Watership Down (1972)

I read this aloud to my kids and we all loved it. ( )

Epic fantasy. With rabbits. Who would have thought? ( )

Wish I read it when I was a kid (but I was too busy reading SF). Very creative but needlessly long. ( )

I will never look at rabbits in the same way again. This is perhaps the greatest achievement of Watership Down. Richard Adams has created a world in which rabbits, those small furry and scared animals you see on dewy mornings walking your dog, are brought to life in an amazing way.
Watership Down tells the story of a small group of rabbits that need to leave their original burrow as the field on which it lies is being developed by humans. Although this truly is the synopsis, it isn't what the book is about. Watership Down is about the rabbits themselves, a long story about what it is like to be a rabbit, governed by fear of everything, the thousand enemies that surround you at all time, the limits of your world and how to deal with that. Adams' achievement lies in the fact that although this all may seem rather far fetched, there is not a moment when during the reading of this book I thought it was going to far, the narrative never felt like a stretch.
Quite the opposite, I was connected to those rabbits and that is in no small part due to the intricate web of stories they tell each other, the mythology they breathe to life when they are basking in the sun or are seeking comfort huddled together in their burrow. The rabbit world is deep and complex, yet at the same time Adams knows where he needs to stay close to the reality of his subject. Breeding, buck/doe hierarchy, perception of threats, feeding habits, these are some of the boundaries within which the author weaves his tale and it works well to allow the reader a suspension of disbelief.
I loved this book. The characters are vivid and interesting, the story is simple but works as a framework for the development of characters and the lapine-world, the mythology is a great piece of writing as the rabbit universe feels like that of a not yet discovered tribe of people rather than the something out of La Fontaine. However, the thing that struck me with awe was the way in which a journey across 5 miles of terrain feels like an Epic. This again is due to the fact that the reader is so immersed in the rabbit's world that every yard, every snare is felt as a true challenge to be met and overcome.
Everybody knows the film, yet please read this book as well. To my mind, it is much better and less dramatic. ( )

Another classic that I missed when I was young. I had heard this was a very sad tale and boy was I worried about these little furry guys the whole time I was reading (listening to) this. I like how he didn't just make it "humans in the forms of rabbits", he really seemed to be trying to capture the way rabbits think. Then of course he layered in the different social stuff, like giving up freedom for safety, allowing the few to sacrifice for the many etc...

Not sure I'd be interested in reading the sequel(s?), seems like an original idea that I'm not sure needed more than 1 book. I did just see that the BBC did a 4 episode show of the this book though so I think I'm going to check that out. ( )