You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by dibujared
Monkey King: Journey to the West by Wu Ch'eng-En
What an adventure! Through osmosis (and that one album Damon Albarn made) I've picked up miscellaneous details of the Journey to the West, but never managed to read anything of the actual story until now. I've owned the first volume of Anthony Tu's translation for years, but always found it rather daunting. With this slimmer, abridged translation, I was able to easily dive in and immerse myself in the tale. (Lovell's translation is easy to read and bubbly, but--and this is where I don't know what is particular to this translation--often I found myself taken aback by a particularly modern phrasing or exclamation. But those infrequent immersion-killers are insignificant enough that they don't hamper the overall flow or enjoyment.)
The story is simultaneously adventurous, action-packed, humorous, and horrifyingly violent. (I found myself stunned by how gruesome some of the violence is, but it's always detailed in an almost childish, matter-of-fact way that it winds up making me laugh.) The trials the scripture-seekers face are varied to a degree but always revolve around justice and beating demons senseless--and therefore, are always entertaining. The episodic structure encourages one to read it like a TV series: "On this week's episode, Monkey faces off with Red Boy."
The story is home to a large cast of colorful characters: there are the scripture-seekers; the (usually helpless) humans they meet along their journey; the demons, fiends, and otherwise villains they encounter; and a plethora of deities, spirits, and other holy figures that govern the world, Heaven, and Hell. The scripture-seekers themselves are mostly interesting--Monkey is rebellious and arrogant yet heroic, Triptaka is wise yet cowardly, and Pigsy is a gluttonous, lazy bastard, but Sandy is just kinda there; no personality to think of, and he barely does anything on their quest. Maybe all his good moments were cut out for this abridged version, but I don't know. As it is, he's just some guy that occasionally says something and gets his ass kicked.
And that's really my final thought: who knows how much I missed out on? Lovell mentioned some of the segments she had to cut (like Demon soccer wtf??) and, while obviously she couldn't include everything, I think the shorter length leads the ending to feel less impactful. Sure, the guys had some adventures, but it didn't feel like a fourteen-year-long, enlightening *journey*.
And that's fine. I finished this book wanting more, and that's probably partly intentional. This translation serves as an introduction to the classical tale many have probably heard of or seen referenced by other works. I wrote earlier that I was intimidated by Yu's four-volume translation for years, but now? I'm ready, and I'm excited to dig even more into this incredibly fun tale.
***
The rambling thoughts on Monkey King: Journey to the West end here.
The story is simultaneously adventurous, action-packed, humorous, and horrifyingly violent. (I found myself stunned by how gruesome some of the violence is, but it's always detailed in an almost childish, matter-of-fact way that it winds up making me laugh.) The trials the scripture-seekers face are varied to a degree but always revolve around justice and beating demons senseless--and therefore, are always entertaining. The episodic structure encourages one to read it like a TV series: "On this week's episode, Monkey faces off with Red Boy."
The story is home to a large cast of colorful characters: there are the scripture-seekers; the (usually helpless) humans they meet along their journey; the demons, fiends, and otherwise villains they encounter; and a plethora of deities, spirits, and other holy figures that govern the world, Heaven, and Hell. The scripture-seekers themselves are mostly interesting--Monkey is rebellious and arrogant yet heroic, Triptaka is wise yet cowardly, and Pigsy is a gluttonous, lazy bastard, but Sandy is just kinda there; no personality to think of, and he barely does anything on their quest. Maybe all his good moments were cut out for this abridged version, but I don't know. As it is, he's just some guy that occasionally says something and gets his ass kicked.
And that's really my final thought: who knows how much I missed out on? Lovell mentioned some of the segments she had to cut (like Demon soccer wtf??) and, while obviously she couldn't include everything, I think the shorter length leads the ending to feel less impactful. Sure, the guys had some adventures, but it didn't feel like a fourteen-year-long, enlightening *journey*.
And that's fine. I finished this book wanting more, and that's probably partly intentional. This translation serves as an introduction to the classical tale many have probably heard of or seen referenced by other works. I wrote earlier that I was intimidated by Yu's four-volume translation for years, but now? I'm ready, and I'm excited to dig even more into this incredibly fun tale.
***
The rambling thoughts on Monkey King: Journey to the West end here.