Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
Un călugăr este trimis în India pentru a aduce în China scrierile sacre de la însuși Buddha. În marea sa călătorie, călugărului îi trimit zeii patru ucenici care să-l apere și să se căiască pentru fărădelegerile din viața lor. Regele maimuțelor, un porc mistreț, un tigru și un dragon formează suita călugărului, învățând pe parcursul călătoriei ce este smerenia, bunătatea, camaraderia.
Foarte frumoasă cartea, chiar dacă o parte din acțiune pare repetitivă. Dacă vă place Dragon Ball Z și tot ce înseamnă media unde accentul se pune pe călătorie - bătălie cu inamici puternici - găsirea unor prieteni de nădejde pe parcurs - povețe și îndemnuri să fii mai bun, cartea aceasta, un adevărat clasic, este pentru voi.
Foarte frumoasă cartea, chiar dacă o parte din acțiune pare repetitivă. Dacă vă place Dragon Ball Z și tot ce înseamnă media unde accentul se pune pe călătorie - bătălie cu inamici puternici - găsirea unor prieteni de nădejde pe parcurs - povețe și îndemnuri să fii mai bun, cartea aceasta, un adevărat clasic, este pentru voi.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A nice summary of the beginning and end of Journey to the West, but a lot of the actual journey was cut out. Still gets the idea across and retains the original's charm!
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Torture
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-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
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
Monkey King sold me with the protagonist. The story elements themselves wasn't anything super special. The book was was fun, epic, but a bit repetitive (the nature of these sorts of tales). The Buddha and Laozi are featured characters that give this a larger-than-life, mythological scope. Gods, kings, beasts, and demons also populate the novel.
But Sun Wukong was the best. He made me really enjoy this novel. His mischievous nature reminded me of tricksters in various Indigenous peoples' stories and also was completely unique to his own story. So, while he is like Coyote or Nanabush, he's also uniquely Monkey. With his gang of pilgrims, Tripitaka and Pigsy the most memorable, he gets into trouble, gets friends out of trouble, and teaches lessons often by doing the wrong thing. He's a figure with a lot of influence on the many generations of his readers and it's clear why.
Some of the stories were hilarious while others were tense with demons kidnapping friends (though I always kind of knew they'd make it out alive). A great variety that doesn't ever stray into being a morality tale or preachy with religious or philosophical fervor. Buddhism, Tao and Confucianism are all given their time in the story and are largely satirized by the main characters. It's a delight for the sake of enjoyment and entertainment but isn't fluffy or pointless. It balances well between depth and lightheartedness.
The introduction was great; it helped me understand how important and prevalent this story is for people with Chinese heritage. This translation is abridged, but the translator makes it clear that the portions that were cut were repetitive scenes during the journey that didn't add to character development or the plot's projection. The full story itself has a bunch of episodes that follow a formula so it's probably better for the strength of the novel that these were excluded. I felt that this was the case as there were no weird plot holes or gaps in the story. I'm sure the thousands of pages contain more amusing stories than this book contains, but I also think that there can be too much of a good thing. Especially when the writing format is the same. This version is a great starting point for enthusiasts who may then decide to take on the entirely unabridged multi-volume length story. I don't think I'm that ambitious, but I may visit some Monkey King retellings or short stories in the future.
Thank you to the publisher for a review copy.
content warnings for: violence (mostly comic), dismemberment, attempted murder (Monkey is immortal but people are always trying to kill him), scenes around birth and labour, rare xenophobic comments, poisoning, women as plot devices (for rape, kidnapping etc.).
But Sun Wukong was the best. He made me really enjoy this novel. His mischievous nature reminded me of tricksters in various Indigenous peoples' stories and also was completely unique to his own story. So, while he is like Coyote or Nanabush, he's also uniquely Monkey. With his gang of pilgrims, Tripitaka and Pigsy the most memorable, he gets into trouble, gets friends out of trouble, and teaches lessons often by doing the wrong thing. He's a figure with a lot of influence on the many generations of his readers and it's clear why.
Some of the stories were hilarious while others were tense with demons kidnapping friends (though I always kind of knew they'd make it out alive). A great variety that doesn't ever stray into being a morality tale or preachy with religious or philosophical fervor. Buddhism, Tao and Confucianism are all given their time in the story and are largely satirized by the main characters. It's a delight for the sake of enjoyment and entertainment but isn't fluffy or pointless. It balances well between depth and lightheartedness.
The introduction was great; it helped me understand how important and prevalent this story is for people with Chinese heritage. This translation is abridged, but the translator makes it clear that the portions that were cut were repetitive scenes during the journey that didn't add to character development or the plot's projection. The full story itself has a bunch of episodes that follow a formula so it's probably better for the strength of the novel that these were excluded. I felt that this was the case as there were no weird plot holes or gaps in the story. I'm sure the thousands of pages contain more amusing stories than this book contains, but I also think that there can be too much of a good thing. Especially when the writing format is the same. This version is a great starting point for enthusiasts who may then decide to take on the entirely unabridged multi-volume length story. I don't think I'm that ambitious, but I may visit some Monkey King retellings or short stories in the future.
Thank you to the publisher for a review copy.
content warnings for: violence (mostly comic), dismemberment, attempted murder (Monkey is immortal but people are always trying to kill him), scenes around birth and labour, rare xenophobic comments, poisoning, women as plot devices (for rape, kidnapping etc.).
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
funny
reflective
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-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
I think that this edition of this book is not the proper one to read. I have no complaints about the story though, and it’s impact is so huge that it’s worth anyone reading. I’d like to come back to this book someday, just with a different, physical edition (I listened to it on audio).