[Book Review] Watership Down

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, 

for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” 

― Heraclitus

In the edition of Watership Down that I received, there is a short introduction by the author: Richard Adams. This introduction, of course, is an updated one, and has only been included some time after the book was first released in 1972, after the book gained the reputation it has today, in other words, a classic. In this introduction, Adams explains what the influences of the book were, who the characters were based off of, and the initial troubles that went into getting it published. However, it also contains an explanation of the book's origins; that the original idea was an improvised story that Adams told his two daughters during a car ride, and he only bothered to write the story down after being encouraged by his daughters.

This moment of decision was made when, as Adams describes it, he was reading a "not-very-good" book to his daughters, and suddenly threw it across the room, as he realized that he thought he could write better than that. And so he wrote a best-selling book, often taking time to write after supper, with input from his daughters of course. But lastly in this intro, Adams makes a point to say, and I'll quote him directly here, that "I want to emphasize that Watership Down was never intended to be some sort of allegory or parable. It is simply the story about rabbits made up and told in the car."

     I initially, while I thought it was sort of interesting, I didn't think much of this introduction, as I do about most introductions to classic novels. However, as I read the final sentences of this "story about rabbits", I realized that this humble back-story was actually the key to deciphering the reason to why this book is the way it is. Why it's so clear with its motives. Why it's so perfectly charming and exciting. And why it fulfills exactly what it set out to do, and in those last few pages, brings to an end a truly wonderful adventure. 

     Hello people of "The Wired," my name is Quan, I hope you're having a wonderful March day, and welcome to a new book review. Today it's the often considered classic Watership Down: a simple story about a group for rabbits trying to find a new home, and all the things that happen in between. Let's get started then. 

     “All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.”

      -Page 29

As I've stated, the plot of Watership Down is fairly simple one. It follows for the most part, two brothers: Hazel and Fiver, and yes people, they are rabbits, I hope that won't discourage anybody from reading this book. Anyway, Fiver, who has had a knack of knowing about things that may or may not have actually happened yet, has a great premonition that a terrible disaster that will befall their warren. After an unsuccessful attempt to convince the leader of the warren to get the hell out of Dodge, Hazel and Fiver leave the warren in the search of a new home, followed by a rag-tag group of rabbits that listened to Fiver's ramble. Among their ranks is the resident bad-ass of the group: Bigwig, the intelligent Blackberry, and Dandelion, whose only real notable attribute is that he seems to be really good at telling stories. Together, the rabbits will need to overcome their differences, side-step the various perils of their journey, and discover a new home that hopefully everyone can make it through the journey alive to see. 

And yeah, that's pretty much it. The story isn't filled with extravagant plot-twists or fulled with meaningful metaphor, but that's okay actually. Watership Down is truly an adventure for adventure's sake, detailing the journey of a group of rabbits from Point A to Point B, and all those things that will get in their way, and it wants to do absolutely nothing more than that. That's what I like about Watership Down the best: it's extremely humble. It doesn't have any ulterior motives about what's it's trying to accomplish with its story. And yes, I guess you could hold that against it, but more complex isn't always better, simplicity also has a place within narrative. Simplicity can be used to more effectively drive home a story, and in the case of Watership Down, which has absolutely no ambition for the most part, it complements it brilliantly, weaving a story that feels authentic and charming. Well, maybe saying the story has no ambition is going a little too far. The story certainty has goals: characters it wants you to care about, lore it wants you to absorb, but most of all I think, lessons it wants you to take out of the experience. Important lessons too, the good old ones, about bravery, friendship, and faith in the face of maybe even the end of your life, and of course, when it's truly your time, accepting your own death. 

     The "Point A-to-Point B" plot covers at least half of the book, however, the book itself seems to be split into two very distinct arcs. The first is the rabbit's journey to their new home: Watership Down, and the second arc consists of defending their home from the book's primary antagonist: General Woundwort, his generals, and his brutally efficient warren called Efrafan. For me, this is where the really book comes alive with all the lessons and crap. The first half of the book could be admittedly a little boring at times, with no real character development at all, but once this second half of the book comes around, a ton of stuff starts happening. Interesting characters are forged and introduced, and the whole second half of the book feels very airtight, as themes, characters and ideas come full circle into an ending that actually ended up being pretty epic. However, the epilogue of the book is probably the best part, ending on the best note possible, for both me and the characters. 

     Weaved in between the story of the rabbits is the lore and terminology of their species. Whenever the book has time to breath, it will usually fill the time with Dandelion telling a story about El-ahrairah, an ancient rabbit folk hero, whose fairy-tale accomplishments and stories range from ridiculous to clever. It's a nice way to spend the time, it gives the whole rabbit species a certain culture that they all share, and a good way to introduce a lot of the terminology. You see, the rabbits have their own words for certain things, and since there's so many of them, it can get a little overwhelming at times; all these new words being thrown in your face. Words for instance, like, owsla, elil, silfray and hraka, which all sound a little weird in your mouth. You get used to it eventually, but it's somewhat disconcerting at first, unless of course, you're resourceful enough to absorb the new language immediately and apply it to the situations, and in that case, congratulations. You won't have a problem with that. I also quite like how the legends actually tie into the story of the book; Hazel's group of rabbits sometimes use the legends as a source of inspiration for their own plans to either avoid peril or General Woundwort, and after awhile, their daring, extraordinary, or brave actions and adventures later on in the book almost sometimes seem to parallel or even surpass the very age-old legends they are telling. Trust me, by the end of book, this does not go noticed. The story goes full-circle and all. 

I wouldn't say the characters are the best part of Watership Down. They're not bad characters by any means, not at all, however, compare them to any complex character you can think of and you start to see the problem. Nobody is truly complex, but that's not to say there's not a couple of layers here, however, that can only be applied to very few of them. I'll start with Hazel, I suppose, the leader of the company of rabbits that leave their old warren, and the closest thing to a protagonist this book has. None of the rabbits are the narrator, and the perspective switches between rabbits constantly, however, everything does seem to revolve around Hazel, and it is around him that the book begins and ends. Hazel is a natural born leader. He doesn't have a particular set of skills unlike his subordinates; not as strong as Bigwig, clever as Blackberry and doesn't have the eerie premonitions that Fiver has. However, he is the only one capable of keeping the group together throughout the journey, and it's his orders that save their skins on more than one occasion. The other rabbits seem to recognize this, it might have been interesting if Bigwig or another rabbit challenged his leadership a some point, but that doesn't really happen, at least not to the extent it could be considered a plot-point. He doesn't particularly have a lot of depth to him, I guess, and that's a demerit no matter how you look at it. 

     Fiver is Hazel's younger brother, a small, nervous rabbit who just happens to have the ability to see visions of the future. This is never really explained, nor does it have to be, the book makes it clear that spiritual stuff like this are very much possible, especially near the end, so it never really feels shoved in just so the rabbits have an excuse to leave the warren. Unlike Hazel, Fiver has a character arc, although a pretty basic and small one. He starts out a little despised by everyone besides Hazel as his visions are held into question by the rest of the rabbits, but as his uncanny intuition proves itself correct again and again, the other rabbits slowly begin to rely and respect him. It's ultimately Fiver who plays one of the biggest roles in the finale, as he turns from a twitchy rabbit into a true hero. 

     The last character I'll talk about is the villain of the book: General Woundwort, who appears half-way through the book. Out of the three I've discussed, I find him the most interesting. I guess I won't spoil his back-story for anybody, but Woundwort is the very face of brutal single-mindedness, and a rabbit who will let nothing stop from him from achieving his plans. He has the resources and the intelligence to carry out his plans, practically building the enormous warren Efrafan by himself, gathered subordinates, and eventually ruling over them with an iron fist which nobody is brave enough to question. The darkest Watership Down gets is in Genereal Woundwort's tactics, as he even results to torture and tearing off various body-parts on occasion. Needless to say, because of this, he makes a great villain for the book, acting as a cold-calculating opposite to the free spirited and good-natured group that Hazel leads. 

You needn't worry about them," said his companion. "They'll be all right—and thousands like them. If you'll come along, I'll show you what I mean." -Page 8-9(Epilogue)

I don't know if I label Watership Down a great book, but I can understand why it has survived long enough to be labeled a classic. And once again, the key is in the introduction. The story is an adventure for adventure's sake, because that's exactly what it was, an adventure forged in the back of a car, only existing as it was created week by week for the entertainment of two young girls. It's charming because it's humble, and it's well written because a man who turned out to be a damn good writer decided he was going to write a book better than the one he was reading his kids himself. It's not perfect. The characters are nothing special. It's a little boring at times. And nothing really gets going until the second half, most likely because that's around the time where Richard Adams finally realized that he might need to figure out how this tale of rabbits would end. But it's still a very nice book to read, whether on a rainy day, or stretched out on your couch as the sun beats against the panes of the windows. It's a book that is here for the very reason why entertainment mediums exist, to whisk you away to a different place away from all your troubles, and get lost for a couple hours in the problems of some other person. And when you put it down and return to your daily life, you might just have got something you hadn't had before you picked it up. And for that sole reason, I completely recommend Watership Down. Goodbye for now guys.

Final Verdict: 7/10

P.S: Yes guys, wood floats. Get over it. 

My other book review of  Coraline is located here. 

Or if you're looking for an anime review, click here for a review of Kyoukai no Kanata.

Or if you're a gamer, click here for a review of Thomas Was Alone. 

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