Reading 1001 discussion

Comments here.

I picked up Vol. III after being away for quite awhile. It actually gets better. The pattern is much the same but there are a few more twists and complications so it isn't quite so formulaic.
At any rate:
If you don't know how many years it was till they returned to the east, listen to the explanation in the next installment...

Okay Part 3! I continued to enjoy this part for much the same reasons of the other parts, so just to give an overview of some of the standout episodes for me:

-I was really into the Women Nation chapter, and monkey’s scheming therein.

-A lot of the fantasy land features in this chapter were enjoyable such as the water curtain cave, the Mountain of flames, and the cobweb cave (very reminiscent of Shelob’s lair in Lord of the Rings for me- guess this is the original)

- In injury of the many gods was kind of funny and weirdly Homeric as well, even if I struggled to keep up with the gods since I’m less familiar with this pantheon.

In regards the Women Nation, I thought it was fantastic that the women wanted some of the “spring” water for themselves, for future emergencies.

I do get tired of The Journey and put it down for large chunks of time and then when I come back to it I am delighted. I particularly liked the chapter where the 4 Immortals and the Tang priest challenge each other with poetry, and the chapter where the monster turns out to be a recalcitrant child that escaped from Paradise with a few of his master's magical "treasures". His master turns out to be a Buddha from Paradise. I am liking the Tang Priest more (he gets angry more frequently and cries less) and love that the Monkey King is certainly as clever as he is brave and still, after all these years, just as outrageous. Plus the poetry is also getting more subtle and not just about the 30 rounds of fighting....

I finally finished book three. I found it a little less eventful in comparison to the first two. That maybe because I read it in small portions over several months, which isn't how I normally read books.

Some volume 3 quotes:

"The spirit was only an evil monster.
How could a demon approach a True One?
In the face of truth the evil would be destroyed."

When the Tang priest and his disciplines escape from the spider women and the evil Taoist monk we are given this overview of their escape:

"The story tells how Sanzang and his disciples, having broken through the net of desires and escaped from the prisonhouse of the emotions...."

In this way, all the adventures are metaphors for spiritual awakening.

Also, I thought this was lovely:
"Driving rains sweeping away the last of the heat,
alarming the leaf of the parasol tree...."

And lastly the Idiot, after the Great Sage is swallowed by a monster, says:
"Today you are still a monk, but tomorrow you will be a turd"
Which sounds exactly like something an eight year old would say.

Volume 3 done and I am on a roll sadly the roll has temporarily ended as Volume 4 is not currently available for request from the library booo.

Insights gained in Volume 3:
1) Beware which streams you drink from
2) Names tell you a lot more than you think
3) Any animal that escapes from heaven will naturally come to earth and become a demon
4) 3 is still the magic number
5) As if wanting to eat him wasn't enough now every woman he meets wants to steal the Tang Priest's innocence
6) "Womanland" existed in Chinese literature hundreds of years ago
7) The journey may have gone smoother if Monkey wasn't there
8) The Tang Priest is a bit of a git, he is always sending Monkey away and then realising he needs him
9) Friar Sand & Pig really don't want to be on this journey any opportunity they get they are splitting goods and preparing to go their separate ways
10) If you want to know what happens next read on

I found the Tang priest to be annoying. He is first a cry baby or angry. He listens to Idiot or Pig when he should really know better and then is mean to Monkey when Monkey doesn't deserve it. I felt the characters are making improvements as they journey (except Pig).