some great rants about american/western culture, got to liking it near the end. has some sci-fi, vonnegutesque motifs.

Endless formless whittering, well written but not engaging. I lost interest about half way through. Tedious. ( )

o-v-e-r-a-t-e-d (!)

This is the story of Malik Solanka, who is angry. He has a fury inside of him -- a fury that has led to blackouts, which in turn have Malik finding himself shouting in public, and standing over the sleeping bodies of his wife and beloved son with a knife. Partly to protect them, he runs away, but the fury stays with him. He begins to question his sanity, and even wonders if he is the serial killer stalking beautiful young women.

As we learn more about Professor Solanka, and about the women who are part of his life, Salmon Rushdie also has us contemplating modern society and the role than anger plays in actions ranging from personal ambition to civil war.

The main character is a dollmaker and writer, and Mr. Rushdie uses the plots and characters he devises to explore the themes of fury more deeply. I must say I was less interested in the goings on on Planet Galileo-1 than in the rest of the novel.

Very well written, and Mr. Rushdie's plays on words were both entertaining and insightful.

Loved the ending, which is like a beginning..... ( )

Salman Rushdie knows how to draw you into his vision. The lines he comes up with are smart and entertaining. There is a beautiful love interest in this story and the way he describes her beauty was clever. The story simply didn't draw me in. That being said... Rusdie could write a shopping list and I would want to read it.The story wasn't enough for me to give it 5 stars. The writing was too good for me to give it 3 stars. ( )