Watership Down by Richard Adams
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"A gripping story of rebellion in a rabbit warren and the subsequent adventures of the rebels... Adams has a poetic eye and a gift for storytelling which will speak to readers of all ages for many years to come" Sunday Telegraph
"A masterpiece... The best story about animals since The Wind in the Willows. If not better... it is very funny, exciting, often moving... It is also educative and tough. These animals are shot, gassed, choked in snares. When the bucks fight they rip each other with their claws" Evening Standard
"A great book... A whole world is created, perfectly real in itself, yet constituting a deep incidental comment on human affairs" Guardian
"A literary work of uncommon merit" The New York Times Book Review
"From blood and the thump of fear to the pleasure of good feeding, the discovery of new surroundings or the texture of the day, we are immersed in the rabbits' world... one might, at the same time, be reading some gripping escape story, the rabbit characters are so totally credible" The Times Literary Supplement
"An impressive, immensely readable story, held together by a powerful imagination that soon forbids disbelief" New Statesman
"The beautifully written and intensely moving story is the work of an extraordinary imagination... a classic of animal literature" Sunday Telegraph
Watership Down (Puffin Books) (Amazon.co.uk)
Author: Richard Adams
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 480
Publication date: 2000-08-31
Publisher: Puffin
RRP: £6.99
Lowest new price: £2.10
Lowest used price: £0.01
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' 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 analogues 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
Amazon.co.uk Review
Watership Down (Puffin Books) (Amazon.com)
Author: Richard Adams
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 480
Publication date: 1973-07-26
Publisher: Puffin Books
RRP: $12.40
Lowest new price: $8.44
Lowest used price: $0.71
Fiver could sense danger. Something terrible was going to happen to the warren - he felt sure of it. So did his brother Hazel, for Fiver's sixth sense was never wrong. They had to leave immediately, and they had to persuade the other rabbits to join them. And so begins a long and perilous journey of a small band of rabbits in search of a safe home. Fiver's vision finally leads them to Watership Down, but here they face their most difficult challenge of all...Published in 1972, "Watership Down" is an epic journey, a stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival against the odds.
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