Watership Down by Richard Adams

Watership DownThis is my hands-down favorite book of all time. I think I’ve read it about 15 times since I was a kid. It’s about this community of rabbits (yes, you read that right, rabbits) who are forced to leave their warren when it is bulldozed over to make a construction site. So starts their adventurous search for a new home. On their journey, they meet a suicidal warren of poetry-spouting rabbits, discover asphalt roads, and are forced to join a military warren run by the Hitler of the animal kingdom, General Woundwart. Adams manages to make these rabbits the most human animals you ever met, without them losing a bit a their rabb-ability. They love, fight, and tell stories about their own folk heroes, but they never speak English, stand on their hind feet, or in short, act like anything but rabbits. It’s just the most amazing book, and I recommend it to everybody. Don’t be put off by the length–you’ll be completely absorbed until the last page.

11 thoughts on “Watership Down by Richard Adams

  1. My favorite, favorite, favorite book of ALL time! I read it for the first time in third grade and about once a year since then!

  2. I LOVE this book! It’s amazing. I remember I finished it in like a day – up until like 4am or something reading it. My heart was seriously loudly thumping away when I was reaching the climax. AMAZING!! Highly recommend it! 😀

  3. I know! It was only 3 month ago when I finished it, so I can remember every lyrical chapter.

  4. At first i was kind of skeptical to read this book because my dad recommended it to me and told me that he read it when he was my age, and most of the books i read are like new,popular books. But then I finally read it and i must say it was the most amazing book about bunnies that i’ve ever read =]

  5. Hi Kay,

    I’m glad you ended up liking it. My husband is trying to read it for the first time and I don’t think he’s enjoying it, so I’m glad you did!

  6. I loved it! I had never heard of it until your review, but decided to try it anyway. I got it on my Kindle and liked it so much I read it straight through. Then I told my parents and they went all nostalgic on me. Point is, it was great! 🙂 Thanks for the recommendation!

  7. Missy, I’m thrilled you liked it! It’s a hard sell, but if I get a few people to read it each year, that’s enough:)

  8. An absolutely captivating book. The characters are so full of life and personality that you almost forget that they are rabbits. I was skeptical at first, but once I started reading I could not put this book down. Highly reccomended!

  9. I loved the words of the warren of poetry rabbits, i got a paint brush and a can of black paint and wrote down their poetic feats. So now my room is evergreen, blue and mellow yellow with bold black poetry written along the walls. I used my birthday money of 265 dollars to buy my teacher and close friends a copy. A blazing hit.
    LOVELY
    LOVELY

    Thank You

  10. Been enjoying reading through your site, and for this one, a favorite as well, I gotta point you to this interview Adams did back in ’85, which includes how he came to write it.

    http://www.wiredforbooks.org/richardadams/

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