Monkey King
Journey to the West
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Monkey King
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Narrated by:
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Kevin Shen
About this listen
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.
©2021 Julia Lovell, Wu Ch'eng-en (P)2021 Penguin AudioWhat listeners say about Monkey King
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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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
- 22-08-2024
Loved every second
Might be a little biased as this is my first audible, but this was unbelievable.
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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
- Jack McGreal
- 28-09-2023
What a journey
Kevin Shen did a hilarious spectacular narration of the novel which exemplified this rich story beyond compare.
I definitely would recommend this book to anyone, very entertaining
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 16-01-2022
Abriged
I wish I could find an audio version of this piece that was unabridged. This version is missing a lot of poems and passages.
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2 people 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
- Strider
- 28-04-2021
The original
You can't go past this amazing Journey as a staple of fantasy, action and drama. Easily one of my favourite reads of all time.
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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
- Anonymous User
- 27-04-2022
Great voice acting
;) I laughed a lot with the story, and the voices are so funny.
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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
- Sean
- 08-08-2022
Amazing translation,. AMAZING narration
This might be the best narrated audiobook I've ever heard. Kevin Shen has a distinct voice for every character, and he puts so much fun and life into the story. I wish this guy was reading every audiobook I listened to.
On top of that, this translation is amazing too. They focused completely on putting it into a modern, entertaining voice. I can appreciate that if highest historical fidelity is your priority, this might not be what you want, but what they've done is make the story *fun* to listen to. If I had young children I'd be playing this for them, and I think it would keep their attention.
Can't recommend this audiobook more highly.
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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
- Henry Tilney
- 26-09-2022
An absolute Delight
This is an extraordinary production of a delightful book. The reading is so intelligent; the confidence and flair that the reader brings is a perfect match with the text: the listener is blessed by this happy combination. Deciding to locate the introduction or preface at the end of the reading gives much greater insight into the observation being made. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed an Audible book as much as this one. Thank you sincerely.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- T. Ormiston-smith
- 15-12-2022
One of the world's great novels completely ruined
It is comforting to reflect that Wu Cheng'En, author of The Journey To The West, one of the world's great novels. was a Buddhist, and we may therefore hope that he has been happily reincarnated and is not now whirling in his grave with the speed of a dynamo at this ghastly bowdlerisation of his work.
All of the measured, stately elegance of the original work, all of its sly humour, and most of its excitement, not to mention its religious cargo, are lost in this horrid book, of which the best that can be said is that it is mercifully short.
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1 person found this helpful