Capitalism, commercialist societies and mindless routines — these are just a few of the things Salman Rushdie rants and raves about his poignant, witty and charming novel, “Fury”.

Set in New York City the first few years after the dawn of the 21st century, protagonist Malik Solanka is a former Columbia University professor, retired historian and world-renowned doll maker.

The story begins with Solanka’s personal thoughts (which the reader will be bombarded with throughout the novel) that soon reveal his recent past; the 55-year-old has just left his wife, Eleanor, and his 5-year-old son, Asmaan, who reside in London. Caught in a second-wave midlife crisis, the professor confines himself in his Upper East Side home where he attempts to analyze his inner demons, while contemplating his life’s worth and his contributions to the wheel of American consumerism.

The tone of the book is very dark and bleak, yet artfully tasteful. For the first third of the novel, there isn’t much of a plot. Professor Malik Solanka analyzes the American way of life at the dawn of the century in a chastising and malicious way. Explaining to the reader that we have, inadvertently, become a mindless hive rushing throughout the universe, unaware or uncaring about the effects we have on everything else.

However, he does this all so poetically and beautifully that it’s really hard to notice the malignant tone of the book. One might think of it as witty sarcasm or hopeless banter. In any case, whatever the rant is in “Fury,” Rushdie does it in an inoffensive way.

The book picks up the pace at the end of the first third of the novel. Tragedy strikes, and three beautiful young Manhattan women — idols and stars of the elite inner circles of New York City — are brutally murdered with little evidence to be found. Here’s the twist: in the morning after the murders, Professor Solanka wakes up to realize he doesn’t know what he did the night before.

But of course, right when it starts to become more complex and mysterious, Rushdie switches gears and goes right back to ranting. Love, pain, sex, lust, adultery — it’s a full-blown analysis of the Western mind.

The story continues to become more interesting when Mila Milo, a college student and a fan of Professor Solanka’s introduces herself into his life and begins to mentor him and become his life coach.

The novel begins to develop beyond their meeting to deeply explore human desires and love lost. Rushdie’s voice and thought throughout the novel is expansive and readers can tell that he is both a poet and a novelist. I would recommend Fury to anyone who doesn’t get offended easily, likes a little twist in novels and can take it slow for a while.

[Reach reporter Ben Schock at arts@thedaily.washington.edu.]