From the Bookshelf of 2015 Reading Challenge [Closed]…

Watership Down (Watership Down, #1)

Richard Adams

Discussion: . Week 7: Nonhuman Characters

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. Week 7: Nonhuman Characters

* Week 7: Introduction
By Jessica · 42 posts · 371 views

last updated Jul 13, 2015 02:46PM

* Week 7: Progress Post
By Zaz , Mood Minion · 35 posts · 115 views

last updated Nov 29, 2015 06:04PM

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What Members Thought

Sep 15, 2010 QS rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own, reviewed, fantasy, favorites, classic, 2012

Honestly, I don't have very much to say about this book...mainly because it's pretty much my most favorite book ever written. But I'll attempt a coherent review anyway (because I promised myself I'd do more reviews).

Watership Down is not a book that, upon first discovering it, anyone in their right mind would think they'd like. I picked it up for the first time in fifth grade at a booksale my school was having, when I was at the right age to see a book about bunnies and absolutely have to read i Honestly, I don't have very much to say about this book...mainly because it's pretty much my most favorite book ever written. But I'll attempt a coherent review anyway (because I promised myself I'd do more reviews).

Watership Down is not a book that, upon first discovering it, anyone in their right mind would think they'd like. I picked it up for the first time in fifth grade at a booksale my school was having, when I was at the right age to see a book about bunnies and absolutely have to read it. Fifteen years later, I have yet to regret the purchase. I read it at least once every year, and every time I fall a little more in love with the characters. This time around, I even found myself admiring Hazel (the main character and Chief Rabbit), and I always felt rather ambivalent towards him. Every time I read this book, every year I grow older, I find myself appreciating different aspects of the book that I never gave thought to before.

Now, an important thing to remember about the characters is that, despite the fact that they're just rabbits, each one has a very distinct voice and rather memorable personality, but they still act undeniably like rabbits would. They don't use objects--such as boats--the way a man would, and concepts like cars and trains absolutely elude them. Throughout reading the book, no matter how sucked in to the world you get, you are never able to forget that they're rabbits. This, I believe, is my favorite thing about the book; the characters aren't miniature humans, they're rabbits whose 'language' is translated into English. The only time I get annoyed with the dialogue is when the humans are speaking, but that's only because I have a difficult time reading accents (as most people do).

The rabbits' sun-based religion is fascinating, and the mythological hero rabbit El-ahrairah is everything you could want out of a hero. Throughout the story, the rabbits (most often one named Dandelion) tell stories about El-ahrairah that are put into the book as separate chapters. While these stories have little to do with what's going on in the book itself, they are not the annoying sidetracking passages that you'd expect them to be. The hero's stories are just as interesting Hazel's. The only one I was never very fond of was the last one, the story of the Fairy Wogdog. This may be more because of the characterization of the (incredibly stupid) dog than anything else, though.

The geekiest part of my heart loves the Lapine language. Adams explains each word he adds in so well that they tend to stick in your memory and by the end of the book, when one character talks back to character entirely in Lapine, you can actually understand what he's saying without much thought. I'm actually rather fascinated by the fact that this man created a language just for the use of rabbits. It seems rather superfluous, doesn't it?

All in all, if I had to make any complain about this book whatsoever, it's that Adams sometimes goes way too into detail about the setting. Yes, yes, we get it: the grass is very green and there are little flowers everywhere. Lovely. Can we move on with the story? (He also has a habit of calling each plant by name, which can get frustrating since I'm not familiar with most of them. I don't pay much attention to weeds to know each one by name.)

On top of that, there's plenty for the people who want to read into the story as well. You can learn a lot from these rabbits about morality and humanity and, in a way, how important it is to stand up to the people who would keep you down. Once you're away from them, you never know what you can do.

And all this from a guy who made up the story to tell his kids.

(My apologies if this review was as awful as I think it was. I really am hopeless at reviews. But anyway: I love this book, and I pretty much recommend it to everyone I ever talk to, whether they're a reader or not.) ...more

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Dec 21, 2013 Desertisland added it

It's been a long time since I read this--maybe around time I'd read LAST UNICORN by Peter Beagle (possibly when those were new books). Had been thinking of reading again (or at least refreshing my memory by finding some critical commentary). I wonder if has any resemblance to children's classic, RABBIT HILL?

I also have faint memory of a fantasy series I read, lead to by covers done by a Japanese woman artist whose name currently escapes me (she doesn't like to be refered to as a Japanese artist, ...more

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Apr 03, 2015 Nicole rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, classics, adventure, young-adult, read-2015

I never thought I would enjoy a book about rabbits this much. I don't have much to say that the other 5-star reviews haven't already said quite better than I could. Often quick in pace, sometimes slow but never *dull* despite this. The story, the characters, and the bunny-world and even bunny-culture was well-developed and entertaining. ...more

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