Looking at Women Looking at War - Victoria Amelina

Written By Mona Angéline

In “Looking at Women Looking at War”, writer-turned-war-reporter Victoria Amelina compiled a first-hand account of her crime documentation in the recent Russo-Ukrainian war. A morbid irony has it that her book was unfinished as she became a victim of the very war she researched, succumbing to the aftereffects of a missile that hit the restaurant she visited. 


Since her death, her oeuvre d’art has been edited meticulously to form a comprehensive collection of stories, some as mundane as the mourning of a farmer’s goats, others detailing the atrocities in horrific narration.


I found myself engrossed in the countless short vignettes Amelina included. The confusion the many names and locations brought on soon became secondary to the overarching theme of despair, of resilience, of her dedication to telling the truth. Who knows if the book would have achieved a more concise narrative arc had the author survived? But one thing is clear–the version honoring her draft provides an almost encyclopedic reference documenting the endless cruelty against Ukrainians–and this book format is an accomplishment perhaps even greater than the expected outcome. An end result to celebrate and disseminate widely, posthumously.

Out February 18th, 2025

In gratitude to St. Martin’s Press for the Advance Reader’s Copy.

Mona Angéline

Mona Angéline is an unapologetically vulnerable writer, reader, book reviewer, artist, athlete, and scientist. She honors the creatively unconventional, the authentically "other". She shares her emotions because the world tends to hide theirs. She is a new writer, but her work was recently accepted in Flash Fiction Magazine, Grand Dame Literary, tiny wren lit, Down in the Dirt Magazine, The Viridian Door, The Machine, Whisky Blot Magazine, and The Academy of Mind and Heart. She loves to review books and has written them for the /tƐmz/ Review, the Ampersand Review, and the Beakful Litblog. Sooner or later she will have to condense this list… Mona is also a regular guest editor for scientific journals although she doesn't use a pen name when her engineering PhD degree is involved. She lives bicoastally in Santa Cruz, California, and in New York and savors life despite, or maybe because of, her significant struggles with chronic illness and mild disability. Learn about her musings at creativerunnings.com. Follow her on Instagram under @creativerunnings and on Twitter at @creativerunning.

https://creativerunnings.com
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Wild West Village - Lola Kirke