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nikkiacat's review
adventurous
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
My quest to read the four classic chinese novels this year is now half over with my completion of journey to the west. I didn't expect this one to be so, well, readable. I've read Ronance of the Three Kingdoms already, and while I did enjoy it, the age and length of the book made it necessary to read it a bit at a time over a period of time. Journey, on the other hand, I feel like I raced through. It was by turns funny, raunchy (can't say I expected the male characters to get pregnant and need to find an abortion stream, or them passing off their urine as holy water....) and overall just a fun journey through all kinds of (mis)adventures. Thoroughly enjoyable.
mary_soon_lee's review
4.0
I have reached, with sadness, the end of my journey through the four-volume, four-hundred-year-old Chinese classic, "The Journey to the West." I plodded through the lengthy but valuable introduction by the translator, Anthony C. Yu, then set off through the hundred fantastical chapters of the story.
It is not a journey for those who like their fiction in small doses. Nor does it fit the mold of most of the fantasy that I love. True, there are dragons and monsters and mythic battles, but of the two main characters, one is an ugly, ultra-violent, supernatural monkey, and the other is a timorous, puritanical monk. Moreover, the narration is less immersed in the characters' viewpoints than I usually prefer, partly because it frequently breaks into poetry. Perhaps the biggest departure from typical fantasy tomes is that the book is largely episodic. It journeys westward without much of a dramatic arc. While individual episodes have their battles and resolutions, the characters and the situation change slowly, sometimes imperceptibly.
Any or all of the above might have deterred me. Had I been in a more cantankerous mood, perhaps they would have done so. Yet they did not. By and large, I liked the digressions into poetry. I accepted the cowardice of one character, the violence of the other, the less-than-immersive narration, the episodic quality more common to television series than to novels. I liked the lightness of tone, the sense of fun. Most of all, I grew fond of the characters, as I think the author was fond of them. I wanted to spend time in their company, and am left now, at the end of the long journey, missing them.
It is not a journey for those who like their fiction in small doses. Nor does it fit the mold of most of the fantasy that I love. True, there are dragons and monsters and mythic battles, but of the two main characters, one is an ugly, ultra-violent, supernatural monkey, and the other is a timorous, puritanical monk. Moreover, the narration is less immersed in the characters' viewpoints than I usually prefer, partly because it frequently breaks into poetry. Perhaps the biggest departure from typical fantasy tomes is that the book is largely episodic. It journeys westward without much of a dramatic arc. While individual episodes have their battles and resolutions, the characters and the situation change slowly, sometimes imperceptibly.
Any or all of the above might have deterred me. Had I been in a more cantankerous mood, perhaps they would have done so. Yet they did not. By and large, I liked the digressions into poetry. I accepted the cowardice of one character, the violence of the other, the less-than-immersive narration, the episodic quality more common to television series than to novels. I liked the lightness of tone, the sense of fun. Most of all, I grew fond of the characters, as I think the author was fond of them. I wanted to spend time in their company, and am left now, at the end of the long journey, missing them.
paul_cornelius's review against another edition
5.0
More monsters, demons, and fiends appear in volume four of the Chinese literary epic, which includes the last twenty five chapters. Here, Xuanzang (aka the Tang Monk, Elder, the Master) completes his seventh century journey from China to India in order to meet the Buddha and acquire the written scriptures to take back with him to the Tang court. The focus shifts back onto the Tang Monk in this volume, whereas the early ones had mostly retold the account of the Tang Monk's disciple, Pilgrim Sun (aka Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, Old Monkey), who is continually tasked with rescuing Elder from his gullible inability to determine friends from foes. Two other disciples back up Pilgrim, Zhu Wuneng (aka Eight Rules, Idiot) and Sha Wujeng (aka the Sha Monk). Along with them, the White Dragon Horse carries their loads and packs.
The story overall is largely the one of this band coming together in order to make merit, resist temptations, and acquire the Way of true Buddhist religiosity. Despite their fractured arguments and fighting throughout much of the journey, by tale's end, they have come together in mutual respect and spiritual worthiness. Indeed, the Great Buddha elevates both the Tang Monk and Monkey King themselves to the rank of Buddha, while giving promotions to Eight Rules, the Sha Monk, and the White Dragon Horse. All are made immortal.
Published in its current form in 1592, after being based on Chinese folk tales, Journey to the West leads me to compare it to the first great novel published in the West some twelve years later, Don Quixote. You cannot help but see a contrast in these contemporaneous works. Both, of course, are structured episodically. Both contain elements of comedic relief, Eight Rules and Sancho Panza. And both examine their social institutions in a sometimes critical way. But Don Quixote takes a tragic turn in its revelations about the role of honor, duty, and respectability in early seventeenth century Spain. Don Quixote's death comes at the end when he cannot manage yet another sally and dies in bed. It bespeaks the metaphorical death of imagination as well. Journey, however, ends triumphantly for all. The spread of Buddhism reinforced in China and the monks and disciples who achieved the task rewarded for their tenacity and ability to resist the temptations of gold, sex, power, and sloth. All but Eight Rules, that is, who at the end still abides with his weakness, gluttony, which explains his failure to be elevated to a Buddha along with Elder and the Monkey King. Two different visions for two different societies. Individual guilt redeemed at the cost of mortality in Quixote. Collective triumph accompanied by individual immortality in Journey.
The story overall is largely the one of this band coming together in order to make merit, resist temptations, and acquire the Way of true Buddhist religiosity. Despite their fractured arguments and fighting throughout much of the journey, by tale's end, they have come together in mutual respect and spiritual worthiness. Indeed, the Great Buddha elevates both the Tang Monk and Monkey King themselves to the rank of Buddha, while giving promotions to Eight Rules, the Sha Monk, and the White Dragon Horse. All are made immortal.
Published in its current form in 1592, after being based on Chinese folk tales, Journey to the West leads me to compare it to the first great novel published in the West some twelve years later, Don Quixote. You cannot help but see a contrast in these contemporaneous works. Both, of course, are structured episodically. Both contain elements of comedic relief, Eight Rules and Sancho Panza. And both examine their social institutions in a sometimes critical way. But Don Quixote takes a tragic turn in its revelations about the role of honor, duty, and respectability in early seventeenth century Spain. Don Quixote's death comes at the end when he cannot manage yet another sally and dies in bed. It bespeaks the metaphorical death of imagination as well. Journey, however, ends triumphantly for all. The spread of Buddhism reinforced in China and the monks and disciples who achieved the task rewarded for their tenacity and ability to resist the temptations of gold, sex, power, and sloth. All but Eight Rules, that is, who at the end still abides with his weakness, gluttony, which explains his failure to be elevated to a Buddha along with Elder and the Monkey King. Two different visions for two different societies. Individual guilt redeemed at the cost of mortality in Quixote. Collective triumph accompanied by individual immortality in Journey.
joao_melo's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
marjolaine_lafreniere's review against another edition
2.0
It does get repetitive as it goes on. I strongly suspect that one isn't meant to read this book in big bursts, or if one has the ability to recall what happened in previous chapters. Oh, well. At least I can say I read it.
moreteamorecats's review against another edition
4.0
Remarkable: The episodes keep growing more perilous, the dangers more serious, and the solutions more astonishing as we go, peaking at the end. It's a slow and subtle build, but to me, entirely satisfying. The gender material remains problematic, palatable by virtue of its profound and surely self-conscious silliness. Everything else is just wonderful, especially once you've gotten into the rhythm and figured out how much you want to absorb at once.
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