Watership Down - The Quintissential Feast of Story

Who would have thought that a handful of rabbits would rise up in the vast field of literature and become heroes in the true sense of the word to me? Rabbits, not humans that look like rabbits, but rabbits that are truly rabbits. And what would make a man sit down and write a 500-page saga about rabbits roaming about in the English countryside? Well, something did stir Richard Adams, and the result is Watership Down, a novel that tells a story.

The story picks up without much ado and moves along, and for the first few pages, I tried to snuggle with the fact that the next 400+ pages I would read were about rabbits and nothing more. Seriously, what could be more boring than that? And how could you sustain a story like that for so long?

How wrong I was.

Richard Adams has taken the legend of the animal kindgom (I'm reminded of cunning Tortoise racing proud Hare to the finish line - yes, I grew up around such stories), crafted it around rabbits, and magnified it a hundred times. Thus, the story isn't simplistic. It is about a motley and unlikely group of rabbits trying to survive against all odds. But at its thematically simplest, the story is about leadership, and many a leader (man, not rabbit) would do well to pay attention and learn from these rabbits.

We meet Hazel-rah, the Chief Rabbit - brave, unsure, inexperienced, but wise and tactful. We meet Fiver - gentle, pensive, thoughtful, and clairvoyant. We meet Bigwig - strong, oppressive, fearless, and reckless. We meet Blackberry - intelligent, perceptive, and innovative. We meet Dandelion - fast, witty, and shy. I could go on and on; the point is that we meet a whole bunch of rabbits, each a distinctly drawn character, and we fall absolutely in love with them. We route for them, we hope for them, we laugh with them, we cry (for the record, I never cried while reading this book) with them, and we (believe it or not) enjoy the comforts of the burrow and the flavours of the grass and vegetables with them. Such is the life that is sparked into being in Watership Down.

This is an adventure that is sure to suck you in and never let you go - and in ways that even stories about humans never did. I promise you that. Adams takes his time in painting a summery portrait of the English countryside - what with all its plant-life (think figwort, loosestrife, fleabane) and birds and sounds (having been in England myself this past summer, I miss it all with nostalgic passion). And after having read of the exploits of Hazel and Bigwig, of the insights of Fiver, and of the speed of Blackberry and Dandelion, you will close the book with a big smile and think to yourself you are a better person for having read the book.

I know I did.