Overview
- The book, published by Jonathan Cape, gathers a suite of novellas and short stories in one volume.
- The reviewer identifies death and its aftermath as the collection’s governing motif.
- Standout pieces singled out include Late, The Musician of Kaham, The Man in the Piazza, and Oklahoma.
- Late features a Forster‑like protagonist and incorporates threads linked to Enigma‑era codebreaking and Alan Turing.
- The critique situates the work within Rushdie’s contentious career and his 2023 attack that left him blind in one eye, while judging the new fiction as frequently spellbinding.