In spite of what we must technically call Thomas Tryon's prose, his study of a Garbo character, a child prodigy, a failed actress and a decrepit Ronald Colman type, from Hollywood figures who are loosely associated in a particular film, has a curious, even an unaccountable readability. It appeals to that part of one's nature, at least if you were brought up on the films rather than the television, which rejoiced as the organ disappeared and the credits flicked up at the prospect of well-organised, nicely balanced dreams, of appalling acting, primitive morality, and the kind of suspense which could be relied on not to shock your susceptibilities but only to caress your expectations. The plots of the four contes of which Crowned Heads is composed certainly conform to this last point. Fedora-Garbo arranges her own immortality with the aid of an unknown daughter. Bobbit the child prodigy has an even more fantasy-saturated life after his childhood career is over than he ever did during it. Willie, the old charmer, comes to a grisly end, crucified in his own private chapel by a trio of teen-aged monsters. Lorna, the second-rank star, comes to her drink and drug-sodden conclusion in a sexually charged bout with a rattlesnake. This Lorna part of the novel seems to me much the most effective, bringing out in an intimate and painful way the corrupting effect of having to purvey the fantasies that simply titillate others. (p. 61)
William Walsh, in Books and Bookmen (© copyright William Walsh 1976; reprinted with permission), December, 1976.
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