There are things Sheila will never know... She will never know that even though I love her more than anything, I will always hate myself a tiny bit more.
Chinaman
by Shehan Karunatilaka
Genre: Literary Fiction
About: W.G. Karunasena has had many obsessions in life. He wrote poetry to steal away another man's girl. He drank so much that his liver has reached its limit and now one more shot may kill him. And he can't let go of the idea that Pradeep S. Mathews was the greatest cricketer of all time - Sri Lankan's unsung genius. With more enemies than years left to live, W.G. has little time left to solve the mystery of Pradeep's disappearance and write the book that will seal both his and Pradeep's legend.
Thoughts
This is a book about cricket, and I loved it. No, it hasn't made me even vaguely tempted to watch a cricket match and all of the technical terms have happily evaporated from my head. But it has made me certain that I will read anything Shehan Karunatilaka next comes up with. I did love The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida more than this one, but the writing is just as witty, just as dark, and just as brilliant.
The narration style is more rambling, though this honestly suited the main character, and I wasn't personally interested in solving the mystery of Pradeep. That was a character who seemed to be too unbelievable - a legend of a legend. What captivated me was W.G. himself and the characters around him. I loved his friendship with Ari and Jonny. I loved the complexities in his relationship with his wife and son. I loved the humour of every conversation, and the serious topics layered in. Racism, corruption, homophobia, terrorism, colonisation... these huge topics are part of the story because they're part of Sri Lankan's history, and part of cricket/sport's history too. World-building is usually discussed more in the fantasy and sci-fi genre, but this book does its world-building so expertly. Karunatilaka isn't giving a history lesson, he adds real-world context into the narrative in a way that adds to the story and builds up these characters' lives. These felt like real people because he managed to blur the line between our world and the characters' world.
The story and the pace make this quite a niche book, but the writing and the characters are so fantastic as to make this one of the most special books you can pick up. If you loved The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, you have to introduce yourself to W.G. Karunasena.
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