I generally respect Salman Rushdie (the author of the article), But I really feel he's missed the point. I am far less qualified to criticize literature than he, but I'm going to do it anyways.

SL5 is about one thing. PTSD. PTSD was not a diagnosis when the book was written, but it is at least clear to me, that the book is about a fractured man trying to repair itself by creating a world view that is comforting to it. His becoming unstuck in time is, in my mind, simply a sci-fi flashback, or perhaps, flash-forward in this case?