Watership Down

My esteem of the story ebbed and flowed between a 3 and 4 star rating. However that sentiment may be due to reading most of it on an 11 hour plane ride. I particularly liked the rabbit lore and the tales of El-ahrairah, also the ending was very well done, earning it the overall 4 star rating.

I think the next animal story that I will read will be Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. I've very familiar with the movie, but have yet to read the book. I bring this up because, Watership Down reminded me of Rats of NIMH because the main characters act slightly out of their natures. I am very happy that in the story Richard Adams has his rabbits admit that they are acting slightly out of character of their rabbit nature, which is one of there reasons why I so admired the story. There's something to be said of unlikely adventures, whether they be Hobbits, mice, reluctant princesses, or rabbits, it's nice to see a character slightly out of their element and how, or even if, they cope and handle it.

The first time I'd read this I was in eighth grade. I chose it for the next read-aloud book for my kids. It took a good month-and-a-half to finish it with almost nightly readings. They enjoyed it and were very curious about all the characters. I really enjoyed giving Kehaar a faux-Slavic accent, but trying to read aloud some of the names can be a tongue-twister. You say “Hyzenthlay and Thethuthinnang” and see how well you do! Of course, it's been so long since I read this story I was only familiar with some of the key plot points. One thing I'd forgotten was how much description of the landscape Adams works in to the story. He throws in names of plants and animals that I have just zero knowledge of. But this classic story is a captivating one. My kids – especially my eldest – kept asking me to read more every night when I deemed I was done for the night. They were also curious about which rabbits might be mating with which (at the end of the story). They also loved all the little scattered stories within the story about the rabbit folk hero El-Ahrairah (a.k.a. the Prince With a Thousand Enemies).

C'mon! Say it! “Hyzenthlay and Thethuthinnang!”

Despite having hazy memories of being terrified by the cartoon adaptation, I was still surprised at how intense this book was. It's one I've always meant to read, but only now been prodded into it by my book club.

The story reads like a great fairy tale with points which, like any good fairy tale, are highly inappropriate for children. It's definitely one I'd tell kids not to read just to see what they'd do when they read about a rabbit shouting “Piss off!”

Probably the most interesting bit for me was when they discover the first warren of tharn rabbits. Adams focused a lot on the politics of Efrafa, which feels like a strong commentary on military dictatorships fascist and communist alike. For me as a modern reader, I feel the metaphor of unspoken captivity, of not talking about problems because life is so much easier not talking about them, is far more poignant to the world I've grown up in.

Glad I finally found a reason to read the book at any rate.

In the introduction, the author addresses the rejections he got when trying to find a publisher for the book. All of them said that it was too childish for older children and written in too adult of a fashion for younger children. And that is basically my assessment of the book as well. However, some publisher saw something in the manuscript, and I'm glad, because it is definitely an enjoyable book to read. I'm just not sure who would read it. It's an adventure tale about a group of rabbits, great children's book material. But it is rather dark and gruesome at points. It might be best for adults like me who like to sometimes read books intended for somewhat younger audiences. Overall, delightful characters, gripping plot twists and great writing.

I really enjoyed this book. It was not as good as I thought it would be. I had heard a lot of good reviews and I think I hyped it up in my mind. It was still a good read, a nice fun story. It was a little long but overall I'd recommend it to most anyone who likes fiction.

This is one that I've putting off for, oh, say 25 years. But, like the proverbial tortoise, I finally can cross this particular finish line, and honestly think I could've gone another 25 years without it. That said, it was an okay read. Just underwhelming.

I'd probably have given this 3-stars if it hadn't been for everything I've heard about this classic. There were no major problems (sure, the whole made up words for no particular reason littered throughout bugged me), but there wasn't anything that wowed me either. Just an okay book.

Took some time to get into it, but in the end I liked it... the last third of the book was pretty griping.

5 stars - Metaphorosis Reviews

When young rabbit Fiver has a premonition, his friend Hazel convinces a few other rabbits to leave their warren and search for a safer home.

What can I say about Watership Down that you don't already know? It's a classic, a moving story of companionship and adversity, the spark for hundreds of imitators, and the benchmark against which they are held.

Richard Adams wasn't the first to write a talking-animal story, not by a long shot. Kenneth Grahame got there well before him, not to mention Aesop and a whole host of others. But he's the one who triggered a wave of copycats, many quite successful. Some of those copycat stories are quite good, but Watership Down is in a class by itself.

The book's well-deserved success rests on several fronts. Adams' rabbits are clearly drawn individuals, memorable, immediately recognizable, and, above-all, not human. Of course there's quite a bit of anthropomorphism in Adams' story, but the plain fact is that the characters here don't act like humans, but as credible, always-in-character rabbits. They worry like rabbits, they think like rabbits, they move like rabbits - at least, how we can believe rabbits might worry, think, and move. One never gets the feeling Adams' research was particularly exhaustive - he primarily cites one book - but he's both perceptive about what to take from it, and consistent in what he does with it. The result feels like a book about genuine rabbits, not humans in costume.

If the characters are credible, the relationships between them are the heart of the book. Weak, perceptive, otherwordly Fiver, plodding but thoughtful Hazel, stolid, determined Bigwig, focused Woundwort - we feel for all of Adams' key characters, and the interaction between them is genuinely moving. If you're not holding your breath at some points, and near tears at others, you're reading a different book.

Adams provides quite a lot of color through the interspersed tales of El-Ahrairah, legendary rabbit hero, and his loyal companion Rabscuttle. They're long, but remarkably fun diversions from the main story, and tied into it very cleverly. A few neologisms are used to good effect as well - forty years since we first read this as a family, my mother still remembers that ‘silflay' means to eat grass.

Adams views about human activity come through clearly - destruction of the environment, safety at the expense of liberty, and a host of other evils come in for criticism - but, astoundingly, without interfering with the story. In fact, they enhance it.

Adams does somewhat less well with other species. They play mostly small roles, and he's assigned each species accents drawn from stereotyped human foreigners, a touch that falls flat today. More problematic is the relatively minor role of female rabbits. While there are a few individuals, the does are largely treated as an adjunct of rabbit life - needed for mating and for digging good burrows. At the time, I took this as a reflection of rabbit society, but it's been argued that rabbits are in fact quite matriarchal. Given that the book was written relatively recently, in the 1970s, there's not a good argument for change of culture as an excuse. These flaws make the book imperfect, but it remains head and shoulders above most alternatives.

If you haven't read this book, do it now; you're in for a terrific treat. If you have, re-read it; it's as good as you remember. If you've already re-read it, there's an even brighter side - Adams was not a one-shot author. He has quite a few other books just as well written, just as moving, just as effective. I highly recommend The Plague Dogs (it may genuinely have changed my life), Maia, and Shardik at the least.

When I think of wonderful books that I've read only once and will probably never have time to read again, Watership Down comes to the top of my list. I became a rabbit in that world for the two weeks I spent reading this big book way back when it first came out. I still have days when I long to be a rabbit and go back to Watership Down.

Second read: I remember like it was yesterday instead of thirty years ago the first time I read Watership Down. I couldn't put it down. I read it at night, and during odd free moments at work. I picked it up again as soon as I got home. For the week I read WD, I was a rabbit. I , too, admired the unexpected leadership of Hazel. I, too, worried about our nervous prophet Fiver. I, too, loved my world of Frith (the sun) and El-ahrairah (our mighty rabbit folk hero) and I, too, was terrified of Lendri (badger) and Pfeffa (cat) and I, too, was mystified about the white burning sticks.

Happily, I decided to read this book again with my online 1001 Children's Books You Must Read group.

And, happily, the book held up. Delightful.