Look at Him

Look at him – a book about the loss of a child. This is documentary prose in which Anna Starobinets takes the reader through all the horror and sorrow she once experienced – from the moment when she is told... during an examination that the fetus has no chance of surviving, to the moment of the final farewell with the infant who lived for less than a few minutes. On one hand, this is a very personal book, a detailed and at times ruthless self-analysis, a look at maternal despair from the inside. On the other hand, it is a challenge to the Russian medical system, a disagreement with the inhumanity of its approach, a call to establish an ethical protocol. By articulating her experiences, the author advocates for the removal of the taboo on the topic of abortion due to the child’s non-viability. But first and foremost, Starobinets speaks of her personal grief and creates a book about how not to lose oneself after losing one’s child.