Pradeep Mathew is a fictitious cricketer. (Even more controversially, in an informal discussion, he has already picked Mathew as the spin bowler for an all-time world-wide best eleven.) Controversially, he picks Pradeep Mathew. Wije and a couple of friends are subsequently asked to do a TV programme on the eleven best Sri Lankan cricketers by position. This is naturally a cause for great celebration by Wije and the entire country of Sri Lanka. Part of the novel takes place in and around 1996, which is a very key year for Sri Lanka as the country improbably beats Australia in the final of the cricket World Cup. Wije conforms to the stereotype of the journalist – alcoholic, somewhat dishonest, not a good husband or father and quite lazy.

For example, the title has nothing to do with a male from China but is a type of left-hand spin bowling used by Pradeep Mathew, Wije Karunasena’s hero. While you almost certainly could enjoy this book without knowing about cricket – not least because it is hilarious and anarchic and about much more than cricket – a knowledge of cricket would be a great help. Wije is, of course, an unreliable narrator and his statement is not true.

Home » Sri Lanka » Shehan Karunatilaka » Chinaman Shehan Karunatilaka: ChinamanĪ few pages into this book, the narrator, the alcoholic sports journalist, W G (Wije) Karunasena, states If you’ve never seen a cricket match if you have and it has made you snore if you can’t understand why anyone would watch, let alone obsess over this dull game, then this is the book for you.

Chinaman shehan