The mere mention of the word cricket and you've got me hooked. I can sit glued to the TV set for days surviving the endless Test matches in addition the exciting one-dayers.
Now, the world of sport is replete with reams of literature on cricket. But it isn't often that you get something with a heady mix of Manila, London and Sri Lanka with cricket thrown in for good measure.
And if it comes from none other than the award-winning author, who in the past has given us works like 'Monkfish Moon', 'Reef', 'Heaven's Edge' and 'The Sandglass' to contend with, its more than enough reason to stay up all night.
Romesh Gunesekera's brilliant first novel dealt with lost innocence in the final years before the war. Since then, he has talked deftly about that together with issues of love and longing, but the treatment you get in
'The Match' is simply unparalleled – ok so I am die-hard cricket buff, I’m not going into denial for that. The book may start and end with two key cricket matches, but the symbolism beyond it is simply stirring.
One match takes place at a time of great upheaval in Manila, another one at what's viewed as the bastion of cricket - the Oval in London.
The story is told through the central character - Sunny. We meet him as a teenager growing up with his father, a Sri Lankan journalist turned Public Relations professional who moved to Manila to be part of the 'free press'.
A promise made, though not fulfilled due to the sheer magnitude of the political events that took centre-stage.
Sunny is the only child, who is being brought up by a single father, who at best can be described as 'distant'. It is the hunger for that elusive thing called love that drives Sunny through his growing years.
The first whiff of it surfaces and disappears in the form of a crush he has on the stunning Tina. It all unfolds at a cricket match, organised with a couple of expatriates living in Manila.
Even if you don't know or love cricket, you will feel the heady rush as the wickets are pulled out, the gloves donned, the wickets and wind screens smashed - not necessarily in that order.
From there things move on to London, where Sunny pretty much ambles along with his life, drops out of engineering, finds his calling in photography and love in the form of Clara.
It is with her that he gets his share of the joys of fatherhood. Gunesekera's prose sings, effortlessly at that when he tries to become more than the sum of all things that his father never was to him, to his son Mikey.
And it is from here that the deeper issues of being away in a home far away from home come to the fore and 'The Match' draws you in for the journey to Sri Lanka. As Sunny journeys to the country of his birth, the chaos unfolding in Sri Lanka is subtly captured, shaking and stirring you to the very core.
Like it began, it ends with a cricket match being held at "full decibel level." 'The Match' brings the past and present together as we journey into a future that is often merely imagined.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Romesh Gunesekera was born in 1954 in Sri Lanka where he spent his early years. Before moving to Britain he also lived in the Philippines.
He is now based in London but travels widely. His first novel, 'Reef', was published in 1994, widely acclaimed; it was short-listed as a finalist for the Booker Prize, as well as for the Guardian Fiction Prize.
In 1998, he received the inaugural BBC Asia Award for Achievement in Writing & Literature for his novel 'The Sandglass'. 'Reef' and many of his stories have been broadcast on BBC as well as other national radio.
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING:
"Loving, while remaining in sharp moral control, is a hard business, but it leads to the profoundest kind of knowledge, as The Match so movingly demonstrates." - The Independent
"Few novelists have so skilfully underlined the beauty of patience as a redeeming virtue. A slow run-up to the wicket brings its own rewards." - The Times Literary Supplement
"Missed connections are a motif in the book, and though I found it hard to believe that Sunny would ever really connect with anyone, I liked the idea that such an intimate revelation could take place in the garish, hectic, highly public setting of a one-day international cricket match." - Mike Marqusee in The Guardian |
Deepika Shetty is a Producer with Prime Time Morning and takes care of the book segment 'Off The Shelf' as well. | 
