4/5 STARS
What's it about? A group of outsider rabbits works to start a new home and avoid the dangers of the wild, including predators, man-wreaked havoc, and territorial rabbits. Interspersed with rabbit lore, rabbit language, and the weight of danger, Watership Down is an epic, action-packed tale of survival.
How’d I find it? At a book sale at Rust Library in Leesburg, I came across this copy, which happens to be the exact same edition I had as a child, red sprayed edges and all. The joy!
Who will enjoy this book? The closest read-alike is Henry Williamson’s Tarka the Otter (an excellent NYRB read, by the way), though similar books for readers of all ages, like Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty, should also appeal.
What stood out? Adams does a stellar job of crafting unforgettable characters: Fiver, the prescient loner; Bigwig, the burly fighter with a soft spot for a helpful gull; and even General Wormwort, the hardened tyrant of Efrafa.
Which line made me feel something? The descriptions of setting in this book are universally lovely, but the following treatment of the turning of the season was particularly sumptuous: “In July the still blue, thick as cream, had seemed close above the green trees, but now the blue was high and rare, the sun slipped sooner to the west and, once there, foretold a touch of frost, sinking slow and big and drowsy, crimson as the rose hips that covered the briar.” Ugh.