The Legend of Pradeep Mathew

Tishani Doshi reviews Shehan Karunatilaka's book, Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew, in the Observer. Karunatilaka's debut novel, says Doshi, lays bare Sri Lanka's soul through a made-up sporting hero, and is not just about cricket.

It's a story about many stories: friendships, rivalries, nationhood, the undesirability of old age, the quantification of genius and other "unknowables", like how much love do you need in a lifetime, and is sport really greater than life?

WG Karunasena, the 64-year-old narrator of Chinaman, is a grumpy old man in an endearing Walter Matthau kind of way. He's convinced that "unlike life, sport matters".