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Science Fiction & Fantasy |
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Watership Down/Audio Cassettes (Audio csst ed)
written by Richard Adams
Studio : Soundelux Audio Publishing
by Soundelux Audio Publishing
Publisher : Soundelux Audio Publishing
Released : 1986-09
Availability : This Item is currently Not Available
Number of Items : 4
EAN : 9781559352314
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 943 reviews)
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Book Description |
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The setting is the rolling hills and meadows of England. The time is now -- or tomorrow -- or always. WATERSHIP DOWN is a saga of the maverick band who set out, against all odds, on a quest for a new home, a better society. The heroes of this tale are animals -- wild rabbits. Their behavior is consistent with the laws of nature, yet each is endowed with an unforgettable personality. The characterization and compelling plot fuse, transcending the animal world and illuminating man's great humanity -- and terrible inhumanity. "WATERSHIP DOWN is one of those great stories, destined to be a classic, that every once in a long while lets us know the universe has something really mysteriously great going for humanity." --R. Buckminster Fuller |
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Americancivilwar.com |
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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 |
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Bunnies and more bunnies |
This is a great book for everyone who enjoy well written stories. A young bunny with the talent of prophesy and his sister who act on his promptings. It has the culture of this enchanting creatures, couple with instruction to understand it better. A well done, good to learn about life and what to do when problem arise book, and it will be for many years to come.
Anna del C.
Author of "The Elf and the Princess"
and "Trouble in the Elf City"
The Elf and The Princess: The Silent Warrior Trilogy - Book One (The Silent Warrior Trilogy) |
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Part fantasy, part children's book, all charming... |
Watership Down by Richard Adams is part fantasy, part children's book and all charming. This has become a true classic that is universally loved. Richard Adams first created Watership Down as an oral story for his two daughters on a long road trip. When he was finally finished, they encourage him to write it down in book-form as it was better than almost any book that he read to them each night.
This story is about a group of rabbits. But unlike many fantasies, these rabbits don't do anything they wouldn't normally do except to talk to each other and other animals. Brother rabbits Hazel and Fiver live happily in Sandleford Warren, until Fiver has a premonition that something terrible is going to happen to their home. They convince a group of rabbits to flee Sandleford and seek a new and safer warren. The rabbits go through many travails and Adams details them all in great detail. Perhaps the most dangerous expedition involves the search for female rabbits to help populate their new warren. The rabbits have their own language, Lapine, and Adams provides a glossary of Lapine terms at the end. This edition also includes a new introduction where the author tells how he came to write this book.
I'm not much of a fantasy reader, but I grew very fond of Hazel, Fiver and their companions.
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Great Story, 70% Good Metaphor |
I've waited for years to read this book, and by and large it didn't disappoint. Great story, interesting characters, largely fast flowing plot, and mostly a good metaphor: the metaphor of breaking from the herd, breaking from the old way, treating life as an adventure to be tackled, and taking risk and using ingenuity to accomplish a mission. I loved all that, and loved its message about the complacency of hutch rabbits (average humans!) - and how weak and lost we become when complacency takes over.
BUT...
The metaphor of the story ultimately breaks down because it becomes a "happily ever after" story. The whole purpose of the rabbits' ultimate mission in the second half of the book is to find ways to attract or procure female rabbits so they can mate, have babies, and just...ultimately live average, complacent lives. I admired their ingenuity in achieving this end, but what kind of message is this "end" in our modern world? Just more dating, mating, and procreating - exactly the complacency that is KILLING OUR PLANET.
It's time for a new way: forget breeding like rabbits, stop the cycle of overpopulation, stop the spread of our species into new untamed lands, and instead scale back. Go within and heal our ancient wounds. Had the book had this message I would have liked it a thousand times more.
Two other criticisms: 1) I found the mythical rabbit-and-God folktales within the book, the ones the rabbit storytellers told, to be EXTREMELY DULL. Once I realized they were not remotely an intrinsic part of the story I skipped them - whole chapters - to no great loss. That sped things up a lot. 2) The literary quotations at the beginning of each chapter were distracting and irrelevant, so after a few chapters I mostly ignored them. |
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I guess you had to be there |
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This strikes me as definitiely a "book of its time". First published in 1972 (after being rejected by 13, count 'em, 13 publishers), it is written on a "young adult" reader level and is basically a formalized cobbling together of stories the author told his children on tedious car trips. Each chapter is preceded by a literary quote, which after the first 20 or so becomes a bit precious and eventually pretentious. Obviously, it has quite a following, but it seems to me to fall into the same category as books as diverse as "A Wrinkle in Time", "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Atlas Shrugged", or perhaps less complimentary, "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" (which itself was published 2 years before this). All have their fans, most of whom first read their book at an impressionable age, and who seem more passionate than the material objectively deserves, because the story has some resonance for those readers. Those fans all find some sort of inspiration, or really self-confirmation, and tend to get irate if YOU don't "get it" too. Frankly, it struck me as an overly-twee cross between "The Hobbit" and Beatrix Potter. (And please, I *did* enjoy "The Wind in the Willows".) The female rabbits ("does") are essentially non-existant in the first third of the book, and are much-sought-after non-entities in the rest, useful only for perpetuating rabbithood (didn't know THAT was a problem....) The "lupine dictionary" ought to be a litmus test for potential readers: if this strikes you as charming, or clever, or creative, give the book a try. If you think that is just a mite affectatious, and have a hard time with rabbits having "names" like Hazel, Buckthorn, Pipkin, and Dandelion, I think you'll be happier with a "pass". |
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Great read! |
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I had never read this book in highschool like i had heard that many people had. I am kinda sorry i was not able to when i was younger. Oh well. I am only about 3/4 of the way through this book and it is hard to put down! Very interesting. Very different. I recommend everyone give it a read at least once in their life. Worth it all the way. |
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