Watership Down

Watership Down by Richard Adams

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I’ll admit it, I cried at the end, when Hazel... you know. Went to meet the big white rabbit in the sky.

I read this years ago (as most people probably have) but it was definitely deserving of a re-read.

What I love about this story is it’s not cute or cuddly or sentimental. When people think of rabbits they think of small, furry creatures; mild-mannered, tame, and above all, cute.

If most people recall this book as ‘that story about rabbits that we read in school’, I’m afraid they have forgotten the power of this epic tale. Watership Down was never assigned to me in high school but I gather that it is widely read in schools in Britain.

I never know whether to think this is a good thing or not. Reading a book in school seems to ruin it for a lot of people. I’ve ended up with overwhelmingly negative opinions of all the books we read in high school English classes (and this is from someone who went on to get a bachelor’s and a master’s in English). I can say for certain that I would never care to read The Scarlet Letter or Of Mice and Men ever again.

But this book has the feel of a Greek hero’s legend. The exploits of our heroes become stories that will be passed down through the generations, just like the creation myths the rabbits tell. These rabbits fight and die for their loyalties and their adventures test the limits of their physical endurance and mental agility.

Watership Down is a perfect example of how fiction can change the way we see the world and enrich our perspective. Seeing a rabbit feeding in the grass, immediately after reading Watership Down, feels just like walking into an old graveyard with crumbling headstones after finishing The Graveyard Book.

Suddenly, the world is imbued with a richer life and more active intelligence than you had ever suspected. You don’t know what exploits and heroic deeds that rabbit might have performed, or what plans it is hatching.

It might look like a cute, fluffy bunny, brainless and tame, but in Richard Adams’s world, that rabbit is as full of conscious intention as you are.

Take this book with you to the British countryside and watch the world tranform as you gain a rabbit's-eye view of hedgerows, railways, rivers, and farmyards. Nothing will look the same afterwards.



View all my reviews