Book Review - Watership Down
by Richard Adams Prophets with visions! Folk heroes! Indifferent politicians! Thugs! Villainous dictators! The confusingly titled Watership Down has it all. Unfortunately all of its incredible characters are rabbits. Huh? Hold on a minute. Rabbits? Seriously? I'm not a hater, but I found it hard to relate to the travails of tiny fur balls.

Richard Adams' fantastical tale is a classic with generally positive reviews on Amazon as well as Visual Bookshelf (~2600 with 87% positive) but it is not for me. I generally do not read fantasy unless it is strongly metaphorical or allegorical and I don't think Watership Down is effectively either. It is just a rabbit story.

The author invents some rabbit words and narrates several folk stories celebrating the wit and bravery of El-aharairah, a legendary rabbit folk hero. The rabbits seem smart enough to strategize in battle, but not witty enough to understand how wood floats in water. It is debatable whether you can comprehend one and not the other but I found the straddled anthropomorphising unconvincing. Overall, a disappointment. Not recommended. posted by ubaid - Sunday, August 22, 2010 at 12:10 PM - 0 comments - post anonymously