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A review by jellter
Monkey King: Journey to the West by Wu Ch'eng-En
5.0
Although my knowledge of Chinese literature is sparse, when I think about why this book is considered one of greatest classical Chinese novels, a few reasons stand out.
1) The amount of characters is ridiculous and yet, I was still able to keep track and I actually looked forward to who else would appear - which segues nicely into my second reason.
2) The descriptions are so vivid that I could imagine what every character, setting or disaster looked like and that is mainly because
3) The world is alive. What I mean by this is that the rules, laws and procedures that take place in this story are so consistent that it feels like, if I mapped it all out, it all seems very believable. Considering the title of the story, I was under the impression that the whole story would just be about the journey but that isn't the case. The reader learns about the circumstances that brought the main characters together and even when the actual plot gets going, there are many call-backs to remind the reader that although these are our protagonists, the rest of the world is still moving along.
4) It's genuinely funny. You quickly learn the personality types of the characters but that worked to its benefit as whenever they came across a situation - and they come across A LOT - it was entertaining to see their personalities shine. Also, the prose was a mixture of idioms and colloquialisms from our time and age and grandiose, formal words that struck a nice balance of light-heartedness and flow. Reading this was easy and enjoyable.
5) And yet, at times the story is serious, life lessons, social and political commentary through satire or just allegories that acted like punches in the face. All of this coupled with characters that although had their personality types, grew along the journey and made the reading experience worthwhile.
6) Finally and perhaps most importantly to me, it's just great fantasy. The things that happen in this book are on celestial levels and yet it happens so often that it adds to the aforementioned comedy and vividness. It's described so well and in your face that you quickly accept, enjoy and look forward to it.
Being able to do all of this is testament to how great the original novel is and how appreciative Julia Lovell's translation was. Despite not reading a large amount of Chinese novels, it's no surprise that this is considered a classic.
1) The amount of characters is ridiculous and yet, I was still able to keep track and I actually looked forward to who else would appear - which segues nicely into my second reason.
2) The descriptions are so vivid that I could imagine what every character, setting or disaster looked like and that is mainly because
3) The world is alive. What I mean by this is that the rules, laws and procedures that take place in this story are so consistent that it feels like, if I mapped it all out, it all seems very believable. Considering the title of the story, I was under the impression that the whole story would just be about the journey but that isn't the case. The reader learns about the circumstances that brought the main characters together and even when the actual plot gets going, there are many call-backs to remind the reader that although these are our protagonists, the rest of the world is still moving along.
4) It's genuinely funny. You quickly learn the personality types of the characters but that worked to its benefit as whenever they came across a situation - and they come across A LOT - it was entertaining to see their personalities shine. Also, the prose was a mixture of idioms and colloquialisms from our time and age and grandiose, formal words that struck a nice balance of light-heartedness and flow. Reading this was easy and enjoyable.
5) And yet, at times the story is serious, life lessons, social and political commentary through satire or just allegories that acted like punches in the face. All of this coupled with characters that although had their personality types, grew along the journey and made the reading experience worthwhile.
6) Finally and perhaps most importantly to me, it's just great fantasy. The things that happen in this book are on celestial levels and yet it happens so often that it adds to the aforementioned comedy and vividness. It's described so well and in your face that you quickly accept, enjoy and look forward to it.
Being able to do all of this is testament to how great the original novel is and how appreciative Julia Lovell's translation was. Despite not reading a large amount of Chinese novels, it's no surprise that this is considered a classic.