Fury

by Salman Rushdie

The story of Fury is that of Professor Malik Solanka, who one day up and left his wife and young son in England and moved to New York City. There, he walks the streets, constantly annoyed, drinks too much and has frequent blackouts. While he is there, a trio of girls is murdered and he cannot be 100 % sure that he didn't do it with all the blackouts and all.

His only actual friend is Jack, a former journalist, who eventually forms his own tragic bond to the killings. Then there is Mila Milo, who takes Malik - whom she recognizes as the creator as Little Brain, a doll who has all but taken over world domination - on as a 'project'. There is also Neela, a stunning woman affecting everyone around her, who is Jack's girlfriend and then Malik's girlfriend and, later, a revolutionary in her tiny, shaken home country.

The title does not only refer to Malik's state of mind, but also to the mythical Furies, that occasionally make an appearance in the book.

Doña Gio was still singing, but the screaming of the Furies momentarily drowned her voice. The hungry goddesses were beating around both their heads, feeding on their rage.

The furies eventually take the forms of the women in Malik's life - his lover Neela, his by then business partner Mila and his estranged wife Eleanor, who all show up in his bedroom at the same time.

Salmen Rushdie really is a brilliant writer and this is one of his finest works, in my opinion.

8/10

In Athens the Furies were thought to be Aphrodite's sister. Beauty and vengeful wrath, as Homer knew, sprang from the selfsame source. That was one story. Hesiod, however, said that the Furies were born of Earth and Air, and that their siblings included Terror, Strife, Lies, Vengeance, Intemperance, Altercation, Fear and Battle. In those days they avenged blood crimes, pursuing those who harmed (especially) their mothers - Orestes, long pursued by them after he killed bloody-handed Clytemnestra, knew all about that. The leirion, or blue iris, sometimes placated the Furies, but Orestes wore no flowers in his hair. Even the bow of horn that the Pythoness, the Delphic Oracle, gave him to repel their assaults proved to be of little use. "Serpent-haired, god-headed, bat-winged," the Erinnyes hounded him for the rest of his life, denying him peace.