![]() ![]() The USSR has fallen, work is hard to come by, and corruption is plentiful. Kazbek is here to offer you another gateway drug into Russia, her people, her stories, and her history. This book, while steeped deeply in the dark and bitter tea of Russian folklore, is not about Bilibin. A sliver of his illustration, “ Vasilisa the Beautiful“, peeks through the cover of Katya Kazbek’s magical debut novel- Little Foxes Took Up Matches. Bilibin’s illustrations introduced many Western readers to the fascinating and often terrifying world of Russian folklore- if you can see Baba Yaga in your mind right now, you are probably thinking of Bilibin’s interpretation. What can I say? If a cover hints at Ivan Bilibin, I have to pick it up. I didn’t need to know anything else I had to read it. ![]() ![]() This novel called to me with a single image. Sometimes these tales are her takes on mythology, and sometimes they are the mythology of being a teenager: stolen booze, punk shows in abandoned buildings, utterly frightening sexual situations, and putting on your mom’s makeup while she’s at work. Katya Kazbek, who often works as a translator, holds the door open for the curious reader with snippets of fairy tales. Much like Mitya himself, this novel contains multitudes. Mitya is utterly convinced that no one has ever looked at two halves long enough, or attentively enough. Mitya is not good at math, as you can see. ![]()
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