Watership Down

published	January 1st 1976 by Avon
first published	1972
binding	Paperback
isbn	0380002930 (isbn13: 9780380002931)
ebook
pages	496
setting	United Kingdom
description	Watership Down has been a staple of high-school English classes for years. Despite the fact that it's often a hard sell at first (what teenager...more [close] Watership Down has been a staple of high-school English classes for years. Despite the fact that it's often a hard sell at first (what teenager wouldn't cringe at the thought of 400-plus pages of talking rabbits?), Richard Adams's bunny-centric epic rarely fails to win the love and respect of anyone who reads it, regardless of age. Like most great novels, Watership Down is a rich story that can be read (and reread) on many different levels. The book is often praised as an allegory, with its analogs between human and rabbit culture (a fact sometimes used to goad skeptical teens, who resent the challenge that they won't "get" it, into reading it), but it's equally praiseworthy as just a corking good adventure. The story follows a warren of Berkshire rabbits fleeing the destruction of their home by a land developer. As they search for a safe haven, skirting danger at every turn, we become acquainted with the band and its compelling culture and mythos. Adams has crafted a touching, involving world in the dirt and scrub of the English countryside, complete with its own folk history and language (the book comes with a "lapine" glossary, a guide to rabbitese). As much about freedom, ethics, and human nature as it is about a bunch of bunnies looking for a warm hidey-hole and some mates, Watership Down will continue to make the transition from classroom desk to bedside table for many generations to come. --Paul Hughes [close]
date added	02-07-07 edit book

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John rated it:

09/01/07

bookshelves: favorites

Read in January, 2002

recommends it for: People who like a good story or who have a vague interest in rabbits

Ok, so it's a book about a bunch of rabbits traveling through a small stretch of English countryside. As such, it doesn't seem like something that would appeal to anyone but a preteen. But the fact of the matter is this is a great story, full of rich characters, a deep (if occasionally erroneous) understanding of things lupine, and it can reach moments of depth and profundity that the movie of the same title does not even begin to hint at. I was actually introduced to this book in one of the bes...more Ok, so it's a book about a bunch of rabbits traveling through a small stretch of English countryside. As such, it doesn't seem like something that would appeal to anyone but a preteen. But the fact of the matter is this is a great story, full of rich characters, a deep (if occasionally erroneous) understanding of things lupine, and it can reach moments of depth and profundity that the movie of the same title does not even begin to hint at. I was actually introduced to this book in one of the best ways I can imagine: a friend recorded the entire book on tape, and for a couple months I played the tapes of her reading a chapter or two just before I fell asleep each night. My slow exposure to the book under ideal circumstances may have influenced my perceptions, but I can say on each subsequent rereading of the book I've come to appreciate it more. You can read the book just for the story: apparently, the author wrote the book from stories he would tell his children, and it still can easily serve that purpose. But the richness of his characters lead to many interesting analogies to human life. For instance, from Hazel you can learn profound things about leadership. Throughout the book you feel that Hazel is the natural-born leader of his group of rabbits, but Richard Adams was very careful to develop this impression through character features rather than power-relations. The contrast is clearly intentional since the other leaders of the book achieve leadership status through very different means. Many people think the book takes a strong stance against a particular kind of authoritarian rule, but it is important to recognize the book gives this impression not through structured diatribe or through argument, but rather it evolves out of character considerations, and out of the story itself. This means that the result is far more complex than a simple argument. For instance, although General Woundwort may be seen as the main enemy that Hazel has to deal with, and the authoritarian rabbit is portrayed rather negatively at times, Adams quite intentionally adds some details that make him admirable to the other rabbits, even to the very end. A diatribe would not be so complex. Fiver is another great character. He adds an element of magic to the story, and it allows Adams to link the rabbits he describes to a mythical world that enters into the story quite frequently. One can almost see Fiver as a manifestation of imagination in this world. Big-wig is another likable character, and the story of this rabbits experience in Efrafa is one of the highlights of the story. Besides the characters, the descriptions of England are also quite acute. You can actually track the course of the rabbits on maps, since Adams was careful to describe real places and things. That attention to detail is often missed in reviews of this book. Finally, the thing that brings all these features together and makes the book more than a mere story, or an account of human characters, or a diatribe against fascism, is the fact that Adams is quite conscious of the fact that he is telling the story from the perspective of rabbits. The challenges they face are rabbit-sized, the ideas about the external world are rabbitlike, the philosophical insights seem rabbitized, and Adams brings many of our anthropomorphized ideas of rabbits together with the reality of rabbits in a surprisingly coherent fashion. I suppose the book can be seen as a cultural study of an imaginatively rich but realistic rabbit world. I realize as I write this review that many other readers may not feel the same way about the book as I do. It does have some shortcomings. For instance, female characters only make a few appearances in the book, although I think Adams does show some sensitivity in their depictions. But, even with the limitations, I would recommend the book to anyone who likes a good story and who is willing to think deeply about a children's story....less

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Loren rated it:

04/21/08

Read in January, 1999

Adapted from ISawLightningFall.blogspot.com

Watership Down has a lot in common with the ancient epics. In it, a lone warrior leads a band of harried outcasts into the wilderness in search of a home. They’re aided by a seer who can touch the future with his dreams. They face perilous quests and hair-breadth escapes, ferocious foes and desperate siege assaults. But unlike the works of Homer and Virgil, Watership Down is also about rabbits. Which is appropriate, as almost all of ...more Adapted from ISawLightningFall.blogspot.com

Watership Down has a lot in common with the ancient epics. In it, a lone warrior leads a band of harried outcasts into the wilderness in search of a home. They’re aided by a seer who can touch the future with his dreams. They face perilous quests and hair-breadth escapes, ferocious foes and desperate siege assaults. But unlike the works of Homer and Virgil, Watership Down is also about rabbits. Which is appropriate, as almost all of its characters are rabbits.

Most four-footed protagonists in literature have been little more than humans with fur. (Think Stuart Little or Redwall.) But Adams takes a very different tack, which is evident from the get-go. The tale begins with two young rabbits named Hazel and Fiver living in a peaceful warren ruled by an old veteran named the Threarah. Scrawny, meditative Fiver has premonitions of doom falling on them all, a doom that will stain the fields with rabbit blood. But when the Threarah ignores Fiver’s counsel, Hazel decides to rouse anyone he can and flee. The two are joined by Bigwig (a massive bruiser once part of the Threarah’s personal guard), Dandelion (a storyteller par excellence), Blackberry (the smart-as-a-whip innovator) and Pipkin (a loyal but timid runt). When the Threarah’s minions discover their plans, the motley crew must plunge into the wilds under threat of death.

Adams’ break with Disney-esque anthropomorphizing becomes even more apparent in the culture he created for his rabbits. Much like Tolkien did in The Lord of the Rings, Adams created a language with its own detailed grammar and vocabulary. An example: Fiver’s true name, Hrairoo, comes from hrair, the term for any number over four, which is how high rabbits can count. They call these greater sums "thousand," and Fiver's name literally means "little thousand." He was so christened because he was small and one of the last born in his litter. Other words that crop up -- including elil (“predators”), silflay (“to graze”) and narn (“something good to eat”) -- possess equally detailed explanations. Frith, the word for the sun, is particularly interesting since it contains religious connotations. The rabbits, you see, are sun worshippers. They adore Lord Frith and the first rabbit he created, El-ahrairah, whose mischievous exploits get recounted several times in detail and who would put Odysseus to shame with his inventiveness.

Part of the joy of reading Watership Down lies in not only in its mythological color, but in letting yourself be carried along by every twist and turn of the plot, which is half adventure and half thriller (with a smattering of British botany, warren geography and seagull dialect thrown in to keep things interesting). If you find it hard to believe that it could be a coherent read with so many disparate elements (much less an entertaining one), join the crowd. It took months of nagging from a friend to get me to crack its cover. But it most certainly works, which is a testimony to Adams’ skill, as is the fact that when you reach the final page, you’ve begun to feel that Hazel and his friends are every bit as courageous as Achilles or Aeneas -- no matter the length of their ears....less

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Alexis rated it:

(review of isbn 0743277708)

06/11/08

Read in May, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

this is a great book for nine-year-old boys. i read it last month, so i fail both criteria being neither a boy, nor nine. i ran into a fellow adult reading Watership Down when i was running down to catch the L train and i couldn't believe that both of us were so late in picking up this seemingly required elementary-school reading that i just stood in front of him with my copy until he looked up. we both agreed that the book was riviting, but not very good. here are my gripes with it: as milit...more this is a great book for nine-year-old boys. i read it last month, so i fail both criteria being neither a boy, nor nine. i ran into a fellow adult reading Watership Down when i was running down to catch the L train and i couldn't believe that both of us were so late in picking up this seemingly required elementary-school reading that i just stood in front of him with my copy until he looked up. we both agreed that the book was riviting, but not very good. here are my gripes with it: as military allegories go, it's not very sophisticated. a plucky band of rabbits, who leave to excape certain death - okay - but who also kind of want to be their own bosses, have great adventures striking out to make a new life for themselves. but (spoiler alert!) not one of the original group dies in the process, which just seems like unrealistic plot manipulation. they're rabbits, they are constantly afraid of death, but if this is about war (which it completely is; everything is told in terms of chain-of-command and loyalty and following orders and strategy and Hazel is without doubt the fearless, benevolent, and clever general leading this band of ALL MALE rabbits to some promised land) then it seems incomplete to constantly be worried about losing a member of your platoon, but never dealing with the emotions or events that come up when it actually happens. a couple times there is the perception that a rabbit has "stopped running" and some other rabbit says (paraphrase) "too bad, but everyone's gonna get it sometime and right now we have to save our hides." but the reader always knows that the presumably fallen rabbit is actually still alive. i get it that it's a kid's book, but i'm of the school that doesn't think kid's literature should wear kid's gloves. but, whatever.
then: i noticed back on page 22 when everyone was leaving the original warren that there were no female rabbits, so what exactly were these guys thinking? but somehow it took Hazel another hundred-fifty pages or so to figure that one out. this is the main reason i would have hated this book as a nine-year-old. it's all dudes. there are no female rabbits until the very end and even they they're pretty much all pathetic. it just doesn't give my nine-year-old self a whole lot to relate to.
that said: it's completely riveting. even when the plot is moving so slowly and it's so obvious where it's going next that it kindof made me want to crawl out of my own skin, i couldn't bring myself to just skip a chapter and resume after everyone's finally figured out that Fiver's never wrong. i had to read every word, just in case. and i consider that a good sign.
also, the World-of-Rabbit that Adams creates is pretty satisfying. he's invented language, cultural customs, and best of all, a religious/mythic history featuring the Prince of All Rabbits, who's clearly a jesus figure but is also the uber-trickster, since that is a rabbit's greatest strength after running fairly fast. the sections of rabbit storytelling were definitely my favorite and i have to give props to Richard for stuffing so much lore into one volume. that's a fun trick.
anyway, it's a great beach or train book if you haven't read it and it will make you look at rabbits differently. it will not change your life....less

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Nicky added it

12/02/07

Read in November, 2007

Nicky Lenard
Mrs. Ebarvia
World Literature
12/2/07
Book Review

The book that I read is called Watership Down, by Richard Adams. This is the first, and most successful, book that Richard Adams has written. He has also written Nature Through The Seasons, The Phoenix Tree, Daniel, and much more. The book Watership Down is about two rabbits named Hazel and Fiver who leave their home burrow because Fiver believes something bad is going to happen. They get together some of their friends a...more Nicky Lenard
Mrs. Ebarvia
World Literature
12/2/07
Book Review

The book that I read is called Watership Down, by Richard Adams. This is the first, and most successful, book that Richard Adams has written. He has also written Nature Through The Seasons, The Phoenix Tree, Daniel, and much more. The book Watership Down is about two rabbits named Hazel and Fiver who leave their home burrow because Fiver believes something bad is going to happen. They get together some of their friends and leave on an adventure to find new unclaimed territory to call their own. They face many obstacles, such as the snare rabbits (Efrafa), and overcome all of them as a team. In the end they find a suitable piece of land on a hill, and find doe’s (female rabbits) so the rabbits can have offspring and create a thriving community.
Even though the novel was interesting and exciting, it did have some weaknesses. One includes the setting. The setting constantly changes and I found myself re-reading chapters so that I could understand where the characters are or going to go. The author could have been clearer or taken more time to explain a situation to help solve this problem. The second weakness of this novel is the characters. There are many characters in this book but few of them are fully developed. Others are mentioned once every five chapters which makes it hard to remember their names. To help fix this problem the author could take some characters out making it easier to remember each character. Not only could he do that but include other characters more through out the novel to help developed more rounded and used characters.
There were many aspects of this book that I think are interesting. One of them includes the similarities between the rabbit’s communities and human communities. In one rabbit burrow (equivalent to a modern day city) the rabbits collected food and stored it. This is similar to modern day supermarkets and food producers. This burrow also had a central hall or a meeting area where rabbits could talk, which is similar to community areas and meeting places where people hang out and have fun. The rabbits in this book have many human like aspects to them. They care for each other and help complete every day tasks, such as building their homes together, more so than humans help each other.
Although this book has some weak points, the excitement, thrill and adventure contradict it. It teaches lessons such as always have faith in your friends and never give up on your dreams. These key points are essential through out the book and are essential in life. Anyone who reads this book will read about Hazel and Fiver and their friends who always kept faith in them and faith in their dreams.
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Chris rated it:

02/09/08

bookshelves: fantasy, top-shelf

Read in June, 2006

This is one of my top five books. Whenever anyone asks me, "What is your favorite book?" this is at or near the top. It was the first adult-length book I read when I was in Elementary school, and I have every intention of getting my hands on a copy for my goddaughter at some point soon. I remember watching the movie when they used to show it annually on CBS, way back in those days beyond recall....

Why should this book, of all the books I've ever read in my life, stay so dear to me?...more This is one of my top five books. Whenever anyone asks me, "What is your favorite book?" this is at or near the top. It was the first adult-length book I read when I was in Elementary school, and I have every intention of getting my hands on a copy for my goddaughter at some point soon. I remember watching the movie when they used to show it annually on CBS, way back in those days beyond recall....

Why should this book, of all the books I've ever read in my life, stay so dear to me? I have no idea. Perhaps because, even though its main characters are rabbits, it isn't a "talking animals" book. Adams didn't talk down to his readers, and assumed that they were ready to follow Hazel and Fiver wherever they went. And so, unusually for children's literature, there is violence and loss and true danger in this book. Characters die. Unpleasantly. The rabbits live in fear of mankind and the Thousand, and accomplish great things despite. They do what no rabbit had done before, and find a new world for themselves. And, of course, are forced to fight for it.

As cynical as I have become in my years, I still find this story to be honest and true. Adams isn't trying to make an allegory or grind an axe. He's trying to tell a good story about hope and perseverance and triumph over adversity. The fact that the main characters are rabbits is incidental.

Well, not really. Another layer to this story is the culture that Adams has created. The stories of Frith and El-ahrairah (which, I've just noticed, is misprinted on the first page of the contents in this edition as "El-ahrairab." Weird) are sometimes deep and meaningful, sometimes fun and silly, but always relevant and rich, in the tradition of traditional oral storytelling. There is a language to the rabbits, which is regularly used throughout the book (and one complete sentence in lapine - Silflay hraka u embleer rah. Memorable....) Adams did a lot of research into the social structure of rabbits and their lifestyles, making it as accurate is it could be....

Anyway, every young person should read this. Hell, older people should read it too.

As a side note, this book is the reason I got into Magic: The Gathering way back in college. For a long time, I thought it was just a stupid card game, with no cultural or imaginative merit. Then I happened across a "Thunder Spirit" card, which had a quote from Watership Down at the bottom:

"It was full of fire and smoke and light and...it drove between us and the Efrafans like a thousand thunderstorms with lightning."

Still gives me goosebumps.

Anyway, I thought, "Maybe there's something to this," and the rest was (very expensive) history.......less

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Mick rated it:

01/07/08

bookshelves: 50-book-challenge--08

Read in January, 2008

While I was trying to put together a preliminary list for the books I was going to try to read this year I came across the title Watership Down a hundred times. I’ll admit that when I first came across it I thought it was going to be a space adventure. Much like the movie Ice Pirates, I thought it was going to be about a over laden supply ship crashing in enemy territory with the only know water supply that existed in the galaxy, or at least something like that. As it turns out the book contai...more While I was trying to put together a preliminary list for the books I was going to try to read this year I came across the title Watership Down a hundred times. I’ll admit that when I first came across it I thought it was going to be a space adventure. Much like the movie Ice Pirates, I thought it was going to be about a over laden supply ship crashing in enemy territory with the only know water supply that existed in the galaxy, or at least something like that. As it turns out the book contains a children’s story – about bunnies.

Of course – they aren’t your normal rabbits. These guys can talk, and have feelings, and some can even see into the future. With abstract thought and freethinking comes the ability of others to oppress those things that make them human – or ahem – bunnies. That is the essence of the story.

Two brother rabbits are sitting around eating on some leaves, and a bigger meaner rabbit comes and takes the best leaves away. The bigger and brighter of the brothers is like “this sucks!” but the little pussy brother is like “We are all going to die, this place sucks ass, we must flee!” Keep in mind the little one is a 'seer'. So they basically the pack up the truck and they move to Beverly – hills that is. Those hills are called the Watership Down.

There are of course obstacles, dangers and adventures along the way, and then when they finally get there. “Oops you mean we forgot to bring any chicks? Damnit! Well we’re boned now dawg. Unless, yeah! Let’s go steal some bitches!”

The story itself is clever and decent enough, but muck like Jackson’s King Kong remake, it’s so focused on the evils of man that the whole story gets dragged down by it. Every time the group comes across a man he is described by the cigarette smoke he is inhaling, and they all carry guns, and have evil dogs that bite and chomp, yada yada yada. Tractors and cars and trucks are evil. Trains run animals over. Man's Dogs and guns always protect gardens. Don't forget that all the rabbits that show any "manish" qualities die right away. Miliatary Stategy, Art, Poetry, and Culinary Skills are all evil man things that eventually lead to the poor little bunnies doom. Oh how awful it is to live in the constant fear of man. Those darn rascally rabbits!
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Sara rated it:

02/21/08

bookshelves: 2007, animals, classic, fiction, loved-it-, made-into-movie

Read in October, 2007

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Who knew a book about rabbits could be so captivating? I've heard of it before and knew it was about rabbits, but didn't know what the title referred to. (It's a location). I have to admit the story started out a little slow for me and it doesn't really pick up until page 90. It's about a group of rabbits who decide to leave their warren when one of them, who can "predict" things tells them something horrible is going to happen, s...more This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Who knew a book about rabbits could be so captivating? I've heard of it before and knew it was about rabbits, but didn't know what the title referred to. (It's a location). I have to admit the story started out a little slow for me and it doesn't really pick up until page 90. It's about a group of rabbits who decide to leave their warren when one of them, who can "predict" things tells them something horrible is going to happen, so they set out on their journey to find a new place to live. So for the first 90 pages, it's about a bunch of rabbits hopping around and it's setting up the story. There are so many rabbits (Hazel and Fiver and Buckthorn and Blackberry and Bigwig and Acorn and Speedwell and Hawkbit and Dandelion...) that I got a little confused. Probably should have written them down as I read, but luckily I got to know the characters better as the story went on. They meet other rabbits (more names to remember!) in other warrens and settle down at Watership Down where they befriend a little mouse and a seagull named Kehaar, who for the longest time I couldn't understand what he was saying. It took me awhile to catch on that he was pronouncing his "b"'s as "p"'s because I thought he was saying "pig box" or "pig lake" whenever he said "peeg box" or "peeg lake" but it was big...ohhh. It also took me awhile to realize the "Peegveeg" was Bigwig, hehe. But I loved Kehaar; he had the cutest accent even though I didn't know what he was saying half the time. He was more easier to understand than the humans, though! When the rabbits settle down in their new home, they decide to send three of them to another warren a few miles away that they know is overpopulated and see if they can bring back some female rabbits to keep their warren thriving. So three of them hop on over to Efrafa, while Hazel, our protaganist, and the others decide to free the pet rabbits at the barn a few miles away. Efrafa is run like a dictatorship and no rabbits can escape from it and they can only go outside to eat in shifts. Kinda like a bunny prison. (In fact it kinda reminded me of Prison Break for rabbits, hehe. Very good book, although I was surprised to learn that rabbits only live for 2-3 years. I know they have lots of predators, but they sure can run fast! Whenever I see a rabbit, I'm going to think of Hazel and Fiver or Pipkin...I loved Pipkin! He was so cute.
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John rated it:

08/23/07

Read in July, 1986

recommends it for: Anyone

It was the summer of 1986 when, rumaging through the long unused bedrooms of my grandfather's house, I stumbled upon the book Watership Down. At twelve, I was at that wonderful age when any book was a source of fascination rather than embarrassment, and so I sat upon my uncle's old bed and, in the dusty sunlight streaming through the window, began to read a book which would stay with me years later.

Fiver, a small and nervous rabbit, is plaugued by visions of the coming destruction of Sandl...more

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Sue rated it:

08/17/08

bookshelves: classics, own

Read in August, 2008

I've been trying to think about why I thought so highly of this book - what part of the book made it a definite keeper for me... and I can't really put my finger on it. I know that I like it partly because it has animals as main characters on an adventure, like the _Redwall_ series that I enjoy so much. But, the adventure that Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig and the rest go on is not in the fantasy world (even though the animals talk.. they speak in their own language, and they only do things that rabbit...more I've been trying to think about why I thought so highly of this book - what part of the book made it a definite keeper for me... and I can't really put my finger on it. I know that I like it partly because it has animals as main characters on an adventure, like the _Redwall_ series that I enjoy so much. But, the adventure that Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig and the rest go on is not in the fantasy world (even though the animals talk.. they speak in their own language, and they only do things that rabbits would do - not at all the same vein as redwall) - and it is an epic journey of survival, rather than a quest. I really liked the characterization of the rabbits. It was a subtle mix of anthropomorphic traits and rabbitlike behavior. The plot - you'd think that it would be boring to read about rabbits moving from one warren to another, and having to run from some predators and deal with other rabbits.... but even the chapters about them moving through the landscape are interesting, and the section where they are caught and then escape -- I couldn't leave the book until I finished. People I've talked to while I was reading it remarked about how it was such a wonderful metaphor for life's journey or a picture of a society, but reading the author's introduction telling how he turned these stories for his daughters into a book stopped me from looking for inner meanings. I'm glad - I think the book is a classic simply as a work about some rabbits on a journey across the English countryside.
My best friend in high school signed up to read this book for a book report- and left it unread until the weekend before the report was due (on Monday). She came over to my house to get my help on writing a quick book report (without reading too much of thebook). Well, when she started trying to skim it... she started reading, and even when I admonished her, as she would never finish in time to do the report in time - she kept reading. She actually took the penalty for a late book report in order to finish the book properly. Now I understand why....less

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Rico rated it:

07/15/07

bookshelves: ricosbooks

Read in June, 2000

recommends it for: people, rabbits, not for sailors.

oh man, this book totally tricked me! I got a bad haircut one day so I needed to lay low for a few weeks ("Supercuts", my ass! Liars!). I called two of my hardest, most straight-up thug homies (Zachary and Dustin) to bring me some of their books and this was one of them. I had just watched a show on A&E about WWII naval battles so I couldn't WAIT to read Watership Down! I love sea stories, "man overboard!" and "off the port bow!" and "aye aye cap'n!&qu...more

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Tracy rated it:

05/18/08

bookshelves: currently-reading

I just picked this book up, but I had thought about reading it for a few years.

My father read it and loved it, and a guy I dated when I was in teacher education school said it was the greatest book ever written. His plan was to teach it. Thing is, he was so boring! So, I didn't particularly want to read it. I also had a bias against it: It would simply capitalize on how sweet bunnies are, and screw that. It would be sentimental!

I found a great explanation of the "problem" of sentim...more

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Sammy rated it:

(review of isbn 0743277708)

04/13/08

bookshelves: the-best

Read in March, 2008

Easter was around the corner when it was time for me to pick up a new book. I happened to see Watership Down lying around and thought... Easter? Book about bunnies? Perfect! But seriously, who thought a book about rabbits could be so engaging. I was literally sucked in and didn't want to put the book down.

The thing that made this book so interesting was that Adams barely anthropomorphized his rabbits. Rarely did a human characteristic pop up and when it did you barely noticed it...more

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Aerin rated it:

06/18/08

bookshelves: childrens, fantasy, lit-ra-chur

Read in June, 2008

A friend gave me this book several years ago, and it had been sitting on my bookshelf, unread, ever since. How good can a book about talking bunny rabbits be, I wondered.

Turns out, really quite good. Although there's no denying that this is a book about talking bunny rabbits, it's closer to Lord of the Rings than Peter Cottontail. It's a fantasy adventure novel with its ...more

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Swankivy rated it:

08/20/08

bookshelves: favoritebooks

Read in September, 2002

This was my college roomie's favorite book as a kid (even though it's grossly long for a child to read). I enjoyed this quite a bit and ended up going out to find its animated movie. Yaay. A group of rabbits live in a warren in England, and they have their own culture, language, and mythology. One day Fiver, a rabbit who sometimes knows the future, predicts disaster, but when Fiver and his brother try to tell the authorities of their warren, they're rejected by the Owsla (the executors of the c...more

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Mindy rated it:

07/02/08

Read in June, 2008

My uncle Tony kept telling me to read this book because, "It's the best book ever written." I kept putting it off (even after he bought be a copy) because I secretly thought that a book about rabbits didn't really seem like something I would enjoy that much. I was so wrong. This story of perseverance, camaraderie, intense action, and the sheer will to survive and thrive was completely mesmerizing. It's basically told from the point of view of a few wild rabbits who set off, after the f...more

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Steve rated it:

07/15/08

Read in February, 2008

I first read Watership Down in about 1980, and liked it enough to go on to read Adams’ other works (The Plague Dogs and Shardik). I read it again in the late 90s and again enjoyed it. Both times, I thought of it as little more than an adventure. I found the author’s use of animal dialog occasionally amusing. Giving a heavy foreign accent (hints of both German and Italian) to the sea gull seemed to me to be breaking some kind of rule – but I didn’t mind because it wor...more

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Ernest rated it:

(review of isbn 0743277708)

01/06/08

Read in August, 2006

Probably the greatest fantasy/adventure book I have ever read just happens to be for young adults and is about talking rabbits in search of a new home. I initially thought I'd be overcome with unintentional laughter and an inability to suspend my disbelief. I thought wrong. By the book's end, when this ragtag collection of refugees from the obliterated Sandleford warren reaches the end of their journey, I was figuratively elevating Mr Adams to the gold medal platform of fantasy writers, just ...more