Check to the Queen by Renato Ghiotto

KIRKUS REVIEW
Take a helping from The Servant and then push past it toward The Story of O and you have one of the more curious works of the new year. Heroine Silvia is a galloping narcissist who indulges in compulsive masochistic fantasies. When first met she is adrift after a broken marriage. She's rich, a self-indulgent extremist retreating from reality. She becomes a companion to Margaret, a screen-actress who cocoons herself on an estate over which she presides with pristine authority. Is she capable of becoming the woman tyrant so dominant in Silvia's dreams? O my! Almost, since it's psychological corruption and dehumanization from the word go. First as Silvia deliberately denigrates herself, transforming herself into objects--an ashtray, lamppost, pillow and then as Margaret enters into the madness -- into self-destructive forms of servility, ultimately ending up as a pet. Although the entire running narrative is gracefully presented (Ghiotto can write) the effects are smothering. Silvia herself finally sums it up ''God, what a bore this all is.'' Check.

--Pub Date: Jan. 1st, 1968