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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
This classic has been on my list for a long time even though I had no idea what it was about. I don't usually like animal books, but there was something so engaging and thought provoking about this story.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
WATERSHIP DOWN is a tense, low-fantasy war novel with a memorable setting and loveable characters to root for.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
This book is an odd, powerful combination of a naturalist's tale of specifically English eco-mysticism and conservation, and a gritty reimagining of World War II horrors. It both made me want to become vegetarian again, as well as pay homage to my grandparents' generation.
I sort of knew it as a "dark children's epic about rabbits", and it definitely is that: many rabbits are dead or traumatized by the end, and you will be too (traumatized, that is; hopefully not dead). In the introduction, the author, Richard Adams, (1) tells you which of his Army friends each rabbit was modeled after, and then (2) INSISTS THAT ALL OF THIS IS NOT AN ALLEGORY. Yeah, right. Obviously this just engaged me on the hunt to identify EVERY symbol. And, as Roland Barthes would say, it kind of doesn't matter what the author thinks. Lord of the Rings is about WW2, despite what Tolkien insisted, and so is damn Watership Down, dammit.
It's also obviously an allegory since the rabbits are so very, VERY English (they "shan't" do things, "old chap", and so on; there's even English classism with chief rabbits having a blustery, Winston Churchilly, uber posh accents), the gull is so very Swedish, the field mice so very Italian ("it's-a me!"; this elicited a very loud "OH COME ON" from my Italian self). Their trials are so so very indicative of old English manners getting chopped up in a fast-industrializing world of little mercy and dwindling hope. It kind of felt like the 2012 Olympics opening, where an idyllic, pastoral England gets decimated by smokestacks rising from the torn-up ground and a visionary Kenneth Branagh imagines the capitalist utopia. NOOOO, KENNETH. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Actually, similarly to that Olympics scene, or lots of WWI and WWII novels and art and stuff, Watership Down dwells on the tension between pre-industrial mysticism (e.g. a few rabbits, Fiver especially, have vague, magic-seeming premonitions) and the mechanized, militarized, anti-human/anti-rabbit efficiency of the Modern World (e.g. the Efrafra warren, with its dictatorial, charismatic chief rabbit).
ANYWAY, THE PLOT: Fiver is a tiny rabbit who has a bit of a third eye; he foresees that something terrible will happen to his warren (spoiler: it does, and it is absolutely horrible). He persuades his brother, Hazel, and a few others to leave the warren. They engage on an Odyssean trip around southwestern England (Cornwall?), eventually settling into those beautiful downs on the coast. There, though, they realize they have no does (no ladies!), so they go find some. Along the way, we visit two scary Big State warrens of oppressed rabbits - I'm assuming one was Fascist Germany and one was Stalinist USSR. There are big battles, but also lots of just random tragic shit because LIFE IS HARD AND MOSTLY HORRIBLE, KIDS.
Would I read this to my kids? YES, YES, GODDAMMIT. Because I don't want my kids being like those brainless 1960s hippie rabbits in that one warren, who mock the scars of the older rabbits, the Greatest Generation rabbits who clearly saw some real shit in their day, hoooo boy. Oh, sweet, they're making a Netflix of this - I will definitely be there. Recommended.
I sort of knew it as a "dark children's epic about rabbits", and it definitely is that: many rabbits are dead or traumatized by the end, and you will be too (traumatized, that is; hopefully not dead). In the introduction, the author, Richard Adams, (1) tells you which of his Army friends each rabbit was modeled after, and then (2) INSISTS THAT ALL OF THIS IS NOT AN ALLEGORY. Yeah, right. Obviously this just engaged me on the hunt to identify EVERY symbol. And, as Roland Barthes would say, it kind of doesn't matter what the author thinks. Lord of the Rings is about WW2, despite what Tolkien insisted, and so is damn Watership Down, dammit.
It's also obviously an allegory since the rabbits are so very, VERY English (they "shan't" do things, "old chap", and so on; there's even English classism with chief rabbits having a blustery, Winston Churchilly, uber posh accents), the gull is so very Swedish, the field mice so very Italian ("it's-a me!"; this elicited a very loud "OH COME ON" from my Italian self). Their trials are so so very indicative of old English manners getting chopped up in a fast-industrializing world of little mercy and dwindling hope. It kind of felt like the 2012 Olympics opening, where an idyllic, pastoral England gets decimated by smokestacks rising from the torn-up ground and a visionary Kenneth Branagh imagines the capitalist utopia. NOOOO, KENNETH. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Actually, similarly to that Olympics scene, or lots of WWI and WWII novels and art and stuff, Watership Down dwells on the tension between pre-industrial mysticism (e.g. a few rabbits, Fiver especially, have vague, magic-seeming premonitions) and the mechanized, militarized, anti-human/anti-rabbit efficiency of the Modern World (e.g. the Efrafra warren, with its dictatorial, charismatic chief rabbit).
ANYWAY, THE PLOT: Fiver is a tiny rabbit who has a bit of a third eye; he foresees that something terrible will happen to his warren (spoiler: it does, and it is absolutely horrible). He persuades his brother, Hazel, and a few others to leave the warren. They engage on an Odyssean trip around southwestern England (Cornwall?), eventually settling into those beautiful downs on the coast. There, though, they realize they have no does (no ladies!), so they go find some. Along the way, we visit two scary Big State warrens of oppressed rabbits - I'm assuming one was Fascist Germany and one was Stalinist USSR. There are big battles, but also lots of just random tragic shit because LIFE IS HARD AND MOSTLY HORRIBLE, KIDS.
Would I read this to my kids? YES, YES, GODDAMMIT. Because I don't want my kids being like those brainless 1960s hippie rabbits in that one warren, who mock the scars of the older rabbits, the Greatest Generation rabbits who clearly saw some real shit in their day, hoooo boy. Oh, sweet, they're making a Netflix of this - I will definitely be there. Recommended.
i swear, this is the most anxiety-inducing book i've ever read. apparently it's really hard being a rabbit. D:
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Currently one of my favorites of all time. If you haven't, you must read this book.