LITTLE FOXES TOOK UP MATCHES
A powerful story of sexual awakening and acceptance voiced by an unforgettable protagonist coming of age in post-Soviet Russia.
When Mitya was two years old, he swallowed his grandmother’s sewing needle. For his family, it marks the beginning of the end, the promise of certain death. For Mitya, it is a small, metal treasure that guides him from within. As he grows, his life mirrors the uncertain future of his country, which is attempting to rebuild itself after the collapse of the Soviet Union, torn between its past and the promise of modern freedom. Mitya finds himself facing a different sort of ambiguity: is he a boy,
A powerful story of sexual awakening and acceptance voiced by an unforgettable protagonist coming of age in post-Soviet Russia.
When Mitya was two years old, he swallowed his grandmother’s sewing needle. For his family, it marks the beginning of the end, the promise of certain death. For Mitya, it is a small, metal treasure that guides him from within. As he grows, his life mirrors the uncertain future of his country, which is attempting to rebuild itself after the collapse of the Soviet Union, torn between its past and the promise of modern freedom. Mitya finds himself facing a different sort of ambiguity: is he a boy, as everyone keeps telling him, or is he not quite a boy, as he often feels?
After suffering horrific abuse from his cousin Vovka who has returned broken from war, Mitya embarks on a journey across underground Moscow to find something better, a place to belong. His experiences are interlaced with a retelling of a foundational Russian fairytale, Koschei the Deathless, offering an element of fantasy to the brutal realities of Mitya’s everyday life.
Told with deep empathy, humor, and a bit of surreality, Little Foxes Took Up Matches is a revelation about the life of one community in a country of turmoil and upheaval, glimpsed through the eyes of a precocious and empathetic child, whose heart and mind understand that there are often more than two choices. An arresting coming of age, an exploration of gender, a modern folktale, a comedy about family―Katya Kazbeck breaks out as a new voice to watch.
- Tin House
- Hardcover
- April 2022
- 350 Pages
- 9781953534026
Buy the Book
$26.95
About Katya Kazbek
Katya Kazbek is a bilingual Russian/English writer, translator, and editor who cofounded the online magazine Supamodu. A graduate of Parsons and Oxford’s writing program, Kazbek received her MFA from Columbia University. She lives between New York, New York, and Moscow, Russia.
Praise
A Most Anticipated Book of the Year at The Rumpus
“Sometimes in the face of perversity, neglect, and growing up in a rundown Moscow flat one-bedroom too small, one needs to do their own myth-making. And in this unflinching, yet achingly humorous look at millennial Russia, Katya Kazbek celebrates a wonderfully heroic self-deification. Proving we can become the gods and goddesses this world truly needs.”—Paul Beatty
“A rich and moving look at a child in the midst of self-discovery. As dark as a Brothers Grimm fairy tale—and as magical.”—Kirkus, starred review
“A coming of age story that is at times chilling and in equal moments heartfelt, and at the center of it, Mitya is simply trying to find his own way. Kazbek writes with a kind of urgency that makes her novel a true standout. Every page sparks with energy in this ambitious and original debut.”—BuzzFeed
“Many have tried and failed to summon the magic Katya Kazbek wields here as matter of factly as a switchblade. A relief, really, to read a debut novel as original as this—as cunning, wild and free.”—Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
“An unpredictable love story that is mesmeric, totally original, and deeply, deeply touching, Little Foxes Took Up Matches examines our competing human instincts to belong and to escape. Kazbek has reinvented—and bewitched—the coming-of-age genre, and I can’t wait to succumb to whatever magic she writes next.”—Courtney Maum, author of Costalegre
“A luscious modern queer fable drawn in post-Soviet Russian red lipstick. Kazbek’s dreamy family of misfits forged in the feminine occult will stay with you forever. Brava!”—Sophia Shalmiyev, author of Mother Winter
Discussion Questions
1. Little Foxes Took Up Matches opens with an introduction of Koschei the Deathless, and the folktale is woven throughout the novel—what does the fable add to Mitya’s story, both narratively and atmospherically?
2. The needle is a symbol throughout the narrative. What did it symbolize to Mitya? To Mitya’s family? To you?
3. Animals—crows, bees, foxes—also play an important role in the novel. What roles do they play in the story?
4. How does the neighborhood of Arbat, and Moscow as a whole, become an important character in the novel? What parts of the city are revealed to the reader?
5. How are historical events surrounding the collapse of the Soviet Union described through Mitya’s youthful perspective?
6. While left alone at home, Mitya decides to “explore the secret lives of his parents and grandmother.” How do personal and family secrets play a role in Mitya’s coming-of-age?
7. How would you characterize Mitya’s friendship with Marina? Who did you confide in most when you were young?
8. In an important moment of introspection, Mitya thinks that “he was the only one who could make everything right if he only believed in himself enough.” Has there been a moment in your life where you were your best advocate?
9. In what ways would this novel be different if it were written in first-person point-of-view?
10. What are your hopes for Mitya after the novel ends?