Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by dylankakoulli
Monkey King: Journey to the West by Wu Ch'eng-En
4.0
Oh man, what a ride this was!
For those of you unfamiliar with the story, “The Monkey” is an abridged adaptation of Wu Cheng’en epic tale, “The Journey Of The West”.
Written way back in the 16th century, we follow a band of unlikely outcasts; the pragmatic monk, Tripitaka, the ever mischievous and magical Monkey (who is most definitely the star of the show), and then the more tame (?) duo, Pigsy and Sandy (perhaps the Pumba and Timon of our tale), who join forces, embarking on the ultimate quest to the west!
Their mission, should they choose to accept it (which so far they have -hurrah), is to simply cross the mountainous ranges and perilous rivers of Central Asia. Battling all manner of villainous monsters and irritably priggish gods, so that they can obtain and translate the sacred scriptures (sutras) of Buddhism in India, in order to then enlighten the people of China and East Asia.
Now, I am not exaggerating when I say that this was honestly the most surprising, right old rollicking of a book I’ve read this year so far! Although an abridged version, “The Monkey” is jam packed with exhilarating exploits, outlandish satire, and a sprinkling of cultural, spiritual and philosophical insight for good (zen) measure. And I LOVED IT!
*Word of warning* as much as I have just literally gushed over how much I enjoyed this book, Like Tolkien, it is very much a world building narrative. Full of various sub-plots, deities, battles and good old (and I mean old) fashioned familial feuds. Of course all highly engaging and entertaining threads, but does still make for a pretty arduous memory game at times! (Especially if you’re like me, and have a brain like a sieve!)
Anyway, I of course can’t forget to end this unsurprisingly, rambling review, without giving a HUGE round of applause to Julia Lovell, the translator of this here gorj edition. Who’s done an abso-bloomin-lutley amazing job of translating and condensing an almost 400 year old, 2,000 page, Chinese piece of text, Into 339 pages, that still manages to retain a classic ‘journey’ feel, yet with a fresh lick of modern, nutty (sometimes even nonsensical) action-adventure paint!
4 stars for ma 4 pilgrims!
For those of you unfamiliar with the story, “The Monkey” is an abridged adaptation of Wu Cheng’en epic tale, “The Journey Of The West”.
Written way back in the 16th century, we follow a band of unlikely outcasts; the pragmatic monk, Tripitaka, the ever mischievous and magical Monkey (who is most definitely the star of the show), and then the more tame (?) duo, Pigsy and Sandy (perhaps the Pumba and Timon of our tale), who join forces, embarking on the ultimate quest to the west!
Their mission, should they choose to accept it (which so far they have -hurrah), is to simply cross the mountainous ranges and perilous rivers of Central Asia. Battling all manner of villainous monsters and irritably priggish gods, so that they can obtain and translate the sacred scriptures (sutras) of Buddhism in India, in order to then enlighten the people of China and East Asia.
Now, I am not exaggerating when I say that this was honestly the most surprising, right old rollicking of a book I’ve read this year so far! Although an abridged version, “The Monkey” is jam packed with exhilarating exploits, outlandish satire, and a sprinkling of cultural, spiritual and philosophical insight for good (zen) measure. And I LOVED IT!
*Word of warning* as much as I have just literally gushed over how much I enjoyed this book, Like Tolkien, it is very much a world building narrative. Full of various sub-plots, deities, battles and good old (and I mean old) fashioned familial feuds. Of course all highly engaging and entertaining threads, but does still make for a pretty arduous memory game at times! (Especially if you’re like me, and have a brain like a sieve!)
Anyway, I of course can’t forget to end this unsurprisingly, rambling review, without giving a HUGE round of applause to Julia Lovell, the translator of this here gorj edition. Who’s done an abso-bloomin-lutley amazing job of translating and condensing an almost 400 year old, 2,000 page, Chinese piece of text, Into 339 pages, that still manages to retain a classic ‘journey’ feel, yet with a fresh lick of modern, nutty (sometimes even nonsensical) action-adventure paint!
4 stars for ma 4 pilgrims!