Tripmaster Monkey : His Fake Book

Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: I really do not want to write a bad review of Maxine Hong Kingston's work. Her "Woman Warrior" and "China Men" were wonderful. And she is a wonderful person. But that make me all the more disappointed with "Tripmaster Monkey."

I am quite familiar with post-modern novels, and I find Milan Kundera's roaming meanders and flying leaps a very pleasant read. So my reaction is not to post-modern style but rather to her application of that style.

There are so many layers upon heavy layers of self-indulgent baggage to plod through that reading the book became a nightmarish experience. I always try to read at least 100 pages of any book before abandoning it -- and I abandon books only very rarely. But after 68 pages of "Tripmaster Monkey", I simply could not go on, and I put it back on the shelf.

I may someday try it again. But I doubt it.

Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: It is hard to believe that "Tripmaster Monkey: His ... Book" is by the same author who wrote "The Woman Warrior." Maxine Hong Kingston's "Tripmaster Monkey" is her first "novel" (though by no means her first foray into fiction), and it is easy to see why there was a nine year gap between this book and "China Men." Kingston's novel, centring on a young, literary minded Chinese American man named Wittman Ah Sing, is meticulously researched and detailed, bringing to life the issues and fads of the mid-1960s Bay Area literary scene. Wittman, largely without an Chinese/Asian American literary tradition, has to overcome (white) racist assumptions of "the artist" in order to produce his truly American play without it being reduced to some "exotic" or "Oriental" exercise in Asianness. Despite the seriousness of Wittman's self- and community-driven mission to be taken seriously as an artist despite the racist assumptions that attempt to stifle his creativity, the novel is extremely funny, witty and surreal. Wittman disturbs a girl he is infatuated with by proclaiming "I am really: the present-day USA incarnation of the King of the Monkeys." Wittman is fired from his department store job because he puts "an organ-grinder's monkey with cymbals attached to its hands" on ..., for customers (children) to see! Wittman's parents abandon his honorary grandmother PoPo high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains to die, and she is later rescued by a wealthy man who just happens to be seeking a wife! In many ways, Kingston's rendering of the surreal, "tripmaster" (mental and physical) wanderings of Wittman resemble the textual flow of the post-"Moby Dick" novels by Herman Melville. As with those later Melville novels, Kingston's own novel is often angry, but is also frightfully funny and filled with accurate observations of life, love and the role of art, religion, philosophy and national identity in society.

Rating:
Summary: Memoir of a Playwright Among Ghosts?
Review: It is hard to believe that "Tripmaster Monkey: His ... Book" is by the same author who wrote "The Woman Warrior." Maxine Hong Kingston's "Tripmaster Monkey" is her first "novel" (though by no means her first foray into fiction), and it is easy to see why there was a nine year gap between this book and "China Men." Kingston's novel, centring on a young, literary minded Chinese American man named Wittman Ah Sing, is meticulously researched and detailed, bringing to life the issues and fads of the mid-1960s Bay Area literary scene. Wittman, largely without an Chinese/Asian American literary tradition, has to overcome (white) racist assumptions of "the artist" in order to produce his truly American play without it being reduced to some "exotic" or "Oriental" exercise in Asianness. Despite the seriousness of Wittman's self- and community-driven mission to be taken seriously as an artist despite the racist assumptions that attempt to stifle his creativity, the novel is extremely funny, witty and surreal. Wittman disturbs a girl he is infatuated with by proclaiming "I am really: the present-day USA incarnation of the King of the Monkeys." Wittman is fired from his department store job because he puts "an organ-grinder's monkey with cymbals attached to its hands" on ..., for customers (children) to see! Wittman's parents abandon his honorary grandmother PoPo high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains to die, and she is later rescued by a wealthy man who just happens to be seeking a wife! In many ways, Kingston's rendering of the surreal, "tripmaster" (mental and physical) wanderings of Wittman resemble the textual flow of the post-"Moby Dick" novels by Herman Melville. As with those later Melville novels, Kingston's own novel is often angry, but is also frightfully funny and filled with accurate observations of life, love and the role of art, religion, philosophy and national identity in society.

Rating:
Summary: Tripmaster Ulysses??
Review: It is little wonder that many people will dislike this book. After all, it assumes an advanced reading skill; the ability to follow a disjointed, post-modern narrative; and a spohisticated view of what literature ought to be. Some folks just aint got the stones for that. Poor dears, they are just, well ... let's just say they are limited.

See, there is more to books than just telling a simple story. Sometimes you need to be challenged. That is what really great books do. They challenge the reader to actually flex their minds. Tripmaster does just that.

The story of Wittman's (mis)place in society is a journey of self discovery for both himself and the reader. It brings up obstacles and barriers, both real and imagined, and forces the Wittman/reader to confront them.

Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Every page had a tangible flavor, and it was a pure joy to see the english language used so deftly. It also helped that I too, like the characters in this novel, am an alumnus of Cal.

Now I totally understand that not every book needs to be challenging or use complicated verbal gymnastics to be considered great. But to off-handedly criticize this book for being a mess or a waste of time reflects more on the readers severe limits and mental weakness rather than the book's.

Rating:
Summary: Tripmaster Ulysses??
Review: It is little wonder that many people will dislike this book. After all, it assumes an advanced reading skill; the ability to follow a disjointed, post-modern narrative; and a spohisticated view of what literature ought to be. Some folks just aint got the stones for that. Poor dears, they are just, well ... let's just say they are limited.

See, there is more to books than just telling a simple story. Sometimes you need to be challenged. That is what really great books do. They challenge the reader to actually flex their minds. Tripmaster does just that.

The story of Wittman's (mis)place in society is a journey of self discovery for both himself and the reader. It brings up obstacles and barriers, both real and imagined, and forces the Wittman/reader to confront them.

Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Every page had a tangible flavor, and it was a pure joy to see the english language used so deftly. It also helped that I too, like the characters in this novel, am an alumnus of Cal.

Now I totally understand that not every book needs to be challenging or use complicated verbal gymnastics to be considered great. But to off-handedly criticize this book for being a mess or a waste of time reflects more on the readers severe limits and mental weakness rather than the book's.

Rating:
Summary: A Great American Novel about a poet in 1960's San Francisco.
Review: Set in the heady days of 1960's San Francisco, this is a bawdy, nonstop picaresque seen through the eyes of its hero: Wittman Ah Sing, recent Berkeley-grad and aspiring poet/playwright whose self-appointed quest is the staging of a massive conglomeration of Chinese myth & literature starring himself & everyone he knows. On the way, he marries, falls in love (though not to the same person), extemporizes hilarious "talk-stories" that get him both into and out of trouble, and learns not a little about himself & what it means to be an American who just happens to also be Chinese. Kingston has woven a vivid tapestry on which Wittman's antics (& heroics) are portrayed in language that never fails to delight. As funny & fun-filled as this novel is, it's also deeply serious about issues as basic as identity (both individual & national) and as topical as the Vietnam War. Think of it as The Joy Luck Club with more brains, more heart, and less syrup. Think of it as the Great American Classic that it is

Rating:
Summary: at last, i found my long lost twin ? wittman ah sing!
Review: This is one of the worst books I've ever read. The storyline is garbled,confusing, and mixed with the consciousness of the protagonist. The characters are eccentric and not all endearing. It was a pain to turn each page. The book saved itself from being a door stopper because of the last chapter. It doesn't completely redeem itself, but it does bring order to the story. If you're a fan of Maxine Hong's read this at your own risk.

Rating:
Summary: Good and loaded with philosophy, but too much weird.
Review: Until I read Tripmaster Monkey, I was afraid I was the only "Wittman Ah Sing" in the world. I am no longer fearful. Maxine Hong Kingston crafts this book like a tasty dumpling; substantial, filling, and it sticks to your heart (rather than the roof of your mouth). One major incentive of this book is its blatant honesty. This story about an Asian hippie Wittman is not complete without the parent-like nagging of truths, always present, and always raising questions. Perhaps the only negative comment I can render unto this book is that it repeats itself sometimes quite obviously, and that may distract from a (certainly not mine) sensitive reader's enjoyment. However, the complex messages imbued within Tripmaster Monkey are a pleasure to decode and comprehend. Along with entertaining (and all too true) depictions of the Asian-American- I especially rememeber the one about Uncle Bun, the obsessive wheat germ-loving communist- this "fake" book has me firmly convinced it's the real thing. Authentic (for a novel) Maxine Hong Kingston, folks.