Watership Down by Richard Adams is widely considered a classic for young readers. I somehow managed to not read this one when I was devouring everything in my school library. My best friend, however, read this several times and considers it one of her favorite books. So after being friends for over a decade, I finally got around to reading this one.
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. It follows the story of Hazel and Fiver two rabbits who decide to leave their warren on account of Fiver's prophetic misgivings. They manage to get a few other rabbits to join them, and they set off. The story of their travel is interspersed with stories about El-ahrairah, their trickster rabbit god.
I had a hard time remembering that they were supposed to be rabbits. And every time I reminded myself of that fact, I would start giggling at the picture of bunnies in my head. My other problem that I had with the book is the incredible lack of female characters and their subsequent representation. I know a lot of people are going to be like well, they're rabbits and that's just the way rabbits think to which I want to know how they've managed to start reading rabbit's minds. It was also a little difficult for me to read simply because of the writing style. I read primarily YA books which are typically written in a certain style. Watership Down is written for adults--the storyline appeals to readers of all ages, but the writing style itself has adult readers in mind. It made me slow way down in my reading.
Over all, I enjoyed the story a lot. My favorite characters were Pipkin, El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle. I would definitely recommend this to young readers who enjoy adventures and aren't daunted by difficult text.
Favorite Quotes: All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.
Mad as the mist and snow.
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