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Watership Down by Richard Adams<br />
Recommended by Mrs Patrick<br />
My copy has yellowing pages that are falling out in clumps and was published in 1986 (despite being first published in 1972).<br />
I remember sitting on the floor of the book shop having read half of it over a period of several ‘walk-homes’ from school<br />
before I decided I would buy it. I never saw it as a ‘life-changing’ book with profound meaning, but if I think about it I can<br />
easily relate it to relationships and factions from the world we live in.<br />
It encompasses one of my childhood fantasies - talking animals (see also The Rats of Nimh) with almost their own language (I<br />
was always happy to note the use of Latin when the foreign nouns were made plural). The book draws on the relationships<br />
within a community of rabbits (the warren), reflective of any community. There is a leader (Threarah) with whom not<br />
everyone agrees, or likes. We have good, law-abiding citizens rabbits, dissenters, people rabbits with special needs (Fiver<br />
would probably come out as being on a spectrum) and those who would lead the alternative ‘party’. It deals with immigrants,<br />
democracy, communism and travellers. To analyse it in this way, however, seems wrong.<br />
This book is about a set of rabbits that ups and leaves, follows adventures, suffers trauma and ultimately builds a new life. It<br />
has sections of tranquillity – Dandelion’s story telling (the legends of El-ahrairah*), sunlit evenings eating clover. It has<br />
sections of drama, avoiding cats and hrududu (cars). There are fights – Efrafa, General Woundwort and Bigwig are the key<br />
place and players. There is love and sadness (forever to be linked with Art Garfunkle’s song ‘Bright Eyes’), death and new<br />
life. I would urge you to read it as escapism and enjoy it for what it is – a delightful story about the life and times of Hazelrah<br />
Rabbit. You can also watch the movie (according to Wikipedia - the sixth most popular film of 1979, which also features<br />
the voice of John Hurt and was the first animated feature film in Dolby surround sound).
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