Monkey King: Journey To The West Review

Author: Wu Cheng'en

Translator: Julia Lovell

Quality Rating:9/10

Enjoyment Rating:6/10

Posted Rating: 4/5 (Goodreads)

Summary: This is a translation of the abridged version of the classic Chinese folktale of the Monkey King and his journey to India. It also includes a thorough introduction that provides historical context for the story and how it has been passed down throughout history.

Review: First, I have to say that I really appreciated the introduction in this edition. I knew very little about this story before I started this book. My only knowledge came from references in fantasy media and a few mentions ion other places as well. This lack of knowledge is exactly why I decided to pick this book up. This section briefly introduced me to the titular Monkey and his antics, as well as provided very welcomed historical context for the story. It included, not only the believed origins of the story, but the potential reasons it survived through centuries. If you are going to pick this up I would highly recommend taking the time to read Julie Lovell's introduction.

Now to try and review the story itself. It is admittedly quite hard to try and review a classic folktale, but I do believe that I am able to comment on the quality of the translation and my personal enjoyment of the story. As for the translation, I did find this to be quite well done. The writing still flowed very well and fit the prose without coming off too dry, which is often the trouble that I run into with translated books. The only real trouble I ran into with this book is that I think I tried to take the story a little too literally at times and that lead to me being confused at times. Monkey was definitely a wild character to follow. Often he was quite the unlikeable protagonist, however he did remain entertaining throughout the story even when he was being selfish or hot-headed. I had an enjoyable time experiencing this story and I do appreciate the new context that I have for the stories inspired by it. Overall, this was a read that had great value to me even if it was not necessarily my favorite of the year. If you are interested in this story, I would definitely recommend this edition.