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Rating: 
Summary: Best translation
Review: Another reviewer complained that this is based on the 'least popular' version of the story. They're right in only the loosest sense. Fashions change: that 'least popular' version was the dominant version of the story for most of its history! Moreover, the full (four book) version of the Shapiro text also draws on that version.
But the sure clue is that Pearl Buck's piece of orientalist flim-flam, which distorts the story and squeezes it into an unnatural idiom, gets rated higher (and the J H Jackson translation, which while poor, is nevertheless preferable to Buck's, is unmentioned). The Dent-Young's version is immeasurably better written, and it is clear that they have been at pains to try to capture the immediacy and wit of the original: no easy task. I think in the first book they succeed admirably. While later books have some problems (the names are always a sticking point) the first book has a verve that draws you in. They have also smoothed out some peculiarities present in previous translations so that there are no 'blips' where you can't work out why something happened or where something came from.
American readers with an intolerance for anything but US culture may have a problem with the British idiom occasionally employed in a desire to capture the naturalness of the original, but in that case why would such readers want to read a Chinese book?
Rating:
Summary: A fun translation of a classic
Review: It's too bad that this translation doesn't get more attention. The father and son team brings this classic to light in a fun and engaging manner. Even better, unlike many translations, they manage to keep the poetry at the same level of aptitude as the prose.The original itself is a classic of Chinese Literature, although not as powerful and comprehesensive as Dreams of Red Mansions. Still it's a fun read.
Rating: 
Summary: Translation not true to the original, used the least popular
Review: The translators used the least popular copy for their translation(There are several different versions of this book, this being the least popular because of the poor quality of the last 50 chapters). Not only is the version a poor one, but the translations are poor as well. Compared with Sydney Shapiro's translation(The Outlaws of the Marsh), you will find that this is more like the work of a student. To rate the three different translations, I give Sydney's 100, 50 for Pearl Bucke's and 15 for this one.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This is a classical piece of Chinese literature that has the impact of a Holy Grail / King Arthur. This is perhaps the most read piece of Chinese literature in history. The characters and the stories reveal the Chinese intellect and culture. This is a "cannot miss" reading for anyone who loves folklore and enjoys a subtle humor. Divided into stories, each carries the moral meanings of the day, all virtues are explored, and stories all interrelate. Heroes always win, but only of the morals are upheld! A fantastic beginning and a character of the Novel style hundreds of years before writing conventions.
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