"The Satanic Verses," by Salman Rushdie

Multiple members recommended this novel, and you've voted for us to read it even though it comes in at over 500 pages. Considered one of the most controversial books of modern times, the author's life was threatened and, recently, almost ended over its existence! Rushdie is a grandmaster of magical realism, which should make for a dynamic read while we experience what all the fuss has been about.

From Goodreads:

Just before dawn one winter's morning, a hijacked jetliner explodes above the English Channel. Through the falling debris, two figures, Gibreel Farishta, the biggest star in India, and Saladin Chamcha, an expatriate returning from his first visit to Bombay in fifteen years, plummet from the sky, washing up on the snow-covered sands of an English beach, and proceed through a series of metamorphoses, dreams, and revelations.