The Monkey King follows the humorous exploits of protagonist Wallace Nolasco, who finds himself in financial straits after being denied his dowry in hectic post-warHong Kong, and must by guile better both himself and the moribund reputation of the Chinese house he has married into. The plot of The Monkey King, which is a family saga, divided into three sections, is driven by the tensions between Wallace and his father-in-law, the patriarchal Mr Poon.
"The only easy thing about my first novel was traditionally the hardest part, getting it published. Less than a fortnight after delivering the manuscript in May 1977 I received a charming letter of acceptance from Diana Athill of Andre Deutsch, the editor of Jean Rhys and V S Naipaul, no less. I was 26....
Looking back on The Monkey King is as painful and farcical as looking back on first love. ...The South China Morning Post said The Monkey King was 'so bad it should never have been published'; with the headline 'File under nuts'. ...The Jamaican Sunday Gleaner noted that the book beggared description, was full of unintentionally funny passages, and altogether inferior to 'The House of Mr Biswas' (sic) by Naipaul....
It had been monstrously difficult to write.... But ... I've never brought off anything as funny or as sharply characterised as those early scenes from The Monkey King again, nor will I....And Miss Athill still thinks it's my best book.[3]
Mo's novel evoked comparisons with the 16th-century classical Chinese work Journey to the West, and the Los Angeles Times reviewer observed that, "like its illustrious forebear, this 20th-Century tale is at turns comic and serious, sympathetic and cruel, and certainly never dull."[5]
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