Ironically titled "Lucky," Alice Sebold's, author of the bestseller "The Lovely Bones," newest novel is a remarkable memoir of the obstacles she faced as a result of being raped by a stranger in her freshman year at Syracuse University. Sebold provides us with an easy read but a difficult subject matter. It not only provides the reader with a profound understanding of her emotional path to recovery, but also of the shortcomings of the legal system that hindered a prompt arrest of her rapist.One important point "Lucky" makes is the rape was not a single incident which impacted only Sebold, but her friends and family as well. Rape is often viewed as a single-victim crime. Well, this novel proves otherwise. Not only is the direct victim left to deal with the even for the rest of his or her life, but all of their friends and family experience a change as well. Both behaviorally and mentally, those surrounding the rape victim are forced to readjust their lives according to what happened to just one person. And the rape continued to effect Sebold, permeating her life in ways that she had not imagined it could. It drastically altered the way in which the people around her viewed and treated her. Sebold came to recognize that her true friends were those who helped her in her time of trouble and did not walk away from her in her pain and suffering.

Legally, Sebold was presented with various perspectives on her case. The police considered her lucky for not being killed the night of her rape. And stranger rape is one of the hardest crimes to solve. Without any promising leads or suspects singled out from the people who were around her every day, the police had little or nothing to go on in their investigation. Sebold found herself, like other victims of stranger rape, in the difficult position of being in a lot of emotional, mental, and physical pain, while the police seemed to sit by and do nothing.

And Sebold had more issues that compounded the trauma of her rape. Not only was she just beginning a new stage in her life as a college student on her own, but she was also a virgin and unfamiliar with the facts and details of sex itself. She had trouble understanding the way the police could downscale an event that caused her such trauma. What was deeply hurtful and personal for her, seemed like just another crime to the police. It seemed they had no understanding of her private torment. Sebold also came to the conclusion that her rape did not strip her of her virginity due to the fact that it was not an act of mutual consent. Her decision to give herself to another would remain only hers and could not be taken.

As a raw emotional account of an experience that no human should have to bear, this book is extremely compelling. It is a lesson in disrespect and blind hatred. One feels sympathy for Sebold but also inspiration for her bravery and grace. Her wisdom is apparent in her notion that "You save yourself or you remain unsaved." By the end of the novel, we see a woman who, rather than continuing to live as a victim, has turned her life around and byturning her trauma into truth and gained an innate sense of accomplishment and pride.

Alice Sebold has created a true account of her ordeal. But, she guards the reader slightly by placing many of the most miserabled times in her life in the "Aftermath" section of the novel. The last words of her story portray feelings of hope and regaining strength, but the events depicted in "Aftermath" contradict them. Still, this continues to support the novel's theme of lingering misery. Despite feeling that she had ceased to be a victim of her rape, the incident continues to haunt her in unexpected places.

"Lucky" is not a whimsical novel. Sebold writes honestly and intimately, throwing open the doors to her difficult and painful past. Sebold takes care to tell of her emotional journey and to provide a factual report as well. Her wit and truthfulness make her novel engaging and successful. This novel is highly recommended to anyone who is willing to share the trauma of a fellow human being. The reader will come to comprehend the sorrows of a victim of physical trauma, legal injustice, unthinking violence, and ignorance.