Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
So, I finally got round to starting this. I’ve been wanting to read it for ages, but watching Monkie Kid was the final push I needed to pick it up.
And it was better than I expected.
While I hadn’t expected poetry of all things, I’ll admit, I did enjoy the mix of poems and standard storytelling. I think the characters are very fun, and the writing style really works for them and their story.
My biggest complaints with this book is that it’s very long and very slow. If you put all four volumes together, the book is over 2000 pages. This one volume alone took me forever to finish, even if I am glad I did because it is a great story.
My issue-but-not-really is just… how absurd this book is. Almost every character is ridiculously powerful. Sun Wukong is literally immortal five times over (which I’m still trying to wrap my head around), but paired with the asinine situations our main group find themselves in constantly, I find myself simultaneously laughing and asking ‘What the fuck is happening?’
All in all, a good first 25 chapters but I need a break before I handle the rest.
And it was better than I expected.
While I hadn’t expected poetry of all things, I’ll admit, I did enjoy the mix of poems and standard storytelling. I think the characters are very fun, and the writing style really works for them and their story.
My biggest complaints with this book is that it’s very long and very slow. If you put all four volumes together, the book is over 2000 pages. This one volume alone took me forever to finish, even if I am glad I did because it is a great story.
My issue-but-not-really is just… how absurd this book is. Almost every character is ridiculously powerful. Sun Wukong is literally immortal five times over (which I’m still trying to wrap my head around), but paired with the asinine situations our main group find themselves in constantly, I find myself simultaneously laughing and asking ‘What the fuck is happening?’
All in all, a good first 25 chapters but I need a break before I handle the rest.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This adaptation reads like my favorite saturday morning cartoon- its fun, fast paced, and instantly immersive. Monkey's cyclical journey to enlightenment was filled with interesting action sequences. The idea of a bureaucratic hell was hilarious to me and overall I really enjoyed reading it.
Recently, I have been thinking about the folklores that are told in Western society. I wonder if I should feel guilty for being able to recognize instances where Greek and Roman mythology have been remixed, but not recognizing tokens of the stories that I look like I should know.
For my senior thesis, I wrote a poem about Sun Wukong, using the fraction of the story I was familiar with. Perhaps I should revisit it and see what I would change now that I’ve had the chance to read more about the journey. I’m aware that this translation is only the bare bones of Sun and Co.’s westward trek for enlightenment, but it’s enough to bait the creative in my brain to crack open its lazy eyes. At the very least, this book has provided me with concepts and word banks that are just asking to be included in poems!
Mainly, what I’ve been thinking about is how we’re prone to see ourselves as heroes. Obviously, we’re living in first-person. We sidle up to the protagonist (the good guys!); we recognize the injustices we face.
I think it’s interesting that Sun Wukong is this heroic figure of sorts. He’s super-duper immortal, jumps on clouds, beats everything into submission, shapeshifts, and out pranks and outwits just about everyone he meets. And yet he is arrogant, narcissistic, and primitive in his inability to truly take the form of others, entirely incapable of grasping the effect his actions have on those he comes across. His band of monkeys suffers for years while Sun is seeking new pleasures. Any attempt to teach him a lesson is viewed as an inconceivable injustice against the Monkey King, and his retaliation is exaggerated to unholy degrees. Everyone in Heaven and everyone under Heaven is tormented by Sun, and yet he complains of being victimized. I’m trying to think about what this means I should do for the world, for others. When I think of an elixir, panacea, or sacred scroll to dispel evil, what is it the future I imagine?
For my senior thesis, I wrote a poem about Sun Wukong, using the fraction of the story I was familiar with. Perhaps I should revisit it and see what I would change now that I’ve had the chance to read more about the journey. I’m aware that this translation is only the bare bones of Sun and Co.’s westward trek for enlightenment, but it’s enough to bait the creative in my brain to crack open its lazy eyes. At the very least, this book has provided me with concepts and word banks that are just asking to be included in poems!
Mainly, what I’ve been thinking about is how we’re prone to see ourselves as heroes. Obviously, we’re living in first-person. We sidle up to the protagonist (the good guys!); we recognize the injustices we face.
I think it’s interesting that Sun Wukong is this heroic figure of sorts. He’s super-duper immortal, jumps on clouds, beats everything into submission, shapeshifts, and out pranks and outwits just about everyone he meets. And yet he is arrogant, narcissistic, and primitive in his inability to truly take the form of others, entirely incapable of grasping the effect his actions have on those he comes across. His band of monkeys suffers for years while Sun is seeking new pleasures. Any attempt to teach him a lesson is viewed as an inconceivable injustice against the Monkey King, and his retaliation is exaggerated to unholy degrees. Everyone in Heaven and everyone under Heaven is tormented by Sun, and yet he complains of being victimized. I’m trying to think about what this means I should do for the world, for others. When I think of an elixir, panacea, or sacred scroll to dispel evil, what is it the future I imagine?
Half myth, half fairy tale, "Monkey" (or, Journey to the West) is an entertaining tale which also held nostalgia for me, from the TV show during my childhood. Never realised how closely the show depicted the actual text...highly recommend if you like classic tales and fantasy!
This was really wonderful and reminded me quite a bit of my excitement hearing tales like this when I was a kid. It's set up as a story that leads to another story so you keep reading *or listening* as you go.
I had no idea this was a an actual book, never mind translated and available in Penguin classic format! Having loved the camp TV series made in China and shown on UK TV in the late 1970s when i was a child I could not resist reading it. I am very glad I did.
As we Buddhists will tell you, it is very difficult to describe the indescribable but I will try. First of all life is humourous, the best part of life is laughter, and this book has plenty of that, and what is more uses it as a gentle didactic tool. Life is also a series of events, some of them make us despair, but there is always a solution, Tripitaka is almost an annoying characterin how he cries at every misfortune on the road, but that is to say we are also whiny and annoying and is to symbolise and recognise the suffering of humanity and the futility of worrying about it. The book is like many books of the west, written a century or so later, a picaresque work, but so much more entertaining, the adventures speed by. It is like a Buddhist "Pilgrims Progress" only with jokes and likability and a message which i prefer to that of Chaucer or Bunyan.
It makes a fair stab at Pure land Buddhism, and is inherently Chinese rather than Indian, you can see that with the vein of beauracracy and propriety running right through,Chinese Religions tend to encompass the others, so Confucianism is still there, (in fact I am surprised Li wasn't represented somewhere maybe it was and I missed it) and also with the specific brand of humour.
All the hidden as well as glaringly obvious religious messages aside, it is a wonderful story a glorious, ofetn jolly, romp, and I will be reading it to my kids with relish.
As we Buddhists will tell you, it is very difficult to describe the indescribable but I will try. First of all life is humourous, the best part of life is laughter, and this book has plenty of that, and what is more uses it as a gentle didactic tool. Life is also a series of events, some of them make us despair, but there is always a solution, Tripitaka is almost an annoying characterin how he cries at every misfortune on the road, but that is to say we are also whiny and annoying and is to symbolise and recognise the suffering of humanity and the futility of worrying about it. The book is like many books of the west, written a century or so later, a picaresque work, but so much more entertaining, the adventures speed by. It is like a Buddhist "Pilgrims Progress" only with jokes and likability and a message which i prefer to that of Chaucer or Bunyan.
It makes a fair stab at Pure land Buddhism, and is inherently Chinese rather than Indian, you can see that with the vein of beauracracy and propriety running right through,Chinese Religions tend to encompass the others, so Confucianism is still there, (in fact I am surprised Li wasn't represented somewhere maybe it was and I missed it) and also with the specific brand of humour.
All the hidden as well as glaringly obvious religious messages aside, it is a wonderful story a glorious, ofetn jolly, romp, and I will be reading it to my kids with relish.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i did not expect this to be half as hilarious as it is, especially when it's so old??? i just can't get over this man. and for a book that's considered a classic, it felt like a light, fun read to me. i mean, it's a lot to think about it, but it's not at the same time. idk i don't think i've ever enjoyed an assigned book this much but wow i'm rly happy our teacher picked it n__n
adventurous
challenging
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes