Salutations, Bookworms!
I’m going to tell you a story about a rabbit. When I was in high school, my friend Kim (Hi, Kim! I don’t think you read my blog, but hi anyway! Your baby is cute!) had a pet rabbit named Benjamin. He was an awfully cute rabbit, but I’ll tell you something. Rabbit fur is JUST LIKE cat fur. As far as my personal histamines are concerned, anyway. Much as I wanted to snuggle that bunny, he made my eyes itchy and I got all sneezy. That right there is what happens when I tell a story about a rabbit. This is one of the reasons I do not write books. Luckily, other people write books. Other people like Richard Adams. That’s right guys! I finally read Watership Down
In case it wasn’t already clear, Watership Down
I started this book knowing it was about rabbits, but that was about it. I was a pretty blank slate as far as plots went. I actually sort of thought that it was going to involve rabbits on a submarine. Sadly, there were no teeny tiny sailor suits involved in this book, though despite my love of cuteness, it’s probably for the best. I was not expecting to be so flipping STRESSED by the plight of these rabbits, though. Being a rabbit is rough! They’re terrified of all the things all the time because there are dogs and cats and foxes and weasels and humans. This band of rabbits just keeps getting into scrape after scrape and the suspense killed me. How does one make a book about fluffy bunnies suspenseful?! Frith only knows!
Be honest with me here, Bookworms. How freaking CUTE would a rabbit look wearing a sailor suit?
*If you make a purchase through a link on this site, a sailor suit will be donated to a rabbit in need. That’s a lie. The money will go straight into my greedy greedy pockets.*
lostinliterature108
Yay!! You read it!! Wayership Down was my #1 pick in my top ten books of the LOS T challenge. I had seen the cartoon movie in 7th grade so I knew it would be intense. I didn’t love the rabbit folk tales but I picked up quickly on the rabbit lingo and learned so much about rabbits in general. The most fun was pairing book characters to LOST characters though. Jack, the reluctant leader was clearly Hazel. Desmond was Fiver. I think Sawyer was Bigwig but I forget. Oh and that creepy warren was the Others. Fun times.
JoulesDellinger
Okay, a rabbit in a sailor suit would be pretty adorable! I’m also allergic to cats and now I wonder if I’m allergic to rabbits too…
Jenny
I’m glad you liked this one so much. I read it for book club a few years back and really didn’t like it. But it did make for a good discussion. Whether Adams meant it or not I’m sure the story was slightly affected by his own upbringing and beliefs. That was just one of things we discussed. And you know, submarines would have probably made it better. 😉
Michelle
This is one classic I have never read. I feel like it is one of those books I should read in order to consider myself truly well-read, never mind the fact that I have read almost every other book on those top of lists.
Jenny @ReadingtheEnd (@readingtheend)
The rabbits who won’t talk about where anyone went — that warren — is still one of the creepiest things I’ve ever encountered in literature. I loooooove this book.
ThatAshGirl
The movie version of this traumatized the heck out of me as a kid.
magicallysuspicious
I read this book for the first time when I was too young to look for or understand any political or social allegorical connotations. It remains in my Top Five list of all-time favorite books.
DoingDewey
Haha, I also hoped for more cuteness and less stressfulness when I picked this up. I read this in middle school, expecting something more like the Redwood series though, so I might be better able to enjoy it now despite it not being what I initially expected.
Unruly Reader
When I read “Traveler” by Richard Adams, I couldn’t believe how fond I became of that horse. Quite the writer, that dude.