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The Monkey King: Journey to the West: Wu Cheng'en
One of the world's greatest fantasy novels and a rollicking classic of Chinese literature, in a sparkling new translation and published in a Clothbound Classics edition.
A shape-shifting trickster on a kung-fu quest for eternal life, Monkey King is one of the most memorable superheroes in world literature. High-spirited and omni-talented, he can transform himself into whatever he chooses and turn each of his body's 84,000 hairs into an army of clones. But his penchant for mischief repeatedly gets him into trouble, and when he raids Heaven's Orchard of Immortal Peaches, the Buddha pins him beneath a mountain. Five hundred years later, Monkey King is finally given a chance to redeem he must protect the pious monk Tripitaka on his journey in search of precious Buddhist sutras that will bring enlightenment to the Chinese empire.
Joined by two other fallen immortals - Pigsy, a rice-loving flying pig, and Sandy, a depressive river-sand monster - Monkey King does battle with Red Boy, Princess Jade-Face, the Monstress Dowager, and all manner of dragons, ogres, wizards and femmes fatales ; navigates the perils of Fire-Cloud Cave, the River of Flowing Sand and the Water-Crystal Palace; and is serially captured, lacquered, sautéed, steamed and liquefied - but always hatches an ingenious plan to get himself and his fellow pilgrims out of their latest jam.
Comparable to The Canterbury Tales or Don Quixote , Monkey King is at once a gripping adventure, a comic satire and a spring of spiritual insight. With this new translation by the award-winning Julia Lovell, the irrepressible rogue hero of one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature has the potential to vault, with his signature cloud-somersault, into the hearts of a whole new generation of readers.
This Penguin Classic is performed by Kevin Shen, and was translated by Julia Lovell.
One of the world's greatest fantasy novels and a rollicking classic of Chinese literature, in a sparkling new translation. 720 minutes
A shape-shifting trickster on a kung-fu quest for eternal life, Monkey King is one of the most memorable superheroes in world literature. High-spirited and omni-talented, he can transform himself into whatever he chooses and turn each of his body's 84,000 hairs into an army of clones. But his penchant for mischief repeatedly gets him into trouble, and when he raids Heaven's Orchard of Immortal Peaches, the Buddha pins him beneath a mountain. Five hundred years later, Monkey King is finally given a chance to redeem he must protect the pious monk Tripitaka on his journey in search of precious Buddhist sutras that will bring enlightenment to the Chinese empire.
Joined by two other fallen immortals - Pigsy, a rice-loving flying pig, and Sandy, a depressive river-sand monster - Monkey King does battle with Red Boy, Princess Jade-Face, the Monstress Dowager, and all manner of dragons, ogres, wizards and femmes fatales ; navigates the perils of Fire-Cloud Cave, the River of Flowing Sand and the Water-Crystal Palace; and is serially captured, lacquered, sautéed, steamed and liquefied - but always hatches an ingenious plan to get himself and his fellow pilgrims out of their latest jam.
Comparable to The Canterbury Tales or Don Quixote , Monkey King is at once a gripping adventure, a comic satire and a spring of spiritual insight. With this new translation by the award-winning Julia Lovell, the irrepressible rogue hero of one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature has the potential to vault, with his signature cloud-somersault, into the hearts of a whole new generation of readers.
This Penguin Classic is performed by Kevin Shen, and was translated by Julia Lovell.
One of the world's greatest fantasy novels and a rollicking classic of Chinese literature, in a sparkling new translation. 720 minutes
12 pages, Audiobook
First published January 1, 1592
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About the author
Wu Cheng'en
702 books194 followersLibrarian 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.
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.
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January 15, 2021
Thank you to Penguin for the review copy; it was a real treat to read this new version by a translator and scholar I really admire. Up to now I've been familiar with the Waley translation in Penguin Classics and I took the opportunity to read them side by side. This is an important translation and a major addition to the canon of English translations, and it’s wonderful to see such a playful, modern, dynamic and enjoyable version.
For those unfamiliar with the story, we follow a monk, Tripitaka as he journeys to India to collect sacred sutras, accompanied by the magic and mischievous Monkey (the real hero of the piece) and disciples Pigsy (comic) and Sandy (strangely underused), encountering all sorts of gods and monsters on the way. It is a road trip, a quest for spiritual understanding, and a satirical and allegorical comedy. Tripitaka, or Xuanzang, was a real historical character who, travels aside, almost certainly bore no relation to the character here.
Lovell is clear about the debt to Waley in her introduction. She has kept Waley’s recognisable character names Pigsy and Sandy, but has translated more and different episodes from the journey itself. Her approach to translation is much more modern, consciously sacrificing “linguistic fidelity to be true to the overall tone” – for instance, if she can’t translate a pun exactly then she will find other ways to convey the wit or wordplay (I liked ‘playing Yama’s advocate’, for example), while Arthur Waley relied on footnotes to explain (or, in one case, not to explain: “There is probably a pun here; but I cannot see it”). Lovell also drops a lot of the remnants of oral storytelling (such as the recapitulations and several of the ‘if you want to know what happened next, read on’ type passages at the end of each chapter).
I haven’t gone back to Journey to the West in many years (discounting Donnie Yen and Damon Albarn) so it was a real treat to come back to the text. There were a number of things that really struck me about it in this translation – it’s possible that these are things that I had not remembered or misremembered, but I think it’s more that Lovell’s translation really brings these features of the text out.
1) It’s very funny
While Waley can be a little staid, adaptations of Monkey tend to come out more madcap and zany than actually funny. Yes, Monkey has an energetic, childish sense of humour, but he also develops to be witty, irreverent and eloquent, not to mention humane, spiritual, and a serious, devoted pilgrim and servant to his (often distrustful) master. Lovell translates with a punchy style that is tonally closer to comic English writing and really made me chuckle. Pigsy, for instance, probably the most outright comic character, has had a ‘full and frank pre-nuptial discussion’ and wanders off with a ‘touch of melodrama’.
Lovell finds humour in playing with the expectation of literary Chinese being translated into highfalutin English in the prose (with the occasional phrase like ‘for it was he’ delivered with a wink), while also puncturing pretensions with more informal modern language (‘don’t mention it’, ‘compadres’ or ‘living their best lives’). When one demon says to Monkey ‘Extraordinary impudence. Prepare for a pounding!’, he responds ‘Fine by me, swing away’. It could have jarred, but it is skilfully done here and keeps it light and funny.
E.g: “Before he left, Subodhi remade is earlier point more forcefully. “After you leave this place, you’re bound to get up to no good. I don’t care what villainy you perpetrate; just don’t tell anyone that you were my disciple. If you breathe a word of what I did for you, I’ll flay your wretched monkey carcass, grind your bones to dust, and banish your soul permanently to the Place of Ninefold Darkness. And I’ll only be getting started.”
“Right you are. If anyone asks, I’ll tell them I’m self-taught.”
Compare with Waley’s translation of the last part: “I certainly won’t venture to say a word about you,” promised Monkey. “I’ll say I found it all out for myself".
As well as the pleasingly bonkers passages, the slapstick and burlesque, the puns, and the witty changes of tone, it’s also occasionally quite dark, such as the offhand way we are told one character ‘quietly committed suicide after all’; and when another is ‘happy to leave this world to become an infernal fruit courier’.
2) It’s a good satire of officialdom
Disclaimer here: I’m a faceless bureaucrat in my day job. Perhaps it’s down to this that it particularly appeals to me now, but the satire of officialdom is excellent, and reminded me of reminded me of Yes, Minister here and there, helped by the translation embracing the language of the modern official without going full jargon. For instance, where Waley had Monkey ask “what class of appointment is it?”, Lovell has him ask “what grade am I in the civil service”, exactly the phrase I or a fellow Sir Humphrey might ask. The Jade Emperor now has a ‘director of communications’, for instance, while Monkey has a ‘social network’ and clerical errors mean that “from that point on, most mountain monkeys never got old, for the Underworld no longer had their names and addresses.”
3) The episode selection is revealing
Like Waley’s translation, this is abridged. Both versions share the origin stories of the characters and the quest, but Lovell has chosen a different selection of episodes of the journey itself than Waley, only overlapping (I think) in the series of competitions with Immortals. Lovell has chosen more and shorter escapades. She has chosen at least one episode where a demon appears to be the match of Monkey or get the better of him, and several where Tripitaka’s shortcomings (in particular distrust and resentment of Monkey) are apparent, really fleshing out the characters.
Even in an abridged version the monsters, tricks, battles and transmogrifications can be repetitive, but Lovell has picked out some interesting ones that I didn’t know. Take, for instance, the kingdom in which 1,111 little boys are preparing to be sacrificed, their parents too afraid to weep, whose ‘only outlet for protest is satire’ – child sacrifice aside, could that description not be life in any warzone or dictatorship?
Also take the passage in which Tripitaka and Pigsy become pregnant, narrowly avoiding suffering violent sexual attack, and require Monkey to go to Dissolving Maleness Mountain to get water from the Abortion Spring. Who knew that 16th Century Chinese satire could find an intersection with contemporary feminist politics?
4) It’s also moving and thoughtful
As with all satires, it works because it has heart and poetry as its foundation. Some of the descriptions are beautiful (‘rainbows of golden light shimmered through purple mists, evergreen grasses and ever-blooming flowers’), and I found the tragic family history of Tripitaka very moving. Somehow, the offhand way in which characters can travel between earth, the underworld and heaven, or can be killed and resurrected by gods and Bodhisattvas, adds a spiritual backdrop which deepens the sorrows which afflict some of the human characters. There is real heart in Monkey, and it’s very present in this version.
This extends also to the serious bits, the spiritual lessons and guidance that are dotted around. Monkey advises a king in total seriousness: ‘don’t worship false religions and respect the unity of the three faiths’. Unsurprisingly it is Buddha who imparts perennial wisdom, in particular about the cruelty and immorality of the world (but this doesn’t stop his attendants being venal themselves). Tripitaka is a fascinating central character – a monk on a sacred journey who doesn’t appear to undergo any spiritual development. That, of course, is the point: the scrapes and escapades the gang get into on this journey serve to prove Buddha right. The world is cruel and people are fearful and uncomprehending. Monkey, on the other hand, might be crass and might seek magical power and immortality, but he has ‘awoken to emptiness’ (his name, Sun Wukong), the state of the world at the beginning of everything. ‘To advance from emptiness, living creatures must first become aware of it’.
5) It’s not the Chinese Lord of the Rings
Pet peeve time. The advertising copy for the US edition of this describes it as a Chinese ‘Lord of the Rings’ and an ‘all-time great fantasy novel’.
I know you’ve got a book to sell. But firstly, this is the second book I’ve reviewed in the short life of this blog described as the ‘Chinese Lord of the Rings’.
And secondly: it’s not. That’s not an accurate description in form, tone, content, style, meaning… anything. The only thing they share is a journey at the heart of them.
I had this in the back of my mind when reading it, even straining for parallels between Monkey and Gollum. But it’s such a stretch, it would worry me that it would come as a disappointment to some readers attracted by the copy.
If you really need a Western parallel you don’t need to look far: Don Quixote, say, Gulliver’s Travels, Tom Jones, or the Canterbury Tales, which the UK copy uses. I don’t think you need to, but if you must: please don’t pretend it’s something it’s not.
One final point for Penguin: you now have superlative translations of Journey to the West, Dream of the Red Chamber and The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (full honesty: I haven’t read that last one yet). Come on, give us the full set of the Big Four Classic Chinese Novels – let’s have an exciting new translation of the Water Margin.
For those unfamiliar with the story, we follow a monk, Tripitaka as he journeys to India to collect sacred sutras, accompanied by the magic and mischievous Monkey (the real hero of the piece) and disciples Pigsy (comic) and Sandy (strangely underused), encountering all sorts of gods and monsters on the way. It is a road trip, a quest for spiritual understanding, and a satirical and allegorical comedy. Tripitaka, or Xuanzang, was a real historical character who, travels aside, almost certainly bore no relation to the character here.
Lovell is clear about the debt to Waley in her introduction. She has kept Waley’s recognisable character names Pigsy and Sandy, but has translated more and different episodes from the journey itself. Her approach to translation is much more modern, consciously sacrificing “linguistic fidelity to be true to the overall tone” – for instance, if she can’t translate a pun exactly then she will find other ways to convey the wit or wordplay (I liked ‘playing Yama’s advocate’, for example), while Arthur Waley relied on footnotes to explain (or, in one case, not to explain: “There is probably a pun here; but I cannot see it”). Lovell also drops a lot of the remnants of oral storytelling (such as the recapitulations and several of the ‘if you want to know what happened next, read on’ type passages at the end of each chapter).
I haven’t gone back to Journey to the West in many years (discounting Donnie Yen and Damon Albarn) so it was a real treat to come back to the text. There were a number of things that really struck me about it in this translation – it’s possible that these are things that I had not remembered or misremembered, but I think it’s more that Lovell’s translation really brings these features of the text out.
1) It’s very funny
While Waley can be a little staid, adaptations of Monkey tend to come out more madcap and zany than actually funny. Yes, Monkey has an energetic, childish sense of humour, but he also develops to be witty, irreverent and eloquent, not to mention humane, spiritual, and a serious, devoted pilgrim and servant to his (often distrustful) master. Lovell translates with a punchy style that is tonally closer to comic English writing and really made me chuckle. Pigsy, for instance, probably the most outright comic character, has had a ‘full and frank pre-nuptial discussion’ and wanders off with a ‘touch of melodrama’.
Lovell finds humour in playing with the expectation of literary Chinese being translated into highfalutin English in the prose (with the occasional phrase like ‘for it was he’ delivered with a wink), while also puncturing pretensions with more informal modern language (‘don’t mention it’, ‘compadres’ or ‘living their best lives’). When one demon says to Monkey ‘Extraordinary impudence. Prepare for a pounding!’, he responds ‘Fine by me, swing away’. It could have jarred, but it is skilfully done here and keeps it light and funny.
E.g: “Before he left, Subodhi remade is earlier point more forcefully. “After you leave this place, you’re bound to get up to no good. I don’t care what villainy you perpetrate; just don’t tell anyone that you were my disciple. If you breathe a word of what I did for you, I’ll flay your wretched monkey carcass, grind your bones to dust, and banish your soul permanently to the Place of Ninefold Darkness. And I’ll only be getting started.”
“Right you are. If anyone asks, I’ll tell them I’m self-taught.”
Compare with Waley’s translation of the last part: “I certainly won’t venture to say a word about you,” promised Monkey. “I’ll say I found it all out for myself".
As well as the pleasingly bonkers passages, the slapstick and burlesque, the puns, and the witty changes of tone, it’s also occasionally quite dark, such as the offhand way we are told one character ‘quietly committed suicide after all’; and when another is ‘happy to leave this world to become an infernal fruit courier’.
2) It’s a good satire of officialdom
Disclaimer here: I’m a faceless bureaucrat in my day job. Perhaps it’s down to this that it particularly appeals to me now, but the satire of officialdom is excellent, and reminded me of reminded me of Yes, Minister here and there, helped by the translation embracing the language of the modern official without going full jargon. For instance, where Waley had Monkey ask “what class of appointment is it?”, Lovell has him ask “what grade am I in the civil service”, exactly the phrase I or a fellow Sir Humphrey might ask. The Jade Emperor now has a ‘director of communications’, for instance, while Monkey has a ‘social network’ and clerical errors mean that “from that point on, most mountain monkeys never got old, for the Underworld no longer had their names and addresses.”
3) The episode selection is revealing
Like Waley’s translation, this is abridged. Both versions share the origin stories of the characters and the quest, but Lovell has chosen a different selection of episodes of the journey itself than Waley, only overlapping (I think) in the series of competitions with Immortals. Lovell has chosen more and shorter escapades. She has chosen at least one episode where a demon appears to be the match of Monkey or get the better of him, and several where Tripitaka’s shortcomings (in particular distrust and resentment of Monkey) are apparent, really fleshing out the characters.
Even in an abridged version the monsters, tricks, battles and transmogrifications can be repetitive, but Lovell has picked out some interesting ones that I didn’t know. Take, for instance, the kingdom in which 1,111 little boys are preparing to be sacrificed, their parents too afraid to weep, whose ‘only outlet for protest is satire’ – child sacrifice aside, could that description not be life in any warzone or dictatorship?
Also take the passage in which Tripitaka and Pigsy become pregnant, narrowly avoiding suffering violent sexual attack, and require Monkey to go to Dissolving Maleness Mountain to get water from the Abortion Spring. Who knew that 16th Century Chinese satire could find an intersection with contemporary feminist politics?
4) It’s also moving and thoughtful
As with all satires, it works because it has heart and poetry as its foundation. Some of the descriptions are beautiful (‘rainbows of golden light shimmered through purple mists, evergreen grasses and ever-blooming flowers’), and I found the tragic family history of Tripitaka very moving. Somehow, the offhand way in which characters can travel between earth, the underworld and heaven, or can be killed and resurrected by gods and Bodhisattvas, adds a spiritual backdrop which deepens the sorrows which afflict some of the human characters. There is real heart in Monkey, and it’s very present in this version.
This extends also to the serious bits, the spiritual lessons and guidance that are dotted around. Monkey advises a king in total seriousness: ‘don’t worship false religions and respect the unity of the three faiths’. Unsurprisingly it is Buddha who imparts perennial wisdom, in particular about the cruelty and immorality of the world (but this doesn’t stop his attendants being venal themselves). Tripitaka is a fascinating central character – a monk on a sacred journey who doesn’t appear to undergo any spiritual development. That, of course, is the point: the scrapes and escapades the gang get into on this journey serve to prove Buddha right. The world is cruel and people are fearful and uncomprehending. Monkey, on the other hand, might be crass and might seek magical power and immortality, but he has ‘awoken to emptiness’ (his name, Sun Wukong), the state of the world at the beginning of everything. ‘To advance from emptiness, living creatures must first become aware of it’.
5) It’s not the Chinese Lord of the Rings
Pet peeve time. The advertising copy for the US edition of this describes it as a Chinese ‘Lord of the Rings’ and an ‘all-time great fantasy novel’.
I know you’ve got a book to sell. But firstly, this is the second book I’ve reviewed in the short life of this blog described as the ‘Chinese Lord of the Rings’.
And secondly: it’s not. That’s not an accurate description in form, tone, content, style, meaning… anything. The only thing they share is a journey at the heart of them.
I had this in the back of my mind when reading it, even straining for parallels between Monkey and Gollum. But it’s such a stretch, it would worry me that it would come as a disappointment to some readers attracted by the copy.
If you really need a Western parallel you don’t need to look far: Don Quixote, say, Gulliver’s Travels, Tom Jones, or the Canterbury Tales, which the UK copy uses. I don’t think you need to, but if you must: please don’t pretend it’s something it’s not.
One final point for Penguin: you now have superlative translations of Journey to the West, Dream of the Red Chamber and The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (full honesty: I haven’t read that last one yet). Come on, give us the full set of the Big Four Classic Chinese Novels – let’s have an exciting new translation of the Water Margin.
Want to read
December 18, 2023"High-spirited and omni-talented, the Monkey King can transform himself into whatever he chooses and turn each of his body's 84,000 hairs into an army of clones." goals
October 2, 2023
This novel in Lovell’s abridged translation makes for a very entertaining, intensely readable fantasy story, that uses Chinese mythology, about an exciting journey full of fiends that live in the mountains, and ridiculous and hilarious friends we make along the way - weepy Tripitaka, lustful and gluttonous Pigsy, depressed Sandy, and mischievous, brazen Monkey - all on their way to the enlightenment.
The episodic nature can feel at times repetitive, which makes sense considering how this story was first created (folk oral tradition) and then molded into this written version. Yet I was glad for this abridgment, it really made the story propulsive and much more enjoyable. Interestingly, whenever the task becomes too hard, our heroes don’t prevail because of their wit, but because they have great immortal protectors that are always ready to help; and sometimes just with Monkey's fighting skills and disguises. Other guys are pretty much useless. So think of The Hobbit- The Arabian nights-The Odyssey (because of Athena's protection). I did enjoy this the most out of all of these other books.
The episodic nature can feel at times repetitive, which makes sense considering how this story was first created (folk oral tradition) and then molded into this written version. Yet I was glad for this abridgment, it really made the story propulsive and much more enjoyable. Interestingly, whenever the task becomes too hard, our heroes don’t prevail because of their wit, but because they have great immortal protectors that are always ready to help; and sometimes just with Monkey's fighting skills and disguises. Other guys are pretty much useless. So think of The Hobbit- The Arabian nights-The Odyssey (because of Athena's protection). I did enjoy this the most out of all of these other books.
January 26, 2022
Reading this was like watching a buddy movie of mismatched friends on a quest for immortality.
What made this a fun read was the comedy, mostly supplied by Monkey. Monkey is an exuberant mischievous character whose self-assuredness hides his caring heart. Pigsy also contributed to the comedy by always trying to get Monkey into trouble with Tripitaka, a monk whom they are safeguarding from demons on their travels to collect Buddhist scriptures to bring back to China - which they learn later is 108 000 miles one way.
Out of the four, Sandy is the quietest – but when he speaks it is usually with perception the others lack. The story is also lightly interspersed with Taoism and Buddhism with hints of cultural attitudes and expectations.
I would have never guessed that this was written in the 1590s. The translation in this penguin ed by Julia Lovell is so easy that there was no need for me to look up anything; not one time did I have to search my kindle for more information, or look things up on Wikipedia. All that was required for me to do was to just sit back and enjoy – which I did. This was a very entertaining read.
What made this a fun read was the comedy, mostly supplied by Monkey. Monkey is an exuberant mischievous character whose self-assuredness hides his caring heart. Pigsy also contributed to the comedy by always trying to get Monkey into trouble with Tripitaka, a monk whom they are safeguarding from demons on their travels to collect Buddhist scriptures to bring back to China - which they learn later is 108 000 miles one way.
Out of the four, Sandy is the quietest – but when he speaks it is usually with perception the others lack. The story is also lightly interspersed with Taoism and Buddhism with hints of cultural attitudes and expectations.
I would have never guessed that this was written in the 1590s. The translation in this penguin ed by Julia Lovell is so easy that there was no need for me to look up anything; not one time did I have to search my kindle for more information, or look things up on Wikipedia. All that was required for me to do was to just sit back and enjoy – which I did. This was a very entertaining read.
October 12, 2022
This was so fun. For a story this old it’s a delight to read, thanks to the new translation and editing involved in that. It’s exuberant and made me laugh a lot. Some of the episodic adventures were meandering, but even those almost always made me laugh. And it’s hard to worry about flaws when the legendary kung fu monkey with hilarious omnipotent powers is up to his mischief.
May 7, 2021
Wow. I have learnt so much from this book! Here are some examples:
- You can bypass oceans by travelling thousands of miles in a single cloud somersault - but you cannot bypass the immigration office
- Bureaucracy does not end with death - it just gets started
- Abortion on men is ok
- Pissing on Buddha's palm can give you a sentence of 500 years
- Systematic beating bad guys to a gory pulp won't stop you from achieving Buddahood - uncontrolled gorging on rice will
- Participating in a holy mission may involve starring in a demonic family soap opera
- Buddha does not approve bribery - but he approves that the staff in his HQ does
- Completing an epic pilgrimage in the real world can make you famous but, once it becomes a myth, don't be surprised that the animal sidekick you never had becomes the protagonist
- Nepal, Tibet and India can be quite entertaining but China is the greatest and throws the best parties
- What Bureau of Rice Reincarnation is
- And much more but don't want to take that pleasure from you!
I stumbled upon this 16th-century Chinese classic out of curiosity because I found out that the Dragon Ball was based on it. Shame on me, I thought the novel will be slightly outdated, serious and slower than Toriyama's manga. On the contrary - it is extremely funny and action-packed, the duels are fast-paced and ingenious, unlike some of the neverending Dragon Ball fights.
I don't know what the unabridged version looks like but this translation is fantastic, especially as an audiobook read by Kevin Shen.
I AM... MONKEY! You didn't like the book? EAT MY STAFF!
- You can bypass oceans by travelling thousands of miles in a single cloud somersault - but you cannot bypass the immigration office
- Bureaucracy does not end with death - it just gets started
- Abortion on men is ok
- Pissing on Buddha's palm can give you a sentence of 500 years
- Systematic beating bad guys to a gory pulp won't stop you from achieving Buddahood - uncontrolled gorging on rice will
- Participating in a holy mission may involve starring in a demonic family soap opera
- Buddha does not approve bribery - but he approves that the staff in his HQ does
- Completing an epic pilgrimage in the real world can make you famous but, once it becomes a myth, don't be surprised that the animal sidekick you never had becomes the protagonist
- Nepal, Tibet and India can be quite entertaining but China is the greatest and throws the best parties
- What Bureau of Rice Reincarnation is
- And much more but don't want to take that pleasure from you!
I stumbled upon this 16th-century Chinese classic out of curiosity because I found out that the Dragon Ball was based on it. Shame on me, I thought the novel will be slightly outdated, serious and slower than Toriyama's manga. On the contrary - it is extremely funny and action-packed, the duels are fast-paced and ingenious, unlike some of the neverending Dragon Ball fights.
I don't know what the unabridged version looks like but this translation is fantastic, especially as an audiobook read by Kevin Shen.
I AM... MONKEY! You didn't like the book? EAT MY STAFF!
September 23, 2023
Outrageously fun. I love the casually intricate worldbuilding of Chinese mythology, the extensive bureaucracy of hyper-specific spirits, demons, and deities responsible for every locale and natural phenomenon of the cosmos. And the mischievous, mighty Sun Wukong can wreck shop on nearly any of them. He’s an incredible main character, utterly unhesitating and absurdly persistant in any challenge, with a hilarious wit to his dialogue (not to mention his endless tricks).
Speaking of tricks, though, they are copiously played both on and by every single character. This is such a fuck around and find out story, but in a way that’s so joyfully messy and omni-directional it hardly feels like it’s pushing a moral agenda. I think the plot is negotiating between order and chaos, but it’s certainly not the absolutist good vs. evil vibe of contemporaneous Western classics. Also, it approaches hubris and the consequences for defying the divine with irreverent humor so unlike the punitive misery of ancient Greek myth or Christian literature. And the syncretism of Bhuddism and Daoism going on here is super super interesting; I’ll have to do more research to understand it all better!
Already I feel like Journey to the West has given me immense retrospective insight into all the East Asian stories I’ve ever experienced. Its influence is easily visible in wuxia and xianxia, martial arts films, and shonen manga/anime, to name a few. And it goes beyond East Asia, too, I’d bet—this book is the closest precursor I’ve seen, in terms of characters and action sequences, to American superhero comics. It’s perhaps his ultimate, most epic act of vandalism, that Sun Wukong has left his monkey handprints on so much of modern storytelling. I’m so glad to have met him. What do I do now, watch Dragon Ball?
Oh, oh, also! This edition completely slaps! Julia Lovell’s translation and abridgment read so smoothly. She manages the exact degree of casualness that is genuinely funny and naturalistic to English, without feeling overly contemporary in that cringe way of so many updated translations of classic texts. And the other introductory materials (forward by comics legend Gene Luen Yang, introduction and a really valuable translator’s note by Lovell) are great, too.
Speaking of tricks, though, they are copiously played both on and by every single character. This is such a fuck around and find out story, but in a way that’s so joyfully messy and omni-directional it hardly feels like it’s pushing a moral agenda. I think the plot is negotiating between order and chaos, but it’s certainly not the absolutist good vs. evil vibe of contemporaneous Western classics. Also, it approaches hubris and the consequences for defying the divine with irreverent humor so unlike the punitive misery of ancient Greek myth or Christian literature. And the syncretism of Bhuddism and Daoism going on here is super super interesting; I’ll have to do more research to understand it all better!
Already I feel like Journey to the West has given me immense retrospective insight into all the East Asian stories I’ve ever experienced. Its influence is easily visible in wuxia and xianxia, martial arts films, and shonen manga/anime, to name a few. And it goes beyond East Asia, too, I’d bet—this book is the closest precursor I’ve seen, in terms of characters and action sequences, to American superhero comics. It’s perhaps his ultimate, most epic act of vandalism, that Sun Wukong has left his monkey handprints on so much of modern storytelling. I’m so glad to have met him. What do I do now, watch Dragon Ball?
Oh, oh, also! This edition completely slaps! Julia Lovell’s translation and abridgment read so smoothly. She manages the exact degree of casualness that is genuinely funny and naturalistic to English, without feeling overly contemporary in that cringe way of so many updated translations of classic texts. And the other introductory materials (forward by comics legend Gene Luen Yang, introduction and a really valuable translator’s note by Lovell) are great, too.
October 2, 2023
As I always say, this story is the best myth in the world.
July 4, 2021
A goddamn delight.
July 7, 2021
This is a review of the translation by Julia Lovell titled Monkey King.
So this is the third of the Four Great Chinese Classical Novels I've read, and it might be the most like what we tend to think of these days as a 'novel'. Three Kingdoms and Water Margin both feel more like epics, following the landscape of whole regions at a time as dozens of characters interact within them; here, we're sticking with a smaller group on a clear mission. After a bit of a prologue in which we get some Monkey (as he's called in this version) origin story and learn about some of his abilities, as well as some of the spiritual context through meeting some deities and whatnot, we pretty much spend the novel's length hanging out with Buddhist pilgrim Tripitaka as he embarks on a fifteen-plus-year, 108,000 mile journey to obtain some sacred scrolls from India. He picks up a few 'disciples' en route: the aforementioned Monkey as well as reformed demons Pigsy and Sandy, and the four form our main cast. (Oh, and there's also a dragon who eats Tripitaka's horse and ends up transforming into a horse himself to make up for it.)
This is the first version/translation I've read of Journey to the West, and as far as I can tell it does a pretty good job. You can kind of tell it's pretty heavily abridged, and I get why - the end result is something that feels like a much sleeker story than a lot of classics - but I feel like I missed a few of the most fun-sounding episodes so I might have to find a longer version at some point! Still, no point judging this version on what it isn't or doesn't have: what it does have, as it turns out, is a lot of fun. It's sometimes genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, which is pretty impressive. There are definitely some oddities to a modern reader, but that's kind of par for the course with a book this old: values have changed, so things that were marks of heroism to the culture in which this book was written now seem strange or outright immoral.
The plot basically boils down to Tripitaka and co. gradually wandering westward and coming up against a bunch of trials on the way; in many ways the bulk of the journey feels less like one long story and more like a sitcom in which the pilgrims face a different threat each episode, with a few connecting threads but the various adventures mostly remaining discrete. Things are generally resolved in one of a couple of ways: Monkey beats up the monster with his size-shifting staff; Monkey uses transformation magic to trick the monster, gets caught, and ultimately beats it up with his size-shifting staff; or Monkey fails to beat up the monster with his size-shifting staff and runs off to get help from a deity.
This last solution happens a lot, actually; you know how Greek plays and stories often feature gods intervening to solve things, and that's where the phrase 'deus ex machina' comes from? Well, deus ex Monkey is probably the most reliable way for the pilgrims to solve things: since Heaven's on their side, a few deities are pretty willing to help them out, and Monkey's annoying enough that he can usually persuade any who weren't immediately up for it. (Also, he often travels thousands of miles to find said deity, but luckily this isn't a problem as he can jump that in less than a second. This ability comes in less handy than you might think on the pilgrimage, since he can't carry Tripitaka, but there are a lot of occasions on which the pilgrims would've been truly in trouble could Monkey not just teleport halfway around the world, or up into Heaven, to get help.)
There's a common theme around Heaven being just the most bureaucratic place you can imagine, which is often a source of real humour: demons and kings file celestial lawsuits, and on at least one occasion a minor cock-up and a bit of administrative finagling results in two people just straight-up coming back to life, one in someone else's body entirely.
Lovell's made something here that's really easy to get through; it's still got a lot of the idiosyncrasies of ancient Chinese literature, of course, because that's what it is, but I feel like what the style of this translation has achieved is a tone that feels kinda similar to how stories like this might've been initially spun by enthusiastic storytellers to enraptured listeners. It's just fun and enjoyable, requiring very little effort and no prior knowledge whatsoever to have a good time with.
So this is the third of the Four Great Chinese Classical Novels I've read, and it might be the most like what we tend to think of these days as a 'novel'. Three Kingdoms and Water Margin both feel more like epics, following the landscape of whole regions at a time as dozens of characters interact within them; here, we're sticking with a smaller group on a clear mission. After a bit of a prologue in which we get some Monkey (as he's called in this version) origin story and learn about some of his abilities, as well as some of the spiritual context through meeting some deities and whatnot, we pretty much spend the novel's length hanging out with Buddhist pilgrim Tripitaka as he embarks on a fifteen-plus-year, 108,000 mile journey to obtain some sacred scrolls from India. He picks up a few 'disciples' en route: the aforementioned Monkey as well as reformed demons Pigsy and Sandy, and the four form our main cast. (Oh, and there's also a dragon who eats Tripitaka's horse and ends up transforming into a horse himself to make up for it.)
This is the first version/translation I've read of Journey to the West, and as far as I can tell it does a pretty good job. You can kind of tell it's pretty heavily abridged, and I get why - the end result is something that feels like a much sleeker story than a lot of classics - but I feel like I missed a few of the most fun-sounding episodes so I might have to find a longer version at some point! Still, no point judging this version on what it isn't or doesn't have: what it does have, as it turns out, is a lot of fun. It's sometimes genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, which is pretty impressive. There are definitely some oddities to a modern reader, but that's kind of par for the course with a book this old: values have changed, so things that were marks of heroism to the culture in which this book was written now seem strange or outright immoral.
The plot basically boils down to Tripitaka and co. gradually wandering westward and coming up against a bunch of trials on the way; in many ways the bulk of the journey feels less like one long story and more like a sitcom in which the pilgrims face a different threat each episode, with a few connecting threads but the various adventures mostly remaining discrete. Things are generally resolved in one of a couple of ways: Monkey beats up the monster with his size-shifting staff; Monkey uses transformation magic to trick the monster, gets caught, and ultimately beats it up with his size-shifting staff; or Monkey fails to beat up the monster with his size-shifting staff and runs off to get help from a deity.
This last solution happens a lot, actually; you know how Greek plays and stories often feature gods intervening to solve things, and that's where the phrase 'deus ex machina' comes from? Well, deus ex Monkey is probably the most reliable way for the pilgrims to solve things: since Heaven's on their side, a few deities are pretty willing to help them out, and Monkey's annoying enough that he can usually persuade any who weren't immediately up for it. (Also, he often travels thousands of miles to find said deity, but luckily this isn't a problem as he can jump that in less than a second. This ability comes in less handy than you might think on the pilgrimage, since he can't carry Tripitaka, but there are a lot of occasions on which the pilgrims would've been truly in trouble could Monkey not just teleport halfway around the world, or up into Heaven, to get help.)
There's a common theme around Heaven being just the most bureaucratic place you can imagine, which is often a source of real humour: demons and kings file celestial lawsuits, and on at least one occasion a minor cock-up and a bit of administrative finagling results in two people just straight-up coming back to life, one in someone else's body entirely.
Lovell's made something here that's really easy to get through; it's still got a lot of the idiosyncrasies of ancient Chinese literature, of course, because that's what it is, but I feel like what the style of this translation has achieved is a tone that feels kinda similar to how stories like this might've been initially spun by enthusiastic storytellers to enraptured listeners. It's just fun and enjoyable, requiring very little effort and no prior knowledge whatsoever to have a good time with.
September 25, 2022
In far many more ways than intended, Monkey King is a bizarre read. It is entertaining and informative of the value systems of the era in an equal measure.
The army of monsters and demons, or even Monkey's superpowers, is more out of ancient Indian fables involving Hindu gods, but not how battles are fought and won. There is not much room for compassion, for instance. While there is humor and satire aplenty, there is little spirituality or even attempts at deeper life meanings.
The reverence for authorities and the descriptions of bureaucracy are uniquely Chinese. The transactional nature of interactions, including in the most extraordinary conversations with Buddha that permeates the story, is joyful initially but becomes grating as the story progresses. One gets a unique insight through the portrayed frictions between the disciples of Daoism and Buddhism. It goes against the conventional wisdom of these two paths' coexistence and mutually compatible natures.
Written texts have always held the highest importance in Chinese culture. The westward journey never wavered from it being a quest to secure the sutras and scriptures - something all Indian religions would consign to a far lower place to learning spirituality through meditation and spiritual/ascetic experiences. The most unbelievable parts of the book are not Monkey's extraordinary powers but the way its medieval author(s) perceived the path to attaining Buddhahood.
The army of monsters and demons, or even Monkey's superpowers, is more out of ancient Indian fables involving Hindu gods, but not how battles are fought and won. There is not much room for compassion, for instance. While there is humor and satire aplenty, there is little spirituality or even attempts at deeper life meanings.
The reverence for authorities and the descriptions of bureaucracy are uniquely Chinese. The transactional nature of interactions, including in the most extraordinary conversations with Buddha that permeates the story, is joyful initially but becomes grating as the story progresses. One gets a unique insight through the portrayed frictions between the disciples of Daoism and Buddhism. It goes against the conventional wisdom of these two paths' coexistence and mutually compatible natures.
Written texts have always held the highest importance in Chinese culture. The westward journey never wavered from it being a quest to secure the sutras and scriptures - something all Indian religions would consign to a far lower place to learning spirituality through meditation and spiritual/ascetic experiences. The most unbelievable parts of the book are not Monkey's extraordinary powers but the way its medieval author(s) perceived the path to attaining Buddhahood.
February 18, 2023
An anthropomorphic monkey superhero pisses on (and in) anything and everything he can. The world had been trying to find spiritual significance in this for 500 years. People are strange.
October 7, 2024
I really enjoyed reading this one.
Monkey King (or Journey to the West) follows Tripitaka on his journey to collect Buddhist scriptures for the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Along the way, Tripitaka is joined by Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy, and a dragon who turns into a horse after eating the party's horse. The characters have distinct personalities, are always getting up to some sort of trouble in the various trials they find themselves in, and have quite funny inter-group dynamics.
Born from an oral storytelling tradition, the story meanders along with the characters in their journey.
I also really liked Heaven and Hell's intense bureaucratic structure, it was quite funny, and probably some sort of commentary on Tang Dynasty China's structure of government.
Monkey King (or Journey to the West) follows Tripitaka on his journey to collect Buddhist scriptures for the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Along the way, Tripitaka is joined by Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy, and a dragon who turns into a horse after eating the party's horse. The characters have distinct personalities, are always getting up to some sort of trouble in the various trials they find themselves in, and have quite funny inter-group dynamics.
Born from an oral storytelling tradition, the story meanders along with the characters in their journey.
I also really liked Heaven and Hell's intense bureaucratic structure, it was quite funny, and probably some sort of commentary on Tang Dynasty China's structure of government.
April 24, 2022
”I am Monkey, the immortal sage of Flower-Fruit Mountain and a close neighbour of your king. I’m frankly surprised you need to ask.”
When I was still in my mum’s womb in 98’, she was always watching an adaptation of Journey to the West (in Vietnamese we called it: Tay Du Ky). Whether it was the beloved 1986 classic or the revamped Hong Kong TVB of the 1996 version, every generation, every child and every adult has their own monkey.
Despite originating from a country that has a long history of censorship and oppression, Monkey King is a biting satirical allegory on Chinese bureaucracy and humanity striving for perseverance. Its endurance is evident through countless adaptations, pop cultural references and impact within Asia and beyond.
I’m so grateful to have read this story, which has shaped my childhood, adolescence and now adulthood, through a brand new translation published this year by Julia Lovell. Julia has made this almost 500 year old beloved classic accessible, yet respectful to the original, and it’s clear in her acknowledgment that she understands the significance and reverence of this story and these characters.
I’m aware I wrote absolutely nothing about the story because it’d be impossible to. I’m just very happy that we have this new translated and clothbound edition by Penguin and I’m even more grateful that it was gifted to me by my best friend.
Heaven is for gods and earth for ghosts; birth and death proceed cyclically, for such is the immutable order of nature.
When I was still in my mum’s womb in 98’, she was always watching an adaptation of Journey to the West (in Vietnamese we called it: Tay Du Ky). Whether it was the beloved 1986 classic or the revamped Hong Kong TVB of the 1996 version, every generation, every child and every adult has their own monkey.
Despite originating from a country that has a long history of censorship and oppression, Monkey King is a biting satirical allegory on Chinese bureaucracy and humanity striving for perseverance. Its endurance is evident through countless adaptations, pop cultural references and impact within Asia and beyond.
I’m so grateful to have read this story, which has shaped my childhood, adolescence and now adulthood, through a brand new translation published this year by Julia Lovell. Julia has made this almost 500 year old beloved classic accessible, yet respectful to the original, and it’s clear in her acknowledgment that she understands the significance and reverence of this story and these characters.
I’m aware I wrote absolutely nothing about the story because it’d be impossible to. I’m just very happy that we have this new translated and clothbound edition by Penguin and I’m even more grateful that it was gifted to me by my best friend.
Heaven is for gods and earth for ghosts; birth and death proceed cyclically, for such is the immutable order of nature.
March 15, 2021
After watching Aquaman with my nine-year-old Chinese host brother in a 4th-tier Guizhou city, I asked him who his favorite superhero was. I'll never forget his look of disdain.
"Monkey King, duh. America might have Superman, Spiderman, Batman, and Aquaman, but all China needs is a single Monkey King," he said.
After reading Julia Lovell's rollicking translation, I now fully understand my little brother's point.
Lovell's writing is love at first sight. I learned about Lovell's talent at the same time that I picked up drinking coffee (and having the occasional accompanying cigarette); mornings of the fall of my junior year in college were spent with her translations of Lu Xun's fiction and cheap dark roast coffee from the college canteen. Those are some of the happiest moment's of my life. This book likewise made my mind buzz while setting my heart at ease, an exceedingly rare combination. Lovell is a (braver, presumably) Tripitaka for our times.
I'll be plumbing it for choice quotes for my own writing from now until kingdom come. Here are a two of my favorites, and how I plan to use them. Mild (微辣 even) spoilers:
- After Monkey learns to "cloud-gallop," his famous 108,00 mile leap, Subodhi's other disciples say, "'Lucky Monkey!' The crowd of discipline giggled. 'If you master this, you can get a job as an express courier. You'll always be able to make a living.'" Talk about a pull-quote for an article on the plight of China's express delivery workers. Most recently, a man from the same Guizhou city where I watched Aquaman (and was introduced to Monkey's greatness) was arrested for organizing food delivery workers to speak out! What an injustice! The monkey, the king of couriers, would brook no such thing.
-Near the end of the Journey to the West, the following scene occurs. "As soon as the boatman began gently punting across the river, a corpse floated past. Monkey smiled at the terror-stricken Tripitaka. 'Don't be afraid. It's you.'" Perfect! The exact scene of the exact book of which it reminds me eludes me while I'm writing the review, but I feel it might be out of Beckett if he had been Buddhist. If I'm to get serious about this whole writing thing, I should just repeat this line over and over, my own sutra, until I achieve enlightenment.
This book couldn't be better. Had so much fun reading it. If I'm able to get to Beijing this fall, I've decided to focus my first semester on reading the original Chinese. It might take me 5,048 days, but at the end I just might have a shot at enlightenment.
"Monkey King, duh. America might have Superman, Spiderman, Batman, and Aquaman, but all China needs is a single Monkey King," he said.
After reading Julia Lovell's rollicking translation, I now fully understand my little brother's point.
Lovell's writing is love at first sight. I learned about Lovell's talent at the same time that I picked up drinking coffee (and having the occasional accompanying cigarette); mornings of the fall of my junior year in college were spent with her translations of Lu Xun's fiction and cheap dark roast coffee from the college canteen. Those are some of the happiest moment's of my life. This book likewise made my mind buzz while setting my heart at ease, an exceedingly rare combination. Lovell is a (braver, presumably) Tripitaka for our times.
I'll be plumbing it for choice quotes for my own writing from now until kingdom come. Here are a two of my favorites, and how I plan to use them. Mild (微辣 even) spoilers:
- After Monkey learns to "cloud-gallop," his famous 108,00 mile leap, Subodhi's other disciples say, "'Lucky Monkey!' The crowd of discipline giggled. 'If you master this, you can get a job as an express courier. You'll always be able to make a living.'" Talk about a pull-quote for an article on the plight of China's express delivery workers. Most recently, a man from the same Guizhou city where I watched Aquaman (and was introduced to Monkey's greatness) was arrested for organizing food delivery workers to speak out! What an injustice! The monkey, the king of couriers, would brook no such thing.
-Near the end of the Journey to the West, the following scene occurs. "As soon as the boatman began gently punting across the river, a corpse floated past. Monkey smiled at the terror-stricken Tripitaka. 'Don't be afraid. It's you.'" Perfect! The exact scene of the exact book of which it reminds me eludes me while I'm writing the review, but I feel it might be out of Beckett if he had been Buddhist. If I'm to get serious about this whole writing thing, I should just repeat this line over and over, my own sutra, until I achieve enlightenment.
This book couldn't be better. Had so much fun reading it. If I'm able to get to Beijing this fall, I've decided to focus my first semester on reading the original Chinese. It might take me 5,048 days, but at the end I just might have a shot at enlightenment.
June 8, 2022
a 16th century buddhist buddy comedy
July 18, 2023
Mpreg was the last thing I expected from this book
September 2, 2023
This was so much fun, I really enjoyed the audiobook.
June 6, 2025
Mpreg… in the 1600s… more likely than you think
November 20, 2025
Really enjoyed this. Helps that the 1980s TV series stuck very closely to the plot of the 1500s book. Witty, entertaining and full of magic and adventure, this has dated very well.
October 28, 2021
I noticed that I have a bad habit of criticising translations of classic literature, perhaps unfairly, so I will endeavour not to do so here. Monkey King, or more commonly known as Journey to the West, does not seem like an easy text to translate into modern English. This is due not only to its imposing status as a cornerstone of classical Chinese literature, but also because Mandarin is notoriously difficult to translate word for word without losing meaning and tone along the way. As Julia Lovell points out in her critical introduction to this latest 2021 publication, many of the jokes and puns of the original rely on the wordplay of Chinese characters, so they would be impossible to reproduce here. To counter the problem, she 'enhances' the humour in other areas, a solution I'm not too sure about. I did find some of her modernisms a little jarring, particularly the Easter egg moment when the titular mischief maker declares 'time for some Monkey Magic!' (If you know, you know... but let's be honest with ourselves, it was a terrible TV show.) Perhaps more problematic than an overly modern reproduction is the fact that this edition is heavily abridged, something I did not realise until after I had finished. The original book runs on for 100 chapters, whilst Lovell's is only a quarter of the length. Therefore, I still feel that I haven't read it properly, and some of the omitted chapters sounded like a lot of fun.
Overall, I did not enjoy this book an awful lot. The descriptive sections, whether through heavy-handed editing or sparse folktale storytelling from Wu Cheng'en, were too abrupt for my tastes. The action plays out like two young boys posturing and smacking their toys together, making up increasingly ludicrous magic powers and kung-fu moves on the spot. Lovell points out the similarity between this narrative and that of Marvel films, a genre I find hollow and unwholesome. Although academia likes to sneer at such contemporary comparisons, I feel that she is right. The non-stop barrage of conflict and bickering between the characters was mentally exhausting, with no breathing space or quieter moments in the pilgrimage to explore. The pilgrims run from one scenario to the next, not unlike the standalone episodes of a television serial. Character development was patchy and uneven. Again, this may be due to Lovell's decisions of which chapters to include, but it was glaringly apparently that the depressive Sandy had far less involvement than gluttonous Pigsy, allies of the protagonist who should have equal representation. The patchiness of this abridgement could ultimately not be overlooked, and it did severely hamper my enjoyment of the adventure. Perhaps one day I will read the complete book in Mandarin, but for now this edition remains a passable introduction to the source text.
Overall, I did not enjoy this book an awful lot. The descriptive sections, whether through heavy-handed editing or sparse folktale storytelling from Wu Cheng'en, were too abrupt for my tastes. The action plays out like two young boys posturing and smacking their toys together, making up increasingly ludicrous magic powers and kung-fu moves on the spot. Lovell points out the similarity between this narrative and that of Marvel films, a genre I find hollow and unwholesome. Although academia likes to sneer at such contemporary comparisons, I feel that she is right. The non-stop barrage of conflict and bickering between the characters was mentally exhausting, with no breathing space or quieter moments in the pilgrimage to explore. The pilgrims run from one scenario to the next, not unlike the standalone episodes of a television serial. Character development was patchy and uneven. Again, this may be due to Lovell's decisions of which chapters to include, but it was glaringly apparently that the depressive Sandy had far less involvement than gluttonous Pigsy, allies of the protagonist who should have equal representation. The patchiness of this abridgement could ultimately not be overlooked, and it did severely hamper my enjoyment of the adventure. Perhaps one day I will read the complete book in Mandarin, but for now this edition remains a passable introduction to the source text.
March 7, 2023
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.
November 10, 2022
A breath of fresh air.
I haven’t read such an entertaining novel in a long long time. Little did I expect such amusement to originate from a 16th century Ming dynasty classic.
From the characters to the world-building, Lovell’s comical, yet respectful translation of Journey to the West is a modern masterpiece.
Rife with slapstick humour and absurdities of every kind, this novel will make you chuckle consistently within each chapter.
The best way I can describe the emotions Monkey King derives out of the reader is that it is reminiscent of the absurdities of childhood stories in a nostalgic way.
Through this mischievous satire of a Buddhist pilgrimage, Wu Cheng’en critiques tyrannical hierarchies, authority and the human condition alongside highlighting the advantages of pluralism in one broad sweep.
Julia Lovell has produced an extremely witty translation - ripe with a satisfying blend of prose and informal modern language that elegantly subsumes the Classical Chinese.
This whimsical Chinese Classic is truly a tale of epic proportions.
I haven’t read such an entertaining novel in a long long time. Little did I expect such amusement to originate from a 16th century Ming dynasty classic.
From the characters to the world-building, Lovell’s comical, yet respectful translation of Journey to the West is a modern masterpiece.
Rife with slapstick humour and absurdities of every kind, this novel will make you chuckle consistently within each chapter.
The best way I can describe the emotions Monkey King derives out of the reader is that it is reminiscent of the absurdities of childhood stories in a nostalgic way.
Through this mischievous satire of a Buddhist pilgrimage, Wu Cheng’en critiques tyrannical hierarchies, authority and the human condition alongside highlighting the advantages of pluralism in one broad sweep.
Julia Lovell has produced an extremely witty translation - ripe with a satisfying blend of prose and informal modern language that elegantly subsumes the Classical Chinese.
This whimsical Chinese Classic is truly a tale of epic proportions.
December 30, 2024
I'm going to hesitantly give this one 2 stars. As a classic (c. 1580) story, I have to give it some credit, but I really just did not enjoy getting through this after being 1/4 of the way through. There really is no continuity and nothing really gripping at all to the story and each chapter feels like a new, extremely random challenge that doesn't feel novel and doesn't contribute to the plot. There were enjoyable moments - mostly in the absurdity of some of the chapters that made them laughable - but it is not enough to make all 300+ pages worth reading. If I were to read this story as a child it would have been a lot more enjoyable. Kinda like Don Quijote but more ridiculous (but I also really like El Quijote so maybe shouldn't compare). Anyways, really cool cover art, map is awesome, and the translation is good.
May 19, 2023
i loved monkey & his absurd antics so much. his dialogue & banter consistently made me smile. the bureaucracy of heaven was so silly, and i liked how the fantasy aspect followed the "rules" of a real-world system.
i definitely lost track of some secondary/tertiary characters -- i thought monkey & pigsy had so much personality that sandy really faded into the background for me. guanyin & tripitaka were exhausting. the demons really all just blended together, but i think that was honestly fine for my reading experience! i wasn't too focused on the details, just really enjoying the adventure of it all.
lovell's translation did a great job of condensing this story, as well as making it funny/relatable for contemporary readers.
some qualms: towards the end, i got a little bit tired of the story structure (magical misadventure/demon interference, monkey saves the day with his magic that is perfectly suited to the problem, repeat). i really can't imagine reading the original 4 volumes of the same thing!!
truly just such a fun romp of a book!!!! very glad i read this super influential asian classic & my experience was definitely enhanced by thoughtful conversations through the #AsianClassicsReadalong hosted by @ktlee.writes and @booksonmysidetable
i definitely lost track of some secondary/tertiary characters -- i thought monkey & pigsy had so much personality that sandy really faded into the background for me. guanyin & tripitaka were exhausting. the demons really all just blended together, but i think that was honestly fine for my reading experience! i wasn't too focused on the details, just really enjoying the adventure of it all.
lovell's translation did a great job of condensing this story, as well as making it funny/relatable for contemporary readers.
some qualms: towards the end, i got a little bit tired of the story structure (magical misadventure/demon interference, monkey saves the day with his magic that is perfectly suited to the problem, repeat). i really can't imagine reading the original 4 volumes of the same thing!!
truly just such a fun romp of a book!!!! very glad i read this super influential asian classic & my experience was definitely enhanced by thoughtful conversations through the #AsianClassicsReadalong hosted by @ktlee.writes and @booksonmysidetable
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July 16, 2023I was inspired to finally pick this up after watching the Disney+ adaptation of Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese, which is both an excellent homage to the Monkey King legend and a subtly moving immigrant hero story. I read Journey to the West over the course of the last 2 weeks, which have been exhausting, stressful, and manic, among other things, for various reasons. And, in that weird serendipitous way of the right books being with you at the right time, I found in this book momentary comfort and respite. I could read as little or as much as I wanted, with chapters arranged in episodic arcs. There is Sun Wu-kong's origin story, his troublemaking in heaven and subsequent punishment, and the adventures he and his fellow disciples Pigsy and Sandy get up to while guiding the monk Tripitaka to the west to obtain holy scriptures. For someone who loves fantasy, I tire pretty quickly with the traveling trope, so my "slow" reading worked out to my advantage. In this new translation, Julia Lovell has breathed refreshing new life into this classic Chinese fantasy adventure. I don't know how much of the tone of the original Lovell has maintained, but this translation is chaotic, hilarious, sarcastic, and endlessly entertaining. Calamity! Disaster! Woe! Monkey in his OP state is overly confident and prone to mischief, and he's always constantly being brought to heel. But he's also the "flaw in the cosmos" that throws a wrench into the heavenly status quo. His bacchanalian tendencies, rash decision-making, and novel yet effective problem-solving are all a huge F U to the heavenly and imperial bureaucracy. Next to powerful, magical staff-wielding kung fu monkeys, Taoist villains (Taoists always seem to be the bad guys in this Buddhist adventure haha), and various fantastically named divinities and creatures, there is also all manner and type of administrative structure. In this universe, one needs to sign a chit to take out a loan in hell, even pilgrims on a holy quest need to get their travel papers stamped, and the dues at the inn you're staying at must always be settled. Ridiculously amusing and overblown - I loved it.
April 21, 2025
Is Sun Wukong really on a journey to enlightenment—or is he just being slowly housebroken? Would he reach Enlightenment without a dog collar, "encouraging" him to be well-behaved? I think...no
The Monkey King's quest began super strong for me. The characters are all individually interesting, and the scope of Sun Wukong's abilities means that he can keep the plot entertaining with so many possibilities for problem-solving.
Once the pilgrimage sets out, though, the structure settles into a tedious rhythm: a monster shows up, Wukong defeats it, and they move on. Again. And again. Even with the ever-changing cast of demons and magical detours, the formula starts to feel more like a loop than a journey.
I liked it and wanted to love it but just couldn't.
The Monkey King's quest began super strong for me. The characters are all individually interesting, and the scope of Sun Wukong's abilities means that he can keep the plot entertaining with so many possibilities for problem-solving.
Once the pilgrimage sets out, though, the structure settles into a tedious rhythm: a monster shows up, Wukong defeats it, and they move on. Again. And again. Even with the ever-changing cast of demons and magical detours, the formula starts to feel more like a loop than a journey.
I liked it and wanted to love it but just couldn't.
December 5, 2025
Although written in the 16th century, this translation is fun and easy to parse and the content enjoyable all these years later.
Definitely not what I expected but I think Waffle would appreciate this one
Definitely not what I expected but I think Waffle would appreciate this one
July 21, 2024
Seriously not my sort of book
May 19, 2025
Monkey er min goat 🐒
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