You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
The last truly redeeming sports-themed novel I read was Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch. Hornby’s memoir, which recounts his Arsenal soccer obsession, rightfully earned praise for its study of sports affinities and the roles they can play in father-son and even spousal relationships.
Shehan Karunatilaka’s The Legend of Pradeep Mathew is an equally important work. Karunatilaka writes with wit, insight and verve. And the man knows cricket, his vehicle of choice for the exploration of racism, corruption, entitlement, colonialism and even love and affection. While the book runs long, I found my leisure pursuit pick up pace as I invested myself deeper within its pages.
I awoke pleased today and possessing a secret appreciation knowing I could dedicated the afternoon to finishing the story. A kind of luxurious Sunday decadence with no sin, if you will.
There’s a bit of a mystery to the book. No spoilers here. Just an admonition to check out Karunatilaka’s debut novel, which is happy at times, occasionally angry and always affectionate in an earned intimacy with the reader. I rank it up there with Fever Pitch, most certainly.
Shehan Karunatilaka’s The Legend of Pradeep Mathew is an equally important work. Karunatilaka writes with wit, insight and verve. And the man knows cricket, his vehicle of choice for the exploration of racism, corruption, entitlement, colonialism and even love and affection. While the book runs long, I found my leisure pursuit pick up pace as I invested myself deeper within its pages.
I awoke pleased today and possessing a secret appreciation knowing I could dedicated the afternoon to finishing the story. A kind of luxurious Sunday decadence with no sin, if you will.
There’s a bit of a mystery to the book. No spoilers here. Just an admonition to check out Karunatilaka’s debut novel, which is happy at times, occasionally angry and always affectionate in an earned intimacy with the reader. I rank it up there with Fever Pitch, most certainly.
This was one tough read. Hard to think how someone not so familiar with our culture can sort of grasp all those innuendos. I sure as hell missed a lot. This is one of those books that you hope would get better and keep on reading. The final 1/4th was the only part that tied up the whole story together for me. Until then I was blinded and distracted which is what the author intended I guess.
He touches a lot of themes about contemporary issues. Maybe a bit too much? From alcoholism, religion, ethnic issues, betting on cricket, corruption in cricket/SLCB/politics, war etc. The writing style which messes up the timeline almost made me DNF at the start.
Maybe in the end it was worth the read, but definitely not going to read this again
He touches a lot of themes about contemporary issues. Maybe a bit too much? From alcoholism, religion, ethnic issues, betting on cricket, corruption in cricket/SLCB/politics, war etc. The writing style which messes up the timeline almost made me DNF at the start.
Maybe in the end it was worth the read, but definitely not going to read this again
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"Why, you ask, has no one heard of our nation’s greatest cricketer? Here, in no particular order. Wrong place, wrong time, money and laziness. Politics, racism, power cuts, and plain bad luck. If you are unwilling to follow me on the next God-knows-how-many pages, re-read the last two sentences. They are as good a summary as I can give from this side of the bottle."
This is a long novel, whose meandering is more the point than a distraction. Set in the 1990s, Karunatilaka channels W.G. Karunasena, a mid-60s alcoholic and cricket writer who is obsessively chasing down the story of the mysterious 1980s Tamil cricketer Pradeep Mathew, both out of a deep love of the game and its world and out of an inability to think about what else might matter. Mathew's story is deliberately mythic - the more W.G. digs the most fantastical the claims become - and his story almost, but never quite, becomes the story of the country itself.
The book is filled with references which bring joy when you use them to draw inferences - there is history, literature and even dense musical references. Much of the book is written in cricket, a language I am completely without. My father watched the Benson and Hedges 1985 World series in our living room - a key setting of the book - which at least means the names and rough roles of the players were familiar to me. But the significance of a double-bounce, or a ball on the line, which here carry much information about character and setting, were all too often lost on me. For cricket enthusiasts who also love literature, I strongly suspect this is the read of a lifetime. Even as a non-cricket-literate, it was pretty special.
This is simply because Karunatilaka brings his characters so deeply to life. These are not softened people - one of WG's closest friends may or may not be a pedophile, WG is a frankly terrible father and doesn't know it, racist and sexist jokes abound. But they are deeply human, and Karunatilaka extends that humanity to corrupt cricket officials, LTTE enforcers, match fixers and more (not, I will say, to Australian cricketers or commentators. These are pretty uniformly presented as arseholes - the second portrayal for me in so many weeks of Australian sporting dominance as a gross mix of wealthy country privilege and unashamed willingness to destroy the opposition). The Lankans here, and some of the (non-Australian) others, want their country to be better just as they want themselves to be. In the end, the inability to celebrate and nurture Mathew, a Tamil great, is the great tragedy of this novel. That so much joy is lived by those who defy that division is its triumph.
This is a long novel, whose meandering is more the point than a distraction. Set in the 1990s, Karunatilaka channels W.G. Karunasena, a mid-60s alcoholic and cricket writer who is obsessively chasing down the story of the mysterious 1980s Tamil cricketer Pradeep Mathew, both out of a deep love of the game and its world and out of an inability to think about what else might matter. Mathew's story is deliberately mythic - the more W.G. digs the most fantastical the claims become - and his story almost, but never quite, becomes the story of the country itself.
The book is filled with references which bring joy when you use them to draw inferences - there is history, literature and even dense musical references. Much of the book is written in cricket, a language I am completely without. My father watched the Benson and Hedges 1985 World series in our living room - a key setting of the book - which at least means the names and rough roles of the players were familiar to me. But the significance of a double-bounce, or a ball on the line, which here carry much information about character and setting, were all too often lost on me. For cricket enthusiasts who also love literature, I strongly suspect this is the read of a lifetime. Even as a non-cricket-literate, it was pretty special.
This is simply because Karunatilaka brings his characters so deeply to life. These are not softened people - one of WG's closest friends may or may not be a pedophile, WG is a frankly terrible father and doesn't know it, racist and sexist jokes abound. But they are deeply human, and Karunatilaka extends that humanity to corrupt cricket officials, LTTE enforcers, match fixers and more (not, I will say, to Australian cricketers or commentators. These are pretty uniformly presented as arseholes - the second portrayal for me in so many weeks of Australian sporting dominance as a gross mix of wealthy country privilege and unashamed willingness to destroy the opposition). The Lankans here, and some of the (non-Australian) others, want their country to be better just as they want themselves to be. In the end, the inability to celebrate and nurture Mathew, a Tamil great, is the great tragedy of this novel. That so much joy is lived by those who defy that division is its triumph.
challenging
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
informative
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes