Journey to the West, Volume 1

Rating:
Summary: A delightful story in an engaging translation!
Review: _Journey to the West_ is, almost more than anything else, a hilarious read. The adventures of Handsome Monkey King, which dominate this volume, are witty and engrossing. Much better than many historical epics, in which everybody is just so darn EARNEST, this book inserts wit and a genuine (and gentle) understanding of human nature into an engrossing, and often deadly serious and menacing storyline. Yu's translation is clear and lucid, and supports the action very nicely. So many Asian epics are muddled (well, massacred, really) in translation that Yu's gifts are a breath of fresh air.

I highly and enthusiastically recommend _Journey to the West_ to...well...everybody.