Watership Down (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "The primroses were over..." (more)
Key Phrases: evening silflay, chief rabbit, chewing pellets, Rowsby Woof, Prince Rainbow, Black Rabbit (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Watership Down has been a staple of high-school English classes for years. Despite the fact that it's often a hard sell at first (what teenager wouldn't cringe at the thought of 400-plus pages of talking rabbits?), Richard Adams's bunny-centric epic rarely fails to win the love and respect of anyone who reads it, regardless of age. Like most great novels, Watership Down is a rich story that can be read (and reread) on many different levels. The book is often praised as an allegory, with its analogs between human and rabbit culture (a fact sometimes used to goad skeptical teens, who resent the challenge that they won't "get" it, into reading it), but it's equally praiseworthy as just a corking good adventure.

The story follows a warren of Berkshire rabbits fleeing the destruction of their home by a land developer. As they search for a safe haven, skirting danger at every turn, we become acquainted with the band and its compelling culture and mythos. Adams has crafted a touching, involving world in the dirt and scrub of the English countryside, complete with its own folk history and language (the book comes with a "lapine" glossary, a guide to rabbitese). As much about freedom, ethics, and human nature as it is about a bunch of bunnies looking for a warm hidey-hole and some mates, Watership Down will continue to make the transition from classroom desk to bedside table for many generations to come. --Paul Hughes

Review

"A Classic...A Great Book." -- --Los Angeles Times

"Spellbinding...Marvelous...A Taut Tale of Suspense, Hot Pursuit, and Derring-Do." -- --Chicago Tribune

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Avon; First Edition edition (January 1, 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380002930
• ISBN-13: 978-0380002931
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (965 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #150,019 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

192 of 201 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A modern classic children's story that is too good for kids, December 27, 2004

By	Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This review is from: Watership Down (Scribner Classics) (Hardcover)

When I went off for my first semester of college my father gave me $100 with which to buy textbooks, which certainly dates me. After buying everything for my classes I had enough money left over to buy a hard cover copy of "Watership Down" by Richard Adams for $6.95, which for people who love books is certainly a great way of representing the ravages of inflation over the years. I decided to read a chapter of "Watership Down" each night before going to bed, thereby marking the beginning of my obsession with reading a chapter of something each day that has nothing to do with school. When my dorm roommate became as hooked on the story as much as I was he and I would read chapters aloud. Fifty days I got to the book's epilogue with the same sort of sadness that it was all over that I experienced getting to the end of the "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

Living in the Sandleford Warren with its Chief Rabbit and Owsla maintaining a comfortable social order, Hazel and his little brother Fiver are content enough. But Fiver has the gift of prophecy, and when he warns that the warren has to be abandoned right away or they are all going to die, Hazel and a small circle of friends believe him and leave despite the fact that have no idea where they are going. Fiver envisions a great high place where they can be happy and safe, but there are a series of imposing obstacles to overcome, from not only humans and predators, but other wild rabbits as well. Consequently the basic story of "Watership Down" is the ancient quest for home, although in this case it is a new home that represents a wild rabbit's idea of utopia.

The greatness of "Watership Down" rests on the sense of realism that Adams brings to his story wild rabbits. Adams studied Lapine life in R. M. Lockley's "The Private Life of the Rabbit" in order to keep his rabbits real. But beyond the way rabbits live in nature Adams provides them with a history and a culture, represented not only in the stories they tell of El-ahrairah (the Prince with a Thousand Enemies), but their beliefs in Frith the lord sun, and their simple games such as bob-stones. When confronted with sticky situations they are able to use their ingenuity to come up with surprising solutions that are still within the realm of possibility for real rabbits. I always liked the way Hazel, Blackberry and the others have to work out these puzzles, straining for a leap of intuition and cognitive insight that seems just beyond the reach of their relatively simple minds. So while these rabbits are capable of doing more than others of their kind, Adams keeps their efforts remarkable rather than magical.

We also pick up a few choice words from the language of the rabbits (e.g., "silflay" is to go above ground to feed, "homba is a fox), which ends up paying off with one of my favorite moments in the book when Bigway utters a simple but effective curse. The lesson of the story is clearly that bigger does not mean better, for Hazel is neither the strongest nor the smartest of the rabbits that he leads, but he had the best qualities of leadership. Each of the rabbits that join Hazel on the quest to find Watership Down and build a new life there offers something to the ground, and the distinctive personalities that Adams creates for each of them adds to the novel as well.

Of all the books that I have that I like to pick up from time to time and read again my favorite parts, "Watership Down" is the oldest. As a children's story is it simply one that is too good for most children, but without the deep allegorical elements that afflict so many other great children's stories. Perhaps that is why this novel has become so beloved, because it speaks to the child in all of us and the simple virtues that we all want the world to embody. Having read the book again from start to finish, I was not surprised to find that it is still as good as I thought it was when I first read it many years ago.

85 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A CLASSIC IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD, March 20, 2004

By	B. Merritt "filmreviewstew.com" (WWW.FILMREVIEWSTEW.COM, Pacific Grove, California United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

It is heartwarming (in the extreme for me) to see so many glowing and informative reviews about this incredible book.

I read Watership Down when I was in junior high and remembered liking it very much. Then life got busy and I pretty much forgot about it. But occasionally I'd see it on the bookshelves at my local library or bookstore and an itch would start in the back of my mind, telling me that I should revisit its magical pages. So this Winter, I did . . .

How wonderful it is to visit such a fully realized world created by the human mind, but set in an anthropomorphic background (and foreground, too!).

The story is about a band of rabbits---Hazel, Bigwig, Fiver, Dandelion, and Bluebell---who set off from their comfy holes to find a new rabbit warren on the plains of Watership Down. They leave their original warren because Fiver (a small, brooding rabbit with 'The Sight') has a vision of it being destroyed. Not surprisingly, soon after they leave, they find out that the warren HAD been destroyed by big hrududil (tractors) that dug up the ground and killed all those who remained behind.

The trials and tribulations of Hazel and his band of rogue rabbits carries the story along at a leisurely pace, not rushing to get the story out, giving rabbit history and mythology a few well-deserved pages, too.

After Hazel and his fellow bunnies set up their new warren on Watership Down, though, they find that they have a serious problem: no does (females)! Without does, their new warren is doomed to failure, so they set about trying to locate some breeding stock. But what they encounter is a terrible warren known as Efrafa run by the overbearing and callous General Woundwort. The battle between Watership Down and Efrafa is terrible and exciting reading, even for adults.

One other thing that struck me about reading this book (even years later) is that there are so many things discussed in it of an adult nature; rabbit miscarriages, battles, sexual connotations, death and dying, all are covered within these simple pages. And it's done so effortlessly (thank you Mr. Adams), the story's flow is NEVER interrupted.

This book was first published in 1972 (a limited release no less) in England; the publisher wasn't sure if it would be well received since it really wasn't a children's tale, nor adult literature. Thank GOD they took a chance on it. If they hadn't, we would surely have been denied a true literary classic.

A+ rating.

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I ain't no Siskel --This is the best darn book I ever read!, December 1, 1999

By	Danny Smith (Beattyville, Kentucky) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Watership Down (Hardcover)

A lot of reviewers, teachers, and other people that like to make themselves sound intellectually mature, would tell you that in order to enjoy Watership Down, or any other book for that matter, is to read deep meanings in to every aspect of the book. Please, do yourself a favor and don't torture yourself in this way. Although it has all the characteristics of a great book, a modern day classic even, and could be full of sybolism and irony, I feel that it is best enjoyed by taking it for what it is: A great story about a group of rabbit's adventure, failure, success, self-discovery, and their long, journey. The story is set in the English countryside, with great descriptions of the surroundings as well as the rabbits and their lifestyle. It is told from a rabbits point of view, but one that knows human behavior as well, and somehow Adams makes the whole thing realistic. The book is about a group of rabbits that decide to leave their home warren after Fiver, a sort of psychic rabbit, tells them that danger is on the way. And so they begin a voyage that will change their lives forever. Along the way theyt encounter an evil warren, crows, a fox, rivers, a rabbit farm, and countless other dangers. Their final destination is a sort of "rabbit heaven," a beautiful, safe, secure piece of l;and known as Watership Down. Also included in the book is a whole new language that Adams somehow brings the reader to understand, and tales of how Frith, the sun god, was so impressed with El-Arairah (a folk hero) that he granted him wonderful boons. When I was first told of the book I thought it would be a cute, kids book. I was completely wrong. This is a mature book that would probably be best suited for middle-school students through adults. I would recommend this book to anyone that isn't afraid to spend a little time, and become fully engrossed in a wonderful tale.