecurity in the survivors' lives. For Alice Sebold, she was told that she was "lucky" for a variety of reasons that ranged from having one of the few successful rape trials to something more important: being alive. Following a horrific, detailed opening passage, the memoir dives into the search for recovery and a sense of justice. It's an illuminating tale, bringing to life an uncomfortable experience that will hopefully educate and create a deeper empathy. In one woman's quest to move past her own trauma, she's written a powerful, essential story worthy of every page.
Everything begins in the tunnel. Without any build-up, Sebold drops the readers into the scenario, as if being caught off-guard. It's a moment that will be recalled several times throughout the narrative, finding her in one way or another unable to escape it. In this moment, it's the feeling of violation, rushed into the hospital in a flurry of disorientation. Lacerations will form around her throat, bruises, and tears all over her body. She has become something she's feared, that her mother as tried to warn her about. As she recovers, she finds things as simple as eating difficult due to its oral nature. Men suddenly seem predatory for simply existing. Sebold's blunt in her observations, reflecting insecurity that comes even from good-intentioned old ladies at church, wishing her luck.
"Lucky" is the study of a rape survivor that has an incredible impact simply for existing. As much as the story is a vulnerable look into herself, it's also a study of how society has trouble talking about such dark matters. Endless times she finds herself in public a notorious figure, struggling to be seen as something more on campus. In creative arts classes, she expresses herself with violent revenge fantasies. These outbursts reflect the raw nerve of someone frustrated at the world, looking for peace. In a lot of ways, Sebold is lucky not because she survived, but because she had people in her life to keep her company, to console her during a trial that causes every brutal detail to be recalled in vivid detail, sending her back into a mental struggle.
The reader comes away understanding how complicated a rape can be. It isn't just the action itself, but the way that the world sees them and vice versa. It's the sense of alienation that Sebold depicts, drawing the reader into something more complicated. While some may think that they understand the struggle, there's much more to it that is difficult and taxing. It's not something that one can get over in a quick turnaround, living with a guilt that spans decades for Sebold and eventually leads to a revelation. "Lucky" exists as her therapy, her need to come to terms with how she feels about things. It's only when others speak and listen that true healing can come. Even then, there's more heartbreak in the closing chapters that don't involve Sebold, whose compassion has grown. She has come to terms with a lot, and even then suggests that she has the ability to hold hell and good intentions in her hands simultaneously now.
Contrary to its dark subject matter, "Lucky" is a compulsory read, always drawing the reader in to each new detail, finding her family life informing her recovery while raising questions about how we treat those in our lives. There is a need for compassion, where being there is sometimes enough. Sebold gives advice on how to be a good ally, knowing on some level that there's little one can do to change the feelings inside. It's a struggle of the self, and the outcome is an encouraging one. The goal of making rape less taboo and easier to talk about, to deal with, is something that begins to be achieved by the end of "Lucky," and it's what makes the whole thing an impressive read. The reader feels a weight being lifted off of Sebold's shoulders, finding years of pain becoming easier to deal with. This will hopefully convince everyone reading not only of the seriousness of rape, but of respecting and loving those who unfortunately have experienced it.
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