Journey to the West
I have now read many versions of of this story. I've read children's books, a Pictorial Series, humourous versions, reinventions, and more. So I thought it was just about time I sat down and read a complete and true-to-the-original translation.
I never made it through the 3rd volume. I just couldn't take it. The style was just too annoying for me and after the umpteenth iteration of such obnoxiousness as: "Dear Sage!" or "Dear Idiot!" (Pigsy) I could take no more. Returned them to the library, sad at heart and yet relieved. I tried. It failed.
(Also, having read all these versions, I can say that this story reads like a Buddhist monk's version of "The Perils of Pauline". I'm starting to suspect the fictional Xuanzang of being a secret bondage fetishist.)
I never made it through the 3rd volume. I just couldn't take it. The style was just too annoying for me and after the umpteenth iteration of such obnoxiousness as: "Dear Sage!" or "Dear Idiot!" (Pigsy) I could take no more. Returned them to the library, sad at heart and yet relieved. I tried. It failed.
(Also, having read all these versions, I can say that this story reads like a Buddhist monk's version of "The Perils of Pauline". I'm starting to suspect the fictional Xuanzang of being a secret bondage fetishist.)