Watership Down by Richard Adams

Watership Down is the compelling tale of a group of wild rabbits struggling to hold onto their place in the world—soon to be a BBC and Netflix animated miniseries starring James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, and Oscar and Grammy award-winning Sir Ben Kingsley.

A phenomenal worldwide bestseller for more than forty years, Richard Adams's Watership Down is a timeless classic and one of the most beloved novels of all time. Set in England's Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival follows a band of very special creatures on their flight from the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of brothers, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society.

This book almost made me hate cats. Almost.

Don't expect cute and happy and hopping little bun-buns. There's violence, implied rape, death- a lot of things you normally wouldn't find in a children's' book. But Richard Adams has dealt with these issues in the most imaginative way, so there's really no reason to stay away from it. I have never felt so much for a rabbit in my entire life.

Great use of the made-up Lapine language, and I enjoyed the rabbits' folktales as well. A real great read and would 100% recommend.

This was the book that I needed to read when I was a teenager. I used to love an adventurous stories! Now, it is still an amazing and action packed book. However, I feel I didn't apreceate it enough.

I recommend this one to the teenagers that want some deep story with a lot of action and adventure.

I guess I'm too late to this.

Oh well. Film adaptation it is.

When speaking of this novel, I've often heard others be of the opinion that “this is little more than a book about rabbits.” Indeed, with the ferocity of the title, I too was taken aback to discover that all of the cast were, indeed, rabbits. However, this is much more than that.

This novel has the equivocal depth of an Aesop's fable. The cast, despite their Lapine nature, are all complex in their emotions and decisions. There's both agreement and disagreement. The plot itself is quite simple, but the nature of the chapters and the pacing makes it feel complex and engaging. The writing style itself is somehow a balanced effort of description ( an entire page, just describing the setting around the warren! ) and things to move it along ( on that same page, meeting the cast that you will watch the story unfold around. ) There are legends, there are characters made into legends, and it just continues onward. Richard Adams was really “feeling it” as he wrote this, may he walk in peace.

This is a book that I recommend, and probably will to everybody. I wish I could read it for the first time all over again, but I suppose I'll just have to look forward to reading it for a second time, and seeing what things I missed. Perhaps one small critique I would have is, in the penultimate closing chapters, there would be more “specific” descriptions of what happened, and who was with whom, but to be honest, that's neither here nor there. It could be that, if it had been included, then I would be saying it felt too bogged down, so, I digress.

If you're searching for something to move you, look no further. This will take you by surprise.