Journey to the West (Chinese Classics, Classic Novel in 4 Volumes)

In December 2025, I was on a personal recreation trip to San Francisco. I walked through Chinatown and took a picture of this mural. I shared my pictures with friends and family, and somebody alerted me that these are the characters of the classic Chinese novel journey to the west. Even though this collection was written during the Ming dynasty, I had never heard of it. These books arrived, well, packed, and exactly as described. I’m through book one of four and I’m really enjoying them. I have loved Chinese cooking for years, and I’m enjoying getting a piece of Chinese literature. Highly recommended.

Journey to the west. I came here to say that this book is incredibly translated into 4 volumes. I received the correct books that were included in the set and the pages were formatted correctly. This is one of the most interesting books I’ve read. This is a Chinese classic novel published in the 16th century, and it’s incredibly neat to read something from that time. It’s so different from the modern books i tend to read. I’m very pleased with the story and the product itself. The translation is clear. The pages are thin as said in may reviews but it doesn’t bother me when reading. If you’re familiar with the thin pages of a bible (not comparing context) you’ll understand more of the quality of the page. These are long volumes and I think it was a proper choice. This translator offers other classic novels and I intend on purchasing the other three sets.

I bought the paperback edition several years ago. I loved the myths and read the material several times. Unfortunately, the paperbacks are poorly printed and not bound well enough for multiple readings. I just received the hardbacks and make the following observations: 1) left-hand pages are printed in Chinese while right-hand pages are printed in English, 2) pictures are on single pages with the facing pages blank, 3) binding seems to be very well done - strong as well as supple, and 4) there is a bookmark ribbon attached to the binding side of each volume. In summary, this looks like a quality edition. The hardback is printed in 6 volumes while the paperback (English only) is done in 3. I assume that the translation in the hardback is the same as in the paperback version. That was done very well and I'm looking froward to rereading the adventure with quality paper in my hands; that's one of the real luxuries in life! I have, above, made several assumptions based on my prior experience with the paperback. If these assumptions prove wrong, I will update this review and my rating. This is in addition to my original review: I am now reading Volume 4 of 6. There is a horrible error in that volume. There are many missing pages from Volume 4; in their place are many pages from Volume 2. I am knocking two stars off the rating because of this. The vendor said he will send me a proper Volume 4 in October when his stock is replenished. I, fortunately, can finish reading the story because I have the paperback version from the same translator. If I receive a valid copy of Volume 4, I will re-rate upwards and assume there was just a bad run. I also note at this time that there are many little typos: wrong one of to, two, too; many one-letter substitutions; etc. I am of the opinion that the final edit of a translation should always be made by a native speaker of the "to" language. I'm guessing that this opinion was not respected here. The errors in the paperback version, if memory serves me correctly are different. This is a second update to my review: I have just received a corrected copy of Vol. 4 from the seller. Thus, I assume that good copies of this book set are available. I would caution you to check with your seller of choice that the hard copy set you order is one that does not contain the mistakes that were in my original order. At this point I'm changing my product rating back to 5 stars.

This is the most complete and faithful translation of Journey to the West I have yet found. It is the third version of the story I've read, and unlike those other versions ("Adventures of Monkey King"/ISBN 0962076511 and "Monkey : A Journey to the West [ABRIDGED]"/ISBN 1570625816), it contains the complete and unabridged story, preserving very faitflly both the style and content of the original story. This extreme faithfulness is both a strength and a weakness. It's a strength in that you get a real feeling for the scope of the original work, and you get to hear all the interesting little back-stories and side-stories that make Journey to the West one of the great works of Chinese literaure. It's a weakness because these stories often seem completely irrelevant, and may be quite confusing to someone who is not familiar with Chinese culture and religion. For example, every time something happens in Heaven, Hell or in the palace of the Tang Emperor, the book includes a complete list of everyone who attended. In Heaven, at least, many of the names are descriptive (names of stars, constellations, etc.) and are therefore translated. In the Tang Emperor's palace, though, you'll get a list of 10 or 20 names in Chinese, and only some of the names ever get stories attached to them in the book (and I challenge any non-Chinese speaker to remember the names when they do show up again). There's also a lot of poetry, and though the translations are good, translated poetry can never equal the original. In one sequence, a fisherman and a woodsman argue in verse for 10 or more pages of very small type, frequently singing songs set to tunes few non-Chinese would recognize by name. These characters are important only in that the end of their conversation sets up a conflict, so the only purpose of the sequence is to provide a chance to read the poetry. It's good poetry, to be sure, but it really can drag a bit. You can't just automatically skip over all the poems, as you might do with Tolkien, either. Elements of the story are often told in verse. You can usually skim if you're not interested in a particular bit of verse, but don't skip it entirely. The structure of the work is also surprisingly complex at times, especially given its age. It will at times veer far from the main thrust of the story to recount the entire life history of a character, and has many side stories that somehow tie back into the main plot several chapters later. You may at times find yourself wondering just why the author chose to include a particular bit of story, but there's almost always a payoff waiting somewhere down the line. Another problem is that the style of the storytelling is not very concise. If someone in the story needs to recount what has happened to them, you'll get a second, (fortunately much abridged) version of an earlier portion of the story, written as dialog, this time. You could make similar sorts of complaints about many of the early great works of English fiction, or probably just about any other country's older fiction, so this is not really a strong criticism given the work's great age, but I often found myself wishing the author (or the translator) had just written, "he told them what had happened" and left it at that. There were also many quirks of the translation that bothered me. The word "memorial" was used throughout instead of "memorandum". It took me quite a while to figure out that was what was going on. I read all of the abridged translation that also made the same mistake throughout, but still didn't figure it out until I was several chapters into this one. Will all these complaints, you're probably wondering why I gave the book 4 stars. The fact is, for all its faults and quirks, "Journey to the West" is still one of the greatest works of fiction ever written. The Monkey King is without a doubt my favorite character in any work I have ever read or watched. The story of his journey is a brilliant parable on the jouney to enlightenment, while at the same time a story of great humor and exciting action. It also provides fascinating insight into the history and traditional culture of China. If you want to get the whole story and can't read Chinese, this edition is your absolute best bet. (Indeed, it's pretty much your only bet.) Some of the other translations may be a faster read, but none are as satisfying.

Nice quality book set with a box to display them in.

Ummm one of my favorite reads ever? Beautiful, exciting, and poetic. Also received in excellent condition wrapped so wonderfully that it made me think the seller actually cares.

I'm still on Book One and I'm finding it a great read. I haven't been this engrossed in a mythical work since Lord of the Rings. This work predates that great work by centuries. I love the mix of poetry and prose, that conveys what I imagine is true to the original Chinese. I love it.

L'ho letto per curiosità e invece è diventato uno dei miei romanzi preferiti! L'edizione non è delle migliori, ma è impossibile trovare un'opera così importante ad un prezzo del genere. Vale la pena di acquistarlo!

Génial, à lire

Fiquei surpreso que os livros chegaram antes do que o prazo esperado e vieram também em ótimas condições. Somente a "case" de papelão que envolve os livros vieram com alguns poucos desgastes nas extremidades, porém, os livros vieram em perfeita condição.

Una edición compacta y completa de la obra a un precio inmejorable. Son cuatro volúmenes y la calidad del papel es buena para una edición compacta. Hay ilustraciones de la epoca y una buena introducción ademas la editorial es para mi garantía.