Watership down....Anyone ever read it? what did you think?

[Ms. Research]

Never heard of it. How old are you guys, maybe it's a generation thing...or possibly your location? Idk..
I read Through Wolf's Eyes, huge book...took forever, what a pain. More annoying how people just repeat what they've written over and over...ugh.

I'm 50. Plus homeschooled my son so read lots of children's book. It's always nice for me to go back and read something as an adult that I read as a child. Plus it was on the list my son was to read. I guess it's just me. Not a generation thing or a location.

Never heard of Wolf's Eyes either. Will have to look into it. I'm a Stephen King fan so used to huge books. And some of his took forever and where a pain to get through too.

K

 

[Jupiter]

Never heard of it. How old are you guys, maybe it's a generation thing...or possibly your location? Idk..
I read Through Wolf's Eyes, huge book...took forever, what a pain. More annoying how people just repeat what they've written over and over...ugh.

Good books never get too old I loved Watership Down--haven't read it in years though. Through Wolf's Eyes the fantasy book that's part of a series? They are nothing at all alike. I read all sorts of books, but Watership Down is a classic and amazing. TWE is not that memorable and also not that well written---I agree she did repeat herself a LOT and again in the rest of the series. I liked them, but I'm a sci-fi/fantasy fan. Even though Watership Down is fiction, I never really thought of it as fantasy.

 

[Beekissed]

Never heard of it. How old are you guys, maybe it's a generation thing...or possibly your location? Idk..
I read Through Wolf's Eyes, huge book...took forever, what a pain. More annoying how people just repeat what they've written over and over...ugh.

We're not THAT old! I'm 45 but I read it first while in grade school.

Watership Down is a classic heroic fantasy novel, written by English author Richard Adams, about a small group of rabbits. Although the animals in the story live in their natural environment, they are anthropomorphised, possessing their own culture, language (Lapine), proverbs, poetry, and mythology. Evoking epic themes, the novel recounts the rabbits' odyssey as they escape the destruction of their warren to seek a place in which to establish a new home, encountering perils and temptations along the way.

The novel takes its name from the rabbits' destination, Watership Down, a hill in the north of Hampshire, England, near the area where Adams grew up. The story is based on a collection of tales that Adams told to his young children to pass the time on trips to the countryside.

Published in 1972, Watership Down was Richard Adams' first novel, and is by far his most successful to date. Although it was initially rejected by 13 publishers before eventually being accepted by Rex Collings Ltd, Watership Down has never been out of print, and was the recipient of several prestigious awards. Adapted into an acclaimed classic film and a television series, it is Penguin Books' best-selling novel of all time.[1][2] In 1996, Adams published Tales from Watership Down, a follow-up collection of 19 short stories about El-ahrairah and the rabbits of the Watership Down warren.[3][4]

 

[PinkFox]

see i think anyone reading watership down as a kid is missing out...its NOT a kids book whatsoever.
i grew up witht he book, then the movie (even now i cry) but it wasnt untill i was "all growd up" that the true aspects fo the book (and the undertones of the movie) hit home...its certinaly not a book i think of as a kids book (as a side note im 27 so not entirely sure its generational, but i am origioanllyf rom the UK so mabe its a cutltural generational thing?! lol)

 

[Beekissed]

Nope, not really a kid's book...unless you're a certain type of kid. Which I was....was reading adult classics while still in grade school and much preferred them to the more age appropriate books.

The popular interpretation of Cowslip's warren is a totalitarian society that segregates people into groups (the markings etc) and that it's a denunciation of Maoist communism. They don't worship strange rocks, but rather engage in "art" (the stones pressed into the wall) in order to debunk or de-mythologise the accepted Lapine religion of El-Ahraira and Frith and all that. Laughter goes along with this; they consider themselves superior to Fiver and his "backward, primitive" group and therefore ridicule them.

This is sort of what I got out of it also, even as a youngster, but the author has stated he was merely telling a children's fictional tale. Sort of an elaborate plot and quite serious for telling small children, don't you think?

 

[LadyIsabelle2011]

I saw the movie as a kid and was strangely fascinated with it. I loved the characters, and the story was very gripping but almost in a dark and painful way. Many of the scene's still stick with me, particularly that scene were all the warren rabbits are suffocating to death...I remember it being very disturbing to me, not so much that I turned it off but enough so that it stuck with me all these years. That being said its just not one of those movies I can watch lightly and when I do watch it I end up being left with a certain down feeling (even with the happy ending). So, I guess if you measure a story's merit through impact you'd rate this movie as a A+ , though I don't think I'll ever show this to my kids.(oh and I did read the book as well(I think twice). I have to say I liked the book but wouldn't read it again for the same reasons listed above)

 

[chinbunny1]

Did you guys know they are going to bulldoze in the sandleford area of the book, and build on it? Richard adams and a bunch of people are fighting it. You should be able to find it on google search.

 

[SDragon]

I read it when I was eleven. I am now fourteen. This is one of my all time favorite books. I never knew that there was a sequel, I shall have to get it somketime. I really need to watch the movie. That is horrible that they are going to bulldoze and build!

 

[SarahMelisse]

To even out the field a little... I read it in elementary school (5th grade maybe?) and I'm 25. But then again, my mom also read it in school and she's 56. It's just a classic I guess.

 

[SarahMelisse]

Nope, not really a kid's book...unless you're a certain type of kid. Which I was....was reading adult classics while still in grade school and much preferred them to the more age appropriate books.

I think you're right... You kind of have to be THAT kid to get into this book. I was.