Fury

Malik Solanka, inventor, philosopher and historian of ideas, has abandoned his wife and son in London. Seeking to escape from his rage and melancholy, from the narrowness and provincialism of academic life, and from the vulgar exploitation of Little Brain, the doll that he invented and that made him wealthy, he takes refuge in New York. In the summer of 2000, Manhattan is boiling in money and opportunity but teeming with anger and violence. It's a city where new restaurants open every hour and every type of luxury item can be found, but where men shoot stangers, children shoot friends and a serial killer stalks society women. But Solanka soon finds the pattern of his life in London being repeated in New York and discovers there is no escape. No escape from rage, whether in the ravings of taxi drivers or the murderous misogyny of friends. No escape from success, as he creates a new set of computer characters, the Puppet Kings, even more successful than Little Brain. No escape from the furies, as two new women, Mila Milo and the impossibly beautiful Neela Mahendra, join his wife and confront him at the end of the novel. As an outsider's portrait of America at the end of 'The American century' and the beginning of a new millennium, Fury may be heavy-handed and occasionally hackneyed. But it's also a novel that confronts big issues - personal commitment, the nature of happiness, the troubled relationship of an artist to his creations - with the vitality, inventiveness, and love of language that is characteristic of all Rushdie's work. With an unmistakably autobiographical tone and laden with cultural, political and literary references, Fury will probably delight many fans but reassure few critics. (Kirkus UK)