Thursday, October 26, 2023

Journey to the West Volume 4 by Wu Cheng'en translated by W. J. F. Jenner: Book Review


Started: August 7, 2023
Finished: October 25, 2023

(For my video on volume 1, see HERE. For volume 2, see HERE.  For Volume 3, see HERE.)



Here is the summary I made before filming this video, to help me keep the storylines straight: docs, pub

Story 0: The 3 senior demons of the mountains
Chapter 77
Wrapping up a story started in the previous volume

Story 1: The Kingdom of Biksu
Chapter 78-80
The King is spellbound by a Daoist priest and his beautiful daughter.  He wants to use the hearts of 1,111 boys to make an elixir.  The daoist priest than says that the monk’s heart would be more effective.  Monkey disguises himself as the monk.  

Story 2: The she-demon disguised as a young woman
Chapter 81-83
The rescue a she-demon and bring her to the monastery.  She starts eating monks. Monkey disguises himself as a monk.  She abducts the monk. Monkey eventually gets Nezha to arrest his adopted sister

Story 3: Dharma-Destroying Kingdom
Chapter 84-85
A kingdom where all buddhist monks are killed.  Monkey turns the tables by shaving their heads at night

Story 4: Leopard Demon
Chapter 85-86
the Monk is captured.  The demons say they have already eaten him and throw out a skull.  Monkey goes into a rage, and kills them all. It turns out to have been a leopard demon

Story 5: The drought of Phoenix-Immortal Prefecture
Chapter 87
The kingdom is suffering a drought.  Monkey finds out what the problem is, and the king repeents, and the drought is finished

Story 6: the 9 headed lion demon
Chapter 88-90
They enter into India, get 3 disciples, lose their weapons, fight all the lion demons and the 9 headed lion demon

Story 7: the rhino demons
Chapter 91-92
The rhinoceros demons abduct the monk.  but the wooden stars can defeat the rhinoceros demons

Story 8: The princess who has been switched out for the Jade rabbit
Chapter 93-95

Story 9: The rich man Kuo
Chapter 96-97

Chapter 98: Getting the scrolls

Chapter 99: One last tribulation with the giant sea turtle

chapter 100: the homecoming

And here is the Weebly site I used to help jog my memory and help me make that summary: https://journeytothewestlibrary.weebly.com/novel-summary .

Jiajing Emperor Wikipedia article that I mention in the video: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiajing_Emperor

August 13, 2023 Journey to the West p.1761-1874
August 20, 2023 Journey to the West p.1874-1924
August 27, 2023 Journey to the West p.1924-1958
September 3, 2023 Journey to the West p.1958-1996
September 10, 2023 Journey to the West p.1996-2046
September 17, 2023 Journey to the West p.2046-2082
September 24, 2023 Journey to the West p.2082-2130
October 1, 2023 Journey to the West p.2130-2198
October 8, 2023 Journey to the West p.2198-2210
October 15, 2023 Journey to the West p.2210-2232
October 22, 2023 Journey to the West p.2232-2254

Volume 4 Playlist HERE:


Journey to the West Playlist HERE

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