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Monkey King: Journey to the West
- Narrated by: Kevin Shen
- Length: 12 hrs
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Monkey King: Journey to the West
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Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
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.
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 himself: 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 audiences.
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What listeners say about Monkey King: Journey to the West
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Farhan Qureshi
- 22-09-21
wonderful him
I've wanted to get this book for a while, it's really accessible for a modern audience.
I read reviews saying the narrator's voices for the different characters is annoying - I disagree with that.
Whichever way the narrator went with the characters likely would have annoyed someone, it's one of those lose-lose situations.
I think the narrator had to put on a different voice for each character otherwise the book would be too difficult to follow.
There were times when the story became a little repetitive and confusing, but I guess that is inherent in such a long story.
If you do get this, do stick around for the introduction, which quite cleverly had been put at the end of the book for very good reason.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- JM
- 10-09-23
A must read
The story is a classic. It is also a timeless entertainment and fun to read. It is also a deeper insight into ancient Chinese history and religions. 100 Chapters is long but worth reading.
The performance is very good. I liked the correct pronunciation of the Chinese names.
This is an excellent read with high re-readability.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 22-07-21
Very entertaining!
Great voice acting by the narrator, there's big range in his voice, highly recommended!
i see some reviews complain about his voice for Monkey, I'd suggest listening to the sample before buying if you're unsure. besides that, it's a wonderful story, i can understand why it has been adapted into so much different media over the years, a lot of fun and surprisingly cool action! brought to life by great voice acting that easily distinguishes different characters from each other
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kiryu
- 18-06-23
great story loved it
loved the story from stsrt to finish amazing adventure truely so hsppy i got to hear it
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Jose
- 03-04-23
Journey to the West
An abridged version of the epic classic, I enjoyed discovering the story and characters that have populated so many adaptations.
It's very enjoyable and easy to read.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Stuart S Studdart
- 17-04-23
Enjoyable and entertainment
Definitely enjoyed it, I do say people do need to listen or read the book in their life.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Melanie
- 12-03-21
Brilliantly told
A wonderful and captivating performance. I was hooked from beginning to end. I really spaced my listens out because I didn't want it to end. Will most certainly be listening over and over.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Angelamay Stevenson
- 28-11-21
Monkey!
I really enjoyed this. Loved the character voices and telling of the ancient tale in a modern vernacular.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- "turkeyboy128"
- 31-12-23
vivid tale
i remember watching the tv series monkey years ago as a child. so i was surprised to learn it was actually a Chinese novel. moreover i was surprised how vivid the book was. the book reminded me of monkey’s cloud transportation, his magic staff and each character’s motivation. there was a huge cast of backstory characters yet the pilgrims shone out in their humanity. by the end of the book i realised the ancients were wise in telling such a fantasy…the morality tale was perfect for children and adults, rather like disney’s animation.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Daisy
- 04-04-24
Magical story and fantastic narration
I loved the quirky characters and the narrator's voices were just perfect - Monkey was especially endearing. I got a bit lost in some parts of the story but it was easy to pick up the thread again as I continued listening. Such a classic story with great insights into Chinese religion and culture.
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