Book Review – Chinaman by Shehan Karunatilaka

Chinaman by Shehan Karunatilaka is a novel set in Sri Lanka.  It is narrated by an ageing sportswriter who is slowly drinking himself to death.  Before his time is up, he wants to track down and interview Pradeep Mathew, a mystery spin bowler who might be anywhere in the world or possibly could be dead.  The chinaman of the title is Pradeep’s left-handed leg break, just one of his impressive bowling repertoire that includes a fabulous double bouncer that turns both ways!  It's also a somewhat politically incorrect reference to the Sinhalese saying that a Chinaman with a ponytail is the ultimate symbol of gullibility.  This gives us a clue that, in this story, truth is likely to be elusive and we should not take anything at face value.

Part of the pleasure of the novel is unravelling the mix of fact and fiction.  Many of the events, such as Sri Lanka winning the World Cup in 1996, certainly took place.  Some of the characters appear at least to have close parallels in real life.  Ex-England cricketer turned commentator Graham Snow is an obvious parody of Tony Greig, with his tendency to use the phrase “these little Shree Lankans”.  Sometimes characters are deliberately conflated – West Indians Alvin Rowe and Laurence Kallicharran get a brief mention. And then there is the unnamed Yorkshireman with the crooked grin who allegedly made enemies faster than he scored runs.  Who on earth could that be?

Of course, the key question throughout the book is whether the narrator (known as Wije) will get his man before the alcohol gets him.  We find the answer but, like facing a chinaman that proves to be a googly, we are left baffled by a late and unexpected series of events that involve a change of narrator and a new perspective on the nature of what we have been reading.  We are forced to question Wije’s reliability as a story teller.  What did he invent?  What did he leave out?

Whilst cricket dominates the novel, it is firmly set against the backdrop of a turbulent time in Sri Lankan history during the 1990s and beyond – Pradeep is a Tamil whose family has suffered persecution; and Wije himself is drawn into meeting the mysterious and dangerous Innocent Emmanuel Kugarajah, a possible terrorist who would not be out of place as a Bond villain.  Wije’s own take on the civil war tearing his country apart is simple – the differences between Sinhalese and Tamils are not significant enough to waste hundreds of months firing millions of bullets into thousands of bodies.

There is plenty of humour in the novel, much of it arising from the interplay between Wije and his friend and neighbour Ari as they seek to piece together a documentary about the aforesaid elusive Mathew.  There are also highly entertaining set pieces, like Wije’s visit to a group meeting for recovering alcoholics.  As he fights his losing battle against the creature that lurks inside him – the destructive addiction - he draws dark philosophical conclusions about life, often using sporting analogies.  As he says, real life is lived at two runs an over, with a dodgy lbw every decade.

Colourful characters abound, including a six-fingered cricket bowling coach and a semi-mute dwarf who inhabits an underground network beneath a cricket ground.  And then there is Garfield, Wije’s errant son whose varying fortunes in Europe as a rock musician and husband we follow through his father’s despairing eyes.

The novel could be a cricketing Waiting for Godot, except that, in flashbacks at least, the elusive Mathew does appear briefly from time to time, unpredictable both on and off the cricket field.  In quality, it is very much in line with that other fine novel Netherland, by Joseph O’Neill, about cricket in the United States. 

Surely it is time for an equally good novel about English cricket.  Maybe sagas like our Cricket Board’s flirtation with the criminal Allen Stanford or the contortions of the recent Kevin Pietersen affair have made English novelists give up in despair at being able to match the entertainment factor of such bizarre and unlikely events.

Whilst we await an English masterpiece, we must be content with this excellent novel from that pearl of the Indian ocean, Sri Lanka.  But prepare to keep your wits about you.  The story jumps backwards and forwards and snippets of information are quietly dropped into the story that prove to be more vital than they seem at the time. 

And above all, watch out for Pradeep’s deadly double-bouncer.