KASSANDRA AND THE WOLF

This sophisticated little monstrum horrendum (not at all like The Godsend, to follow) is described as ""the first novel to reveal infant female sexuality"" although Kassandra is six. Beyond her primal concerns, whether in dreams or for real, she's a real Katzenjammer Kid--cutting off the head and legs and arms of her new doll (""Now I love her very much""), or making pipis or poops on the floor, or singing ""Three Blind Mice"" with two forks in her hair, or biting her way through ten governesses. Author Karapanou is Greek and some of her Kassandra's experiences have appeared in avant garde periodicals over here. Her precocity may serve to provoke more purposeful interpretation--the comparisons to which you're directed are Beckett, Kafka, and Kosinski. Goodness knows, this is much S-M-aller stuff. But then curiosity kills the cat--oh no, that was Kassandra sticking needles in her kitten's eyes.