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astronad 's review for:
Monkey King: Journey to the West
by Wu Ch'eng-En
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Genuinely so funny. I think Julia Lovell did a fantastic job translating.
Wukong has always been one of my fave characters of all time and it’s crazy that I’ve never read the original source material. He’s just as much of a carefree highly competent menace as he is in every adaptation. Actually most adaptations stay true to each of the character’s personalities except a few that make Tripitaka less of a crybaby (a mistake by the way, pitiful Tripitaka adds so much to the story).
While this translation wasn’t the full Journey to the West (Lovell did explain that she translated only a selection of chapters) it was still a full story, we got the start, we got the end, and we got a majority of the middle. I didn’t feel like I missed out on anything.
Since I was introduced to the story of The Monkey King as a child, the shrinking circlet around Wukong’s head has always been such an uncomfortable idea for me. I’m glad to have read this book and to finally witness its removal at the very end, something in me was also freed lmao.
Wukong has always been one of my fave characters of all time and it’s crazy that I’ve never read the original source material. He’s just as much of a carefree highly competent menace as he is in every adaptation. Actually most adaptations stay true to each of the character’s personalities except a few that make Tripitaka less of a crybaby (a mistake by the way, pitiful Tripitaka adds so much to the story).
While this translation wasn’t the full Journey to the West (Lovell did explain that she translated only a selection of chapters) it was still a full story, we got the start, we got the end, and we got a majority of the middle. I didn’t feel like I missed out on anything.
Since I was introduced to the story of The Monkey King as a child, the shrinking circlet around Wukong’s head has always been such an uncomfortable idea for me. I’m glad to have read this book and to finally witness its removal at the very end, something in me was also freed lmao.