The Monkey King's Amazing Adventures

by Wu Cheng'en, Timothy Richard (Translator)

A Journey to the West in Search of Enlightenment.

Paperback

Published May 1, 2012

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Wu Cheng'en (simplified Chinese: 吴承恩; traditional Chinese: 吳承恩; pinyin: Wú Chéng'ēn, ca. 1505–1580 or 1500–1582, courtesy name Ruzhong (汝忠), pen name "Sheyang Hermit," was a Chinese novelist and poet of the Ming Dynasty, best known for being the probable author of one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, Journey to the West, also called Monkey.

Reviews

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather than a legitimate translation of The Journey to the West, this was nothing more than an anthology of stories about Sun Wukong. As much as Kane tries to defend Richard's translation, it just isn't possible to retain the spirit of a 2,000+ page story within a measly 230 pages. The writing itself is clunky and jumps around from event to event with no character development or fluidity. The introduction was helpful as Kane explained Richard's background, and the historical context of the original tale, but I don't think this translation did the story justice at all. Hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on a legitimate edition of this story, as the anecdotes in this book are genuinely entertaining and the characters seem to be quite vibrant even if they are fairly static in this particular edition.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly not the easiest read, but for those who make it to the end, one can see why it stands as a classic. It's a shame more members of my book club couldn't stick with a challenging book and finish it.

[Nick Carambelas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genuinely had a good time reading this book. The first half is definitely the best; the second half grows repetitive to the point that it feels like filler episodes of a Saturday morning cartoon, but all-in-all, it was a good read.