Like a modern de Tocqueville, Rushdie has taken notes on the country, from sea to shining sea, and has set his observations loose on the page. settings, but this is the first Rushdie novel which can truly be called American. Other novels, like 1999s' The Ground Beneath Her Feet, have included U.S. The author moved to this country at the beginning of 2000 and Fury takes on an autobiographical slant as its protagonist, Malik Solanka, also moves here from England (no fatwa nipping at the character's heels, though). Sometimes it's a welcome relief to read Play-Doh literature. After all, no one in real life speaks in gargantuan monologues that go on for pages but realism hardly seems to matter when we settle in with Rushdie. They are as much puppets as they are people. The cast of characters sometimes comes off as types to be used at Rushdie's disposal to put forth his big, boiling ideas. But don't let size fool you - this is compact, complex and condensed magical realism at its best. It's also one of his slimmest, weighing in around 260 pages. This is Rushdie's letter to America and it is full of vitriol. It is a festering boil of a book - restless, energetic and, yes, furious. You can see what he does with prose on every page of his new novel, Fury. Language is pliable in Rushdie's hands syllables stretch, vowels leap to new heights, consonants turn cartwheels. Salman Rushdie uses words the way some four-year-olds use Play-Doh: squeeze it, mold it, roll it, braid it and, in a few cases, eat it.

Fury rushdie novel