Watership Down

Watership Down by Richard Adams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this ages ago and loved it, so when it came up on Audible, I selected it. Like any good comfort read, it made me smile just to start it. I am at a different stage in my life, so I'm sure I'll see things that I didn't see before.

This book is great on many levels. By using animals, as in Animal Farm, human behavior becomes more clear. When Fiver senses that something terrible is going to happen in his old warren and tries to convince others that they need to leave, very few listen. I look at today's headlines about our national debt and I wonder how people can't see the danger...but no one wants to listen.

Hazel and some other rabbits heed his warning because he has been right so many times in the past and leave the old warren. Along the way they find a warren where everything is provided for the rabbits, but there is a terrible flaw in their system. There are subtle parallels today.

As the book goes on, the rabbits become more and more real and that is also part of the skill of Adams. Years ago, I taught this book in a medium level prison. At first the men weren't very happy reading about rabbits, but they had some faith in me and they went on with the book. At the end of it, many said it was the best book they ever read. Along the way, they were able to see parallels with the prison and society.



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