Watership Down

Watership Down, Richard Adams

(original book review posted August 6, 2016)

Summer 1978. I'm at Kim Mutch Emerson's house, and pick up a paperback sitting on her kitchen table. It has a rabbit on the front - a really beautiful, sleek rabbit. "What's this about?" I inanely ask. "Rabbits," she said. Duh.

If I close my eyes again, and Cat Stevens' "Izitso" is playing - the music that will forever be the soundtrack of this novel - it's 1978 and I'm 21 again. I was so completely lost in a world of the most incredible characters of RABBITS, that when I finished the novel, I wept like a little girl because I was finished.

Never in my life, before or since, have I wanted a story to go on more than this one. At the risk of sounding like a complete dweeb I must confess: to this day, I love each and every one of those rabbits who trusted the runt of the litter, the one who saw destruction, and left their old home in search of a new home.

The prophet, the leader, the warrior, the storyteller, the jokester, the thinker, the runner - what does this say about a novel to have such characters remain beloved for nearly 40 years? And - hello! Did I mention - they are RABBITS!

There are lessons to learn from the rabbits who ignored - and those who heeded - a prophetic warning from one of the lesser of their own. Lessons to learn about the value of each individual - INDIVIDUAL - in a society - what each brings to the whole that makes the whole stronger.

There are lessons of the dangers of the welfare state - how it erodes faith and makes us less caring of our brothers.

There are lessons of the dangers of a totalitarian state - where fear of the outside world and the desire for safety and security trump the desire for freedom.

Most importantly - and the moment of the story I'll treasure most as I remember reading it aloud to my 150% engaged 10-year-old son - there are lessons about doing what you promised you would do to fight evil - at all costs - BECAUSE YOU PROMISED.

Rabbits. Schmabbits. This book is about life and what matters most. This is one of the first books I read where the idea began to germinate that perhaps there is no such thing as fiction - just new ways to tell the truth about life as it really is. Adams used rabbits to do it - what a storyteller.

Now...I'm kind of in the mood for a little Cat Stevens...

Thanks for this beautiful art by my dear friend Kirt Harmon. I fancy this is Hazel.

https://harmonart54.blogspot.com/