Classic Review: Watership Down by Richard Adams

Watership Down
by Richard Adams

Description:
Set in England's Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival follows a band of very special creatures on their flight from the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of friends, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society.


My Review:
Just a fantastic book! And yes, it is about rabbits.

Occasionally, I like to buckle down and read a classic, or in this case, listen to a classic. I must say, Watership Down was absolutely engaging and exciting. The story follows a small band of rabbits on their quest to escape a foreseen disaster and find a new home.

What I most enjoy about this is that everything is true to the rabbit. The author took great pains to limit the characters to actions natural to a rabbit, yet still, he created an epic adventure that tests these larger than life creatures to their limits.

Another thing I adored is the rabbit lore, the stories the rabbits tell and pass down about their past and their own folk heroes. It perfectly balanced past and present and future in the story. I say future, too, because it is obvious as the story progresses that Hazel will be a legend in his own right.

This is truly a timeless tale, told with heart. I absolutely loved it! I find it very easy to strongly recommend this to folks who enjoy a good adventure.

I borrowed the audiobook from the library.


About the Author:

Richard George Adams (born 9 May, 1920) is best-remembered as the author of Watership Down, but wrote many other novels, short stories, poems and a biography.

He originally began telling the story of Watership Down to his two daughters, Juliet and Rosamond, on a trip to Stratford-on-Avon, to see a play. They insisted he publish the tale as a book. When Watership Down was finally published, it sold over a million copies in record time in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Watership Down has become a modern classic and won both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1972.

Others of his books include Shardik, Maia, Tales from Watership Down, The Girl in a Swing and The Plague Dogs, the last two of which, together with Watership Down, have been filmed. His goal was always to tell a good story, ideally one so good you can't put it down! His last work, 'The Adventures of Eggbox Dragon', which is a picture-book for younger children, will be published posthumously by Hodder in 2017. It was written when he was 93.

During his later years Richard and his wife Elizabeth lived in Whitchurch, Hampshire, very close to Watership Down, and not far from where they had both grown up. He wrote about his childhood and youth, including the time he served in the army in World War II, in his biography 'The Day Gone By'.

During the last year of his life he kept a blog: https://www.watership-down.com/blog/. He died peacefully on Christmas Eve 2016.

Bio from the author's Amazon profile.