This should be required reading for anyone who wants to venture an opinion on a war that is not on their own soil. A stunning, heartbreaking account by a boundlessly courageous writer and war crimes researcher, who did not live to see this book go to print. Though Amelina was writing and editing this book before her brutal death at 37; her friends and editors often chose to leave the empty spaces and unfinished sentences just as they appeared in her notes. These gaps speak volumes. I was also moved by the instructions she explains for recording interviews with victims of war crimes. This is a level of humanity and empathy I had not even considered.

I want to say so much more about this, but they are only words that nobody really needs to read. Read her words—Victoria Amelina's account is breathtaking.

When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Victoria Amelina unexpectedly found herself working as a war crimes researcher and chronicling extraordinary women like herself who joined the resistance. This book is a compilation of her essays and notes.
Unfortunately, the author died before she could finish editing the book. Fortunately, her friends edited the book and included her edited essays, raw notes and unfinished essays. And in these cases, they were transparent about their work. That transparency helps to build trust with the readers.
I needed to read about real people who live in Ukraine. It's easy to say "those people" and move on to the rest of my day. But real people are hurting. Like the author says, "[There is a] wide spectrum of roles women can play and are playing within the war. It’s not only women combatants, but also women like mothers, women in captivity, women who become victims of rape, of torture, of trafficking—violently—and also roles like refugee mothers who go abroad and so on. We women of Ukraine are experiencing so many different emerging roles." We need to read their stories.
My favorite quotes:
"There are no clear rules for surviving the war. You can follow all the recommendations, go to bomb shelters in a timely fashion, carry a first aid kit , try to evacuate, and still get killed. There are no rules for surviving, but there are still rules for living . It was in our power to save bugs, cross the empty streets on a green light, be polite, be elegant, and be human."
"Russians have been committing horrible crimes for all these years, from Chechnya in the 90s to Ukraine since 2014. #Russians enjoy impunity. Europe enjoys their ballet and gas.”
"In the evening I find myself frozen in the shower. I remember what Oleksandra told me, you should put cream on your face just to start feeling something, at least the cream on your face...It’s cold, soft and it smells of clay. I’m alive."

A Ukrainian novelist turns her talents to documenting ordinary citizens' lives during Russia's 2022 invasion of her country.
Victoria Amelina was an award-winning novelist and children's author living in Kyiv. Like so many others, her life changed on February 24, 2022, when Russian bombs began falling on her country. Deciding that the role of novelist was irrelevant in wartime, she began a nonfiction account of her experiences during the conflict. The narrative began as a wartime diary chronicling her own transformation from offering shelter to refugees to investigating war crimes (see Beyond the Book for a history of the conflict). She felt, though, that the stories she truly wanted to tell were of the many remarkable women she met who were actively countering Russian aggression. Her story and theirs are woven together into Amelina's only nonfiction work, Looking at Women Looking at War.

The fact that the book made it to print at all is remarkable; it was only 60 percent complete when the author died during the summer of 2023 of injuries incurred in a Russian missile attack. Her husband and several friends decided the account was too important to lose and worked tirelessly assembling the fragments into something that could be published.

The result is unlike any narrative I've experienced—and I use the word "experienced" deliberately here. The book isn't an uninterrupted linear tale with a definable narrative arc. Instead, as Amelina travels more frequently to recently liberated zones within Ukraine, the text becomes ever more disjointed. Some pages contain nothing but disconnected, incomplete sentences ("impunity … helplessness of the … security council, France … tribunal-open for talk; ICC doesn't support that … radbez"). Some chapters contain a title but no other content. Repetition is common and individuals and events are introduced without context. The effect is astonishing; Amelina's work comes across as raw and immediate—a work in progress that will never be finished. It felt not so much like reading a book as uncovering an ancient manuscript one must decipher. Although the author doesn't pack a lot of emotion into the text, it nevertheless prompts a visceral reaction.

That's not to say all of the book is fragmentary; its early sections are more complete and relay the author's reactions to events as they occur. She was with her 10-year-old son on vacation in Egypt on February 24, for example, unable to fly home to Ukraine. She writes of the experience:

"How does it feel to be stuck in an empty airport in a foreign country, knowing that the ruthless enemy is attacking the cities you love? I feel a mixture of fury, grief, and … relief. Yes, I also feel relieved. It seems shameful yet inescapable to feel this way, and I justify myself by thinking I'm not the only writer who has met the beginning of an apocalyptic war with something other than despair or anger."

The stories of the women she meets feel more distant. I can't help but wonder if their lives would have been more fleshed out had Amelina more time to do so. Still, she vividly portrays the actions these individuals take as their country falls apart. One woman stockpiles supplies in her basement and makes sure her children and grandchildren are safe before heading to the front lines to tend to the wounded. A children's writer reads urgent announcements at the railway station because she can translate the announcements into other languages on the fly. A human rights lawyer decides to join the army because she can shoot so well. Amelina describes these women and many others who take small actions that impact the well-being of others in an untenable situation.

Looking at Women Looking at War is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand what it's like to have a war raging in your country, or for those interested in the Russia-Ukraine War in particular. But readers need to approach the book with the understanding that it's an unusual and at times challenging read, due largely to its format. Those approaching it with expectations of a moving book about wartime or one that lays out the conflict's history may be disappointed. Readers who persist, though, will almost certainly find Amelina's work unforgettable.

I really wanted to like this book. Not necessarily enjoy but like the books. Harrowing experiences but the book falls flat. It implodes especially in the last half after the author passes. The war in Ukraine is a horrible time in history and I was hoping to glean more from the story but it was cumbersome at best. Thank to NetGalley for the read.

If ever I have read a book, one would not be more current that Looking at Women Looking at War. This incomplete work, published posthumously, reads like a diary from the front line. Because it is. The Ukraine War has destroyed livelihoods, lives, and entire families. This book is the story of the strong Ukraine women (with a few men as well) and their fight for survival of not only themselves but their entire heritage. Interwoven with regional history we seem immune to in the West, this is an essential book for readers seeking to understand rather than pass judgement from their American (probably made in China) recliners.

As a cystic fibrosis (CF) pharmacist, I was not expecting to encounter a CF story, let alone one which mentions groundbreaking CFTR modulator therapies, midway through. It broke my heart and stomped on it. Where is this child tonight? Can I or anyone help her?

4 stars only for the difficulty in reading an incomplete work. What was finished was 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy of this book.

What a powerful read, and an important book that is encased in tragedy. Women bear the brunt of war often, and I deeply appreciate that this journalist worked to lift the voices of women who have been impacted by the war in Ukraine - ultimately losing her life to the war too.

Cannot recommend this read enough.

Absolutely crushing account of the early days of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia from the perspective of novelist Amelina and her decision to not only chronicle the conflict but throw herself into it. A collection of her thoughts, notes on war crimes committed by Russian troops, and interviews with women affected by the war, this diary completed posthumously by her friends after she was killed in the fighting is harrowing and so important. I think all of us thought by now it would be over, but it is heartbreakingly still going on. Please let it not continue to take lives and dignity.

Thank you to NetGalley for my digital copy. These opinions are my own.

This woman named Vic TORI. Was very courageous as she wrote about the war in Ukraine.. This book was very informative and how she told the history of Ukraine It was an interesting way to read this book. Because every chapter had a different meaning to it. A lot of people suffer and she knew these people are wrong. Especially like the part about Ukraine in the 30s and how these people are starving and murdered by the Soviet union military There was A p a r t where they were taken We're eventually taken away to be killed. This was really interesting because some of the really famous writers. She Talk about schools and buildings being Destroyed. These people.
Were very courageous and had keep going no matter what. They have to go through checkpoints. Just to go around it must be very hard. One of the things She talked How her friend was taken at a checkpoint and the family trying to get him back, but it was very hard and it was very interesting.What this person went through. She's a very Courageous To write this book. She became a spokesman for this and it was very interesting how she looked at war. Great.
Book.....

Looking at Women Looking At War is written by a Ukrainian novelist, Victoria Amelina, who, after the Russian full-scale invasion, joined the war crime research team to document war crimes committed by Russian forces. Victoria and her team traveled throughout Ukraine to the frontline and newly liberated towns and villages to collect testimonies about torture, rape, kidnappings, executions, bombings of civilian infrastructure, and destruction of Ukrainian cultural heritage, all committed by Russians.

Victoria Amelina chose to structure the book around the stories of women and the new roles many were forced to take on during the war: a lawyer who enlists in the army, a writer who becomes a war crime researcher, ordinary women, who come together to organize supplies for Ukrainian soldiers or help evacuate refugees from occupied territories. Victoria was not able to finish her book because she, herself, became a victim of a war crime. She was gravely injured and passed away as a result, following the Russian bombing of a cafe in the city of Kramatorsk.

Victoria was murdered by Russians, but her voice was not silenced and her book was published posthumously. Some chapters are finished and some only have fragments, ideas, and unfinished sentences that Victoria didn't have a chance to develop. When you read the book and come across unfinished sentences, it really hits you that the reason they are unfinished is because the author was killed. Looking at Women Looking at War is not an easy read, because of the horrors described in the book and the unfinished structure, but it is such an important read! I am very grateful that her US publisher, St. Martin's Press, proceeded with the publication. Looking at Women Looking at War is a powerful, moving war-time diary and a must-read.

This is book is a tough read because it is one of the most powerful books you'll read all year. WhenI got the blurb for the book I knew I had to be ready to read such a book. There would be no happy ending. It's a true story which make it all the more painful. The book is about Victoria Amelina a Ukranian poet. She was ariting a ook about Ukraine the hell it has been going through with the invasion. She meets people who are part of her book. She needs to tell th wrold what her people are going through. She is basically living her dream even though she is living in a hellscape. Without women like her getting the stories of civilians we would never understand the victims and sadness they are going through. All the innocent lives lost. These are the kind of books that get my juices flwoing because I always want to believe that if humankind hears stories like this that we will never seek war and strive for peace because what kind of person would want to put other people through stories like these. Sadly the author was having dinner one night and a bomb fell where she and her friends were eating and ended her life. I give it six stars. Something has to end the madness of the this war. PLEASE READ IT. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Marrtins Press. I don't I'll ever forget this book.

This is an incredibly difficult book to read and even more impossible to rate. I will give 5 stars as I am not able to see how to give anything else. Victoria Amelina was working on this book when she was killed by a Russian missile. It is created by the work she left behind, and filled in as her colleagues and friends were able to do so. Much of the book is unfinished or in note form. What I could read clearly was horrifying, heartbreaking, and infuriating, and I think that was what the original author intended us to feel. I tried to absorb as much of what she had been able to put to paper as possible. I found myself over and over wishing I had full sentences, or full descriptions, or endings to stories. All of which to say - it's so very tragic that we lost this remarkable woman Victoria Amelina far too soon, before she could truly accomplish what she set out to do. I am grateful to those who helped to bring her work forward so we could be exposed to it.

This was both an unsettling and a very powerful read. Knowing from the get-go that Amelina doesn't survive and that her manuscript is unfinished is a poignant reminder of the senselessness of war. Seeing so directly on the page her unfinished thoughts, phrases and ultimately the stories of the women she strove to document, it's a testament to the work of the editors who worked tirelessly on this book to ensure it came together in a way that respects her plan and style.

This story is really a collection of stories that woven together form the story of men and women, Ukrainians, who fought in a myriad of different ways from February 2022 onwards. And we learn, that they have been fighting through their art for decades.

This book has significance as a journal on the impact the Ukraine war has on its citizen's. The stories told within the pages and the tragedy of the authors life cut short is heart wrenching to read.
I personally struggled with the disconnected style of writing and the jumping between individuals stories. Maybe the chaos of this was deliberate to mirror the chaos of life in Ukraine for those living in the midst of the war.
I applaud every one of the women within these pages for their bravery.
Thank-you Netgalley for the ARC.

The end of the world isn’t as quick as everyone imagines; there’s time to learn. Yet there are no instructions. from Looking at Women Looking at War by Victoria Amelina

I put off reading this book, and then reluctantly picked it up. I knew it would not be an easy book to read, especially under the current president, knowing that my country is pulling back support for the Ukraine.

The author was a novelist and mother when Russia began its war to take over her country. She became a war crimes researcher. What she documents is horrifying. She died in the war, leaving an incomplete manuscript.

The unfinished sentences, chapters, and stories do not detract, but amplify the incomplete lives lost in the war.

The truth is, sometimes, tired of crying or of being unable to cry, we laugh like crazy as if proving that here we are, Ukrainians, still alive. from Looking at Women Looking at War by Victoria Amelina

But the book is not only documents sorrow and pain and loss and ruin. Portraits of resistance fighters and documenters of war crimes illuminate the narrative with their courage and righteousness. Women who risked all to tell the truth, to do what was right.

We are at a point in history when the future looks dark. We need inspiring examples of courage, like Victoria Amelina.

…evil is not somewhere in the past; it is here. from Looking at Women Looking at War by Victoria Amelina

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.

My current read is LOOKING AT WOMEN LOOKING AT WAR, an in depth, inside look at the war in Ukraine from a woman that was “boots on the ground” through much of it.

Amelina documents stories from extraordinary women that join the resistance. Evgenia was a lawyer turned soldier, Oleksandra, who documented thousands of war crimes and won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. Yulia, a librarian who helped uncover the abduction and murder of a children’s book author.

Everyone knew she was documenting the war- photographs of school ruins, testimonies, eyewitness to atrocities. She began writing what would become this book.

On June 27th, 2023 she was having some dinner with a few other writers when a Russian cruise missile hit the restaurant, causing her serious head injuries, which she succumbed to on July 1st at the age of 37.

This account chronicles the ravages of war- the cost of resistance- including death.

This is one of those nonfiction pieces that despite mood or otherwise, it should be read. We should know. We should honor women like Victoria Amelina.

Happy Posthumous Pub Day to Victoria Amelina. Thank you for sharing this with the world!

It is painful, tragic, sad and upsetting to come to this book knowing that its young (37), brave, fierce, talented author is no longer alive. Amelina was killed in Ukraine when she was out having pizza with other writers. Just knowing this, brings all of the horrors of the Ukraine war to light. So many innocent people have been caught up in events that did not have to be.

Left behind is this work which will, I think, become a classic. It looks at war’s impact on women and the resistance that they wage. It is beautifully written and unfinished for reasons that the reader knows. This greatly adds to its impact.

This is not an easy book to read but it needs to be read. I recommend it most highly.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this title. All opinions are my own.

This book was unlike any other I've read. Victoria's strength and dedication is admirable. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about the events in Ukraine.

Looking at Women Looking at War: A War and Justice Diary
Victoria Amelina
foreword by Margaret Atwood
St. Martin’s Press, 2025

I am endlessly thankful that editors proceeded with the publication of “Looking at Women Looking at War: A War and Justice Diary” despite the two-thirds complete manuscript at the time of Victoria Amelina’s death by airstrike in Ukraine in July 2023.

My previous lack of awareness of her writing prowess, combined with Amelina’s training as a war researcher with Truth Hounds, made this book all the more enticing. A heartrending read on the horrors of war, especially when directed at children, or when rape is used as a weapon.

Amelina’s ability to home in on the details of war research, probably from her years as a novelist and children’s book author, directs the reader’s eye to the idiosyncrasies of contemporary warfare: holes blown in kindergarten classroom ceilings and cartoon-covered walls, for example.

Thank you to the friends and family of Victoria Amelina, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the eARC.

An interesting book... definitely sad yet the women are so relatable. Read if you are interested in the Ukraine War and what ordinary people have had to live with. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. #sponsored

The urgency of this posthumous memoir was underscored last week when U.S. Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, said at a NATO meeting in Brussels that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is “an unrealistic objective” and an “illusionary goal” in the peace settlement between Ukraine and Russia that President Trump wants to accomplish.

Victoria Amelina was a well-known novelist and the director of a literary festival in the Donetsk region who turned to war reporting, interviewing witnesses and survivors for the Ukrainian organization Truth Hounds. She and her son had been vacationing in Egypt when the full-scale Russian -Ukrainian war began on February 23, 2022. She left her son in Poland and returned to her apartment in Lviv, which she later turned into a shelter for the displaced. She had promised her son that she would return to Poland soon, but she admits “I lied to my child, and I will keep lying; war is a source of bad habits.” Her reaction to the war, when she returned to Ukraine, was, oddly, one of relief. She explains, “I’m not the only writer who has met the beginning of an apocalyptic war with something other than despair or anger. * * * The season of phantasmal peace is over.”

Amelina captures in brief vignettes Ukrainian citizens, predominately from the arts, who were impacted by the Russian occupation. She describes how the downing of a single Russian helicopter shattered for Ukrainians “the entire myth of Russian Invisibility.” She speaks with a woman, Iryna, about the horrendous days she had spent in Russian captivity in 2014, a victim of gender-based violence. A photo of Iryna had appeared in the New York Times prompting her miraculous release; however, despite her husband’s efforts to purchase her safety in Kyiv, “Iryna is waiting for the attack on her new home, new garden, and new life. She ran away, but Russia is catching up.” Amelina interviews a museum director who worked with her staff and defense soldiers to load the manuscripts, letters and first editions of the Ukrainian writers of the twentieth century on a train heading west, and a librarian who felt duty-bound to keep the library open as it served as “a help center for the elderly, a safe space for women, and a club for children.” She reports on a renowned artist of the sixties who dies in her own home of hunger, an owner of a beauty parlor who, at sixty-years-old, worked as a combat paramedic, a lawyer who defends against grave human rights violations, such as the transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia, and an elderly man who lost his animals to Russian offenders and, with the animals, went his sense of purpose in life. Amidst these horrors, she also reports on the efforts of a group of people to save a beetle stuck on a crowded train platform in Kharkiv, and “how much we all laugh during this horrible war. We may not do it that much in front of the foreign reporters, who mostly expect to see Ukrainian women’s despair or heroism, The truth is, sometimes, tried or crying or of being unable to cry, we laugh like crazy as if proving that here we are, Ukrainians, still alive.”

Amelina was killed by Russian missiles at a Kramatorsk restaurant in the summer of 2023, and she had not completed her book at the time of her death. Her editors have heavily footnoted the book to give the reader context and have meticulously noted where they have tinkered with incomplete text. The inclusion of Amelina’s unedited notes underline the tragedy of her death in a Russian missile strike. This is a beautifully rendered compilation with writing that is urgent, messy and personal. Thank you St. Martin’s Press and Net Galley for an advance copy of this important book.