Chinaman-The Legend of Pradeep Mathew

Everyone who follows sport has encountered this inevitable question from family and friends at least once: What is the point of sport? The question acquires an edge especially when one does not play the sport or in any other way benefit from watching it. This amazing novel is a long, rambling attempt to answer this question and as a result it is an ode to sport. It is also the great Sri Lankan novel we have been waiting for as it intimates us with the culture and recent history of the country and the exaggerated role Cricket plays in its life.WG Karunasena is an alcoholic Cricket journalist who in his heydays had written for the best journals in the country and abroad although he is largely ignored now. He is a lover of sports who sees beauty in “free kicks, late cuts, slam dunks, tries from halfway, and balls that turn from off to leg”. He is a drunk too claims that alcohol has rid him of cliches and made him into a better writer and unabashedly admires the "drug refined over the centuries by all civilizations".But he is dying. Thanks to his prolonged drinking habit. However to make the most of the remainder of his ever shortening life he has embarked on a quest to discover Pradeep S. Matthew, an elusive chinaman bowler who has been erased from the cricketing history who he considers as the greatest cricketer ever. On this quest WG discovers startling truths about Sri Lanka, cricket and himself. In the process he tries to answer the above mentioned question about the significance of sport. Time is short and we as readers are not sure whether he will manage to make it that long but he is confident as he philosophically puts it "there is nothing as inspiring as a solid deadline".Sri Lanka is in the middle of a civil war, a consequence of the high-handedness of the Sinhala majority who "knew the Tamils could out-bat, out-think, out-everything" them. Amidst this war cricket is the only outlet for normalcy and the country is indeed blessed with a talented bunch of cricketers one of whom is Pradeep Matthew. A Tamil he practices the rare art of left-arm chinaman and owner of numerous mystery deliveries including the unearthly double-bounce ball. However he does have a reputation for brushing the people in authority including fellow players the wrong way and after a promising start to his career has mysteriously disappeared. But WG knows he is a genius as he has watched him live in a match where he bamboozled the visiting team by taking 9 wickets including his famed delivery. The match is abandoned for some political reason and it is forgotten in everyone’s mind except WG’s who is now inspired to discover him and write about him.WG is aided by his friend Ari and together they embark on this quest overcoming major squabbles (‘Murali chucks or not?’) and talking to various people connected to Pradeep including his family, fellow players and coaches. In the middle of this quest comes the 1996 world cup and to everyone’s surprise Sri Lanka "whack the cup" and cricket becomes even more popular in the country. Monetary rewards chase the players, even lesser known ones become millionaires, except Pradeep that is, who stays out of it all and thereafter undergoes a slide in form and finally disappears. The rest of the book is about if and how WG tracks Pradeep down, how he comes to term with his family and whether he will have a happy ending to his life’s innings.The book is remarkable about its insight into sport as WG admits that "Of course there is little point to sports" but hastily adds "there is little point to anything. In a thousand years, grass will have grown over all our cities. Nothing of anything will matter." But sport he says produces magical moments that can be remembered for hundreds of years and that is the whole point of sports. As he puts it…“Sport can unite worlds, tear down walls, and transcend race, the past and all probability. Unlike life, sport matters.”It’s a beautiful sentiment and one that we sport lovers can use to counter when someone inevitably questions why we follow sport.The novel also explores the state of the Lankan nation and also on the Sinhala-Tamil tension. He laments the Murphy’s law of nations which Sri Lanka seems to have followed where by the colonized country becomes a parody of the colonizers and instead of inheriting their good traits they inherit their bad ones. As he ruefully says "we inherit the power lust of our conquerors but none of their vision". This I dare say is true of India too.Although the British as part of their ‘divide and conquer’ policy created a fissure between the communities, "by the 1950s, we begin to develop our own dangerous ideas without any foreign assistance. The idea that the nation belongs to the Sinhala or that Tamil deserve a separate state." The novel cites the example of India which despite more diversity has managed to create a united, peaceful state. Finally the author compares how similar the two communities indeed are and hopes for a reconciliation in the not too distant future.In the end, this novel can be described as the arrival of Sri Lankan literature in English, indeed it is the ‘Great Sri Lankan Novel’ and all that English literature aficionados like us can do is echo that famous quote ‘Let a thousand flowers bloom’.

Picked up at the suggestion of an equally cricket crazy friend this book hasn't disappointed. At places unputdownable, entirely witty, the author's first person satirical style is a breath of fresh air. Probably the best cricket book I've read so far. And a ringside view of the cricket craziness the country of Sri Lanka is!

Cricket and fiction, well that's what it is. I kinda liked the story, it's well narrated by Karunasena a 60 something old drunkard fellow. The whole story revolves around him in search of a player called Pradeep Mathews. The way he build the story, I had to check Google every now and then to find if the story is actually true or not. The ending is mesmerizing, I never thought that there would be a twist in the novel but when it came I was dumbfounded. I wanted to clap for the author's wit. The images explaining details of bowling was well put, something quite helpful. If this is a debut novel then Shehan Karunatilaka has done a great job. Kudos to him!

One of my colleagues just plonked this on my table and said "You must read it". Since I value this colleague's judgment, I read it, and immediately ordered for my own copy on amazon. As some one has pointed out, does not read like a debut novel at all! Pithy comments on human nature without sounding preachy, dark humour, simple humour, Sri Lanka (could have been India or any other cricketing nation, does not matter), mafia, bureaucrats, pathetic gamblers, cunning schemers, hard to believe stuff ... all this and a lot more, all somehow woven together in one helluva enjoyable non-linear narrative. One is very likely to enjoy it irrespective of whether one likes cricket or not. Eagerly waiting for whatever this author would come up with next!

Absolutely loved this work. Doesn't seem like its the author's first novel. The writing flows uninhibited, meandering through the annals of Lankan cricket. It's history and poetry combined to bring the lovely game to life. Not everyone can do it. It has some sloth, shows seams in a few places, but overall keeps you hooked and eager to turn the next page. W.G's arrack-fuelled visions, combined with acerbic wit, the South Asian stereotypes, a battle that never should have happened, characters that jump out of pages, the Unawatuna beach and the Kandyan roads, all bring a surreal quality to the prose. You would love it if you don't try hard to find a meaning in everything you do, but arrive at it, whenever that happens. Good work!

Written in almost believable style, this book is a must read for Gabriel Garcia fans, cricket fans, sports fans, or just anyone!

Some books grab you and don’t let go, this is definitely one of those rare ones, a must for sports fans and everyone else

It looked like a pirated edition. Quality of binding n printing poor n unacceptable.

I read this book after reading the author's second book, the Seven Moons of Mali Almeida. I love his writing style, but this book only makes sense to read if you know how Cricket works. Otherwise its a bit difficult to follow.

Brilliant. On Sri Lankan politics, history, food and drink, all wrapped up in a cricket kit bag. The search for a possibly mythical, devastatingly gifted spin bowler by an alcoholic sports writer. Sounds most unpromising doesn't it? Stuffed, too, with the sort of stats and analyses perhaps only cricket lovers would love. But one of my books of 2016.

One of those books that just sucks you right in. Could not put it down!

This is an outstanding novel - one that puts a Sri Lankan author, for the first time, on a level with the best contemporary Indian writers. It is ostensibly about cricket - indeed is about cricket - but you don't need to share the author's obsession with his country's national sport to respond to his absorbing shaggy-dog story of the legendary "Chinaman" bowler, Pradeep Matthew. This is a book with a flawless ear for language and one that evokes the whole character of Sri Lanka, its dire politics and blighted history, and yet is drenched in affection for the island. Not that you need have any previous interest in Sri Lanka, any more than cricket. To describe it as "the great Sri Lankan novel" - as the publishers do - is something of an understatement. It's one of the best novels you'll read - any time, and from any country.

Es war unheimlich anstrengend das zu lesen - ich habe zwischendrin the seven moons... gelesenInsgesamt war das Buch sehr gut, aber auf Englisch wirklich anstrengend.