Chinaman cover art

Chinaman

 Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Discover the blazing debut novel from the Booker Prize winning author.

Where is Pradeep S. Mathew - spin bowler extraordinaire and 'the greatest cricketer to walk the earth'?

Retired sportswriter W. G. Karunasena is dying, and he wants to know.

W. G. will spend his final months drinking arrack, making his wife unhappy, ignoring his son and tracking down the mysterious Pradeep. On his quest he will also uncover a coach with six fingers, a secret bunker below a famous stadium, a Tamil Tiger warlord, and startling truths about Sri Lanka, cricket and himself.

Winner of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature

©2011 Shehan Karunatilaka (P)2023 Penguin Audio Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction South Asian Creators Sports World Literature

Critic reviews

"The strength of the book lies in its energy, its mixture of humour and heartwrenching emotion, its twisting narrative, its playful use of cricketing facts and characters, and its occasional blazing anger about what Sri Lanka has done to itself..." (Kamila Shamsie)

"A crazy ambidextrous delight." (Michael Ondaatje)

"Bristling with energy and confidence." (Sunday Times)

Featured article: Booker Prize winner Shehan Karunatilaka on a rare Sri Lankan story that didn’t involve the civil war


We absolutely loved listening to Shehan Karunatilaka’s The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, so when his debut novel Chinaman was released as an audiobook earlier this year, we couldn’t wait to ask him about it.

Featured article Booker Prize winner Shehan Karunatilaka on a rare Sri Lankan story that didn’t involve the civil war
All stars
Most relevant
This is a book filled with conversations, contradictory stories, where the reader's perception of reality is constantly challenged by unreliable narrators. I enjoy being misled as such and listening to these stories and discovering every character.

intriguing and fascinating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The play between past (Sri Lankan) realty and fiction- wow! Thoroughly enjoyed Chinaman. Wondering why it took me so long to pick it up.

Another amazing book by Shehan K

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
.. but I adore this book, the dry humour, brutal undercurrent, and excellent narration.

I'm not even a fan of cricket

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is an extraordinary book of incredible writing quality. Tragic, playful, humorous, loving, angry and wise.
This 100% a time when it’s definitely better to listen than read as the performed reading adds another layer of nuance and understanding - and keeps the flow for English readers who’d stutter with Sri Lankan proper names and Singhalese dialogue.

Exceptional

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A magical story which explores so many topics (obsession, addiction, familial pressure) with such wonderful and vivid prose.

The ending is superb and the recital is great.

My favourite quote is of The Yorkshireman "he made enemies faster than he made runs".

A magical story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews