Watership Down (Puffin Books) Reviews

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Ever since I was a child, Watership Down has always been one of my all-time favourite movies. I'm so familiar with it that, when I finally got round to reading the original novel, it was a real treat because it was like experiencing the same story in a new way. For the most part, the film actually follows the book relatively closely, so as I was reading it, I was constantly recognising certain scenes and visualising them quite easily.
I don't know if I'd go so far as to say the book is better than the film, but it is much more detailed and does answer a few questions I had with it. For example, in the film, I always wondered how Holly was able to wander all the way to Efrafa, escape and still come across our heroes before they reached the down. In the book, the timing makes a lot more sense: he catches up with them at the down, and only afterwards do they send him to Efrafa as a diplomat.
It also explains Woundwort's motivation for running such a totalitarian society: his main concern is to stay hidden from humans.
But one thing the book doesn't have is quite possibly my favourite film soundtrack ever! :) And I also feel that, while of course the book is still very dark, the film got the nightmarish atmosphere down much better.
On the whole, it's still one of my favourite narratives ever, be it in book or movie form.

My rating: 85%

Watership Down tells the story of a bunch of rabbits (Hazel and his brother Fiver, Bigwig, Silver and others) who are forced to leave their warren as Fiver's sixth sense tells him great danger is coming. As they look for a place to settle down, not only do they encounter many enemies along the way, but also other rabbits with different ways of living, and who can sometimes be particularly unfriendly.

They finally find an idyllic place to live: on Watership Down. As they settle down, they suddenly realise they've forgotten about something: females!

The story goes on to describe their raids to capture does and bring them back to their new warren. They first manage to get a hutch female rabbit from a nearby farm, but soon realise that just one female is not enough.

So they make for Efrafa, a warren not far from theirs, only to discover it is run by a certain General Woundwort, a tyrant who thinks of his rabbits as an army. In fact, these rabbits are prisoners, unhappy and unable to escape.

So Hazel, Bigwig and their friends devise a plan to rescue some does, risking their own lives in the process.

From this brief outline of the plot and even from the cover of the book, Watership Down may look like a children's book. Do not be fooled: this book is full of violence and cruelty, not just between rabbits and their natural foes, but also among themselves. And you realise early on that, somehow like in George Orwell's Animal Farm, it's fundamentaly a critical view of our own human society, a way of showing us how we also can behave in a barbarous way.

Anyway, I think the book is still suitable for children who will love this great adventure, as Watership Down is aslo full of suspense and once you've started, it's "unputdownable"! Moreover, its characters are very interesting and well developed, and in the end it's extremely amusing, especially when these rabbits take a look at us human beings...

This book is not just for bunny lovers so hop along and get yourself a copy quick! And don't forget its companion: Tales from Watership Down.