Lucky

Misty recommended that I read Lucky and lent it to me after I finished The Lovely Bones. This memoir is not for the faint of heart. It begins with a graphic description of her brutal rape. At the end, she leaves the reader with some hope, but this hope is only given after Alice loses nearly everything. The reader learns about the rape, the additional injuries caused by the criminal justice system, the often insensitive responses of others (including a terrible psychiatrist), her best friend's rape, and her alcohol and drug abuse before learning that she truly did emerge as a survivor.

While reading this, I kept asking myself if this was something I would/could/should recommend for clients. It is not unusual to have a client with some history of sexual trauma, and sometimes it helps to have something to read. I don't think I would recommend this to a survivor though because it may be too traumatizing. I think it might be good reading for a romantic partner or family member of a rape survivor. Although Alice's story is just her own, perhaps there are lessons in it for all of us who are confronted with rape/rape survivors. The last statistic I read on this matter was that 1 in 4 American women (1 in 4!) experiences sexual abuse and/or sexual assault during her lifetime. That means that every American is likely to know many women who have had unwanted sexual contact. This book may be a window into their experience, although reading the book is actually somewhat traumatizing.