Mjollna reads in Chinese / Mjollna看中文书

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Summary

Adaptation of the classic book of the same name, telling the life of Sūn Wùkōng, and how he traveled protecting Táng Sānzàng in his long quest to bring sacred scriptures from India to China, alongside the two other disciples Zhū Bājiè and Shā Wùjìng.

Review

I started reading this on a whim, feeling that if I didn't try the simplified version now before being too advanced, I would soon be stuck between finding the graded reader too boring and the original text too difficult for a long while. I didn't really have any previous knowledge of the story, so I didn't really know what to expect.

It was a lot of fun! I sort of binged it in a month, learned a lot about many mythical beings, and also laughed a lot because many events have at least a hint of comedy. I kind of regretted that the beginning uses so few words, I enjoyed it more as the text became a bit more elaborate. The authors of the adaptation (Jeff Pepper & Xiao Hui Wang) made a great effort at transcribing the meaning without sacrificing too much, I tried to compare some bits here and there with the original and it seemed to be as close as possible within the huge constraints they had.

In the end I highly recommend, as an introduction to the story and as a graded reader with progression it's very well made. It definitely made me want to read the original one day, when I can.