Sunday, July 26, 2015

Watership Down, by Richard Adams


This novel is an amazing epic of action and adventure…starring rabbits!  Fiver is the runt of his litter, but he possesses unique powers to see into the future.  When he has a vision that the Sandleford warren will soon be destroyed by a real estate development, he teams up with his brother Hazel to travel in search of a new home.  After a dangerous journey, the two form a new warren called Watership Down.  All seems well, at least until they cross paths with General Woundwort, the tyrant leader of a nearby warren called Efrafra!

I absolutely loved the chance to dive into the world of the rabbits.  Mr. Adams created an entire universe around his characters, including a rabbit language called Lapine.  Even though wading through all the songs and legends of the rabbits seemed a little tiresome at first, the huge amount of background material served to pull me out of my own two-legged life.  By the end of the book, I was completely immersed in the realm of the rabbits!  It was easy enough for me to accept the idea that these animals could talk amongst one another, form organized colonies with their own governments, and even wage war!

Even though the main characters in Watership Down are a bunch of cute (or sometimes not so cute!) rabbits, this book is really about the theme of a small group facing off against established forms of order.  There are always going to be risks involved when you buck the system and try something new.  Sometimes, if the stakes are high enough, you might even be putting your own life on the line!  Pick up a copy of Watership Down from your library and I can promise you, you’ll never look at pet shop rabbits the same way…  

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