Anthony C. YuThe Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 4 (Volume 4)

I have reached, with sadness, the end of my journey through the four-volume, four-hundred-year-old Chinese classic, "The Journey to the West." I plodded through the lengthy but valuable introduction by the translator, Anthony C. Yu, then set off through the hundred fantastical chapters of the story. It is not a journey for those who like their fiction in small doses. Nor does it fit the mold of most of the fantasy that I love. True, there are dragons and monsters and mythic battles, but of the two main characters, one is an ugly, ultra-violent, supernatural monkey, and the other is a timorous, puritanical monk. Moreover, the narration is less immersed in the characters' viewpoints than I usually prefer, partly because it frequently breaks into poetry. Perhaps the biggest departure from typical fantasy tomes is that the book is largely episodic. It journeys westward without much of a dramatic arc. While individual episodes have their battles and resolutions, the characters and the situation change slowly, sometimes imperceptibly. Any or all of the above might have deterred me. Had I been in a more cantankerous mood, perhaps they would have done so. Yet they did not. By and large, I liked the digressions into poetry. I accepted the cowardice of one character, the violence of the other, the less-than-immersive narration, the episodic quality more common to television series than to novels. I liked the lightness of tone, the sense of fun. Most of all, I grew fond of the characters, as I think the author was fond of them. I wanted to spend time in their company, and am left now, at the end of the long journey, missing them.

I’m paraphrasing my husband in this review (or trying to). The Journey to the West was my birthday present to him — and he loved it. He read a couple of pages to me, and it put me to sleep. Reading the complete work is a labor of love for a scholarly person deeply interested in sixteenth-century Chinese culture and its integration of Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism.The four hefty volumes offer a mythological and allegorical version of Xuanzang’s journey to acquire scriptures in India. Ordeals along the way illustrate the stages of spiritual transformation. Xuanzang and his disciples are manifestations of the religious seeker. Dealing with the ordeals reads a bit like a detective story. Investigation reveals that the demons are often escapees from heaven.According to my husband, who read every word of the four volumes including the footnotes, the series is a fabulous exposition of Taoist internal alchemy and Chinese Buddhism.

This is a translation of classic Chinese Buddhism tales. The writing appears faithful the style of the Chinese stories and old styles of telling stories. It is worth reading to get a better understanding of tales virtually every Chinese child learns at an early age. The whole series helped me in my appreciation of Chinese culture.

Very readable translation. I don't know how accurate it is, the poetry seems to be almost too good, but I really enjoyed it. Those who are not familiar with this style might want to start with The Bandits of the Marsh or Romance of the Three Kingdoms before tackling the 4 volumes of the Journey to the West.

I have many translations of this Chinese classic, as well as the original Chinese version. If you want a real feel for this story, you cannot go wrong with this version. Yes, it is long, but so is the original. If you are looking for a very condensed, but well done version, I would also recommend the Arthur Waley translation!!

Fascinating look into the mythology of China.

Hey, this is the "Journey to the West". one of the best fantasy adventures of all times. I wish I had read it as a child, or had it read to me. It was extremely fun and entertaining. This was the first time I had read the novel. I had seen a few movies that lead up to or were a truncated version of the actual story. Finally learning who the "Handsome Monkey King" was enlightening and aided my comprehension of a Taoist text I had read that discusses the "monkey mind" frequently. While the acknowledged hero in the story is the Buddhist monk who is sent on the journey to the west to retrieve sutras from the Buddha, the real hero is Sun Wukong, the Handsome Monkey King!?! He's the wildest hero I've ever read about. It takes a while to get the actual journey by all 4 pilgrims but I enjoyed reading how the Sun Wukong became the Monkey King and created such a ruckus in Heaven! Anyone who ever created a comic book or animated superhero must have read or heard of this story and used a variety of Sun Wukong's powers to create their hero. this will be yet another novel that I'll read at least once per year.

Although the footnotes sometimes get onerous, they really are necessary for a complete understanding of the culture and content behind this book. I recommend this, and all the other volumes in this series by Mr. Yu, to anyone interested in the culture, history and/or Tao! Well worth reading.

This non abridged version is much more enjoyable than an abridged version I read previously.

Best book ever written ?