Watership Down

Watership Down by Richard Adams is not about a maritime tragedy, despite its name.  It follows a band of buck rabbits leaving their home warren because one of them had a vision of destruction.  The title of the book comes from the down where they finally start a new warren.  They encounter rabbit groups in many conditions, including a warlike, overcrowded warren with a paranoid obsession with avoiding humans.  The warren, Efrafa, takes this obsession to the point of oppressing its rabbits.  The bucks plan a daring rescue which leads to a climactic war between the outnumbered Watership rabbits and the mighty Efrafan empire.

Adams' novel was reminiscent of some more recent works.  First, the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series by Kathryn Lasky (the first book is reviewed here) has a very close parallel between St. Aggie's and Efrafa.  Both have a restrictive society, heavy punishment for rule-breaking, infiltrators, and some disgruntled members of the rank-and-file.  In addition, those in both books are scarred, physically in Efrafa, mentally in both places.  No one leaves untouched, if able to leave at all.

Echoes of Watership Down's setting and plot were in the Warriors series by Erin Hunter.  A community of animals with a belief system involving reverence for ancestors is a common thread.  El-ahrairah, while not quite counting as an ancestor, is supposedly the first rabbit.  Premonitions set both stories in motion.  Fiver and Brambleclaw both receive visions of their home being destroyed.  Each sets off with some friends to find a new home.  Cats and rabbits also have many of the same enemies, so elil battles were mirrored in the Warriors series.

When the humans drive out the rabbits from the original Sandleford warren, it is like the humans driving out the rats in Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.  In both books, a bird is rescued and becomes a valuable ally.  They also describe small animals forced to abandon their homes because of humans.

Watership Down is such a classic book that many subsequent writers have emulated its plot, characters, and premise.  I would highly recommend this novel to everyone over the age of 11.  It is a stimulating, thoughtful adventure into the world of the rabbit that enables us to see more clearly into our own.


The numbers:

Stars: 9

Violence: 8, the rabbits got in fights a lot and one named Blackavar got his ears torn into shreds.  

Romance: 5.  The Watership rabbits started their interactions with Efrafa by asking to take some does back to the Watership warren.  When Bigwig is discussing the rebellion with Hyzenthlay, he pretends to be mating with her so that no one will ask questions.  Nothing physical or graphic.  

Language: 6 for d--n.  Bigwig can be a foulmouthed rabbit at times.  

Appropriate for:  11 and up