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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Wow oh wow!

I had no idea how wonderful, delightful and bright this would be. I've been working through the "classics" and this came up as I was trying to find my next listen so I thought I'd give it a try since I know a bit about eastern philosophy. I wasn't expecting it to be so funny and so full of insight at the same time. There were points when it caught me so off guard with humour. The translation is great, too.

I love, love the narration - I nearly didn't take the chance on it because of the earliest reviews that complain about Monkey's voice. First, the story isn't all recounted in Monkey's voice; second, I think it's a pretty likeable version of how anyone might put on a monkey voice and I'd like to hear anyone do a better job than this.

Wish I could give it extra stars and curse the highest ratings I've given other audible books because this is one of the very best.

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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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Brilliant Performance!

The story was brought to life with clever narration and description of its characters and chapters! a truly wonderful book! Thankful to all those that made it happen!

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Monkey Magic

The reason I listened to this one started with a sketch that I had posted on Instagram. The sketch was based on the key characters from the story - I've no idea why I did it, but a friend commented on it and mentioned that they were listening to a great audiobook version. So I decided to also listen to it. I was not disappointed. Although Monkey's voice was a bit grating, it probably fits with his character. I've read/listened-to three versions of Journey To The West (including Monkey: A Journey To The West), as well as watched the Japanese TV series and a more modern version ('The New Legends of Monkey'). As I listened to this version I wondered why I say that Climber's High by Hideo Yokoyama is my favourite book rather than this one. Perhaps it's because there is no one definitive version. But perhaps this (one of the versions) would be the book I would take with me on a desert island. Perhaps it could work as my religious book. I did like it that they put the 'Introduction' at the end rather than at the start as it is in the printed version - though I was surprised it didn't say more about the Japanese TV series

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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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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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Epic and funny, expertly read

A highly enjoyable story, very funny and expertly read with rich voice acting for each character and precise pronunciation of Chinese names

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A fun and lively translation

Narrator Kevin Shen does a good job conveying the spirit of the book, performing it like a children's story (although it is sometimes too violent to be one). He has to do many different character voices and does it well.

His voice for Monkey himself isn't the easiest to listen to, admittedly, but consider that in China this character is expected to have a high squeaky voice, so it's arguably authentic, if that matters to you. It's a similar thing to how we have a general expectation of what Batman sounds like.

Talking of expectations, if you have spent all your life hearing "Tripitaka" pronounced "Tripi-TAKA", like it was in the 70's tv series, it takes some getting used to hearing him say it "Tri-PIT-ika" (like "Whittaker"). I looked it up, and this seems to be a common, perhaps specifically American, pronunciation.

But a big, big plus this recording has in regards to pronunciation is that Shen pronounces the story's Chinese names correctly in Mandarin. I generally want audiobooks to have authentic pronunciation of non-English names, so this definitely makes it worthwhile.

Overall, an enjoyable audiobook.

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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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