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In one of the most enduring classics of contemporary literature, author Richard Adams enthralled millions of readers by creating a glorious world of danger and discovery at once uniquely strange and strikingly similar to our own. Come back now to this remarkable society hidden beneath the tall grasses and open fields; to old friends and new heroes whose courage and tenacity are tested at every turn by predatory nature and the short-sighted cruelties of man. Come back to the excitement and enchantment, to the heartsoaring wonder of a place called Watership Down.
To those with an aversion to fairy stories, fake mythological lingo, and anything that anthropomorphizes animals, here's a book to make you swallow your doubts. Tales from Watership Down is a marvel. It consists of 19 stories, ostensibly about rabbits but actually concerning aspects of life - some mystical, some practical - that are traditionally hard to pin down. Hard, that is, Adams seems to argue, unless you're as sensitive as only a rabbit can be.
Adams is best known for two earlier books, Watership Down and The Plague Dogs, and for the films made from them. (He is also the author of Traveler, a moving and perceptive biography of Robert E. Lee's legendary war horse.) None of these quite convey the striking and often scary atmosphere he brings to this new collection, a full 20 years after we last heard from him.
Aside from the rabbits' vocabulary, which can be distracting, there's nothing prissy or inconsequential here. Adams clearly understands a great deal about rabbits, surely among God's poor because, as the old saw goes, He made so many of them. Rabbits are not only prey to what Adams calls "the thousand enemies," but to the cruel whims of the seasons. But few people can conjure up weather like Adams can, and hardly anybody has ever made an overgrown field in England sound so gorgeous and full of promise.
Rabbits' lives don't really have a point to them, not in any way people understand. Adams concerns himself instead with aspects of destiny that have to do with mysticism and nature - stuff we think we understand but really don't. The pure, unfamiliar feelings evoked in "The Story of the Three Cows" and in the gory "The Hole in the Sky" - just two of the stories here - persist for quite a while after you've finished reading them. How often do you get to step inside a wounded rabbit's delirium, or taste "the blessing of the years," a small animal's dreams of youth? And a laugh-out-loud nonsense yarn by a rabbit named Speedwell, with its crocus boats and sky-blue horses, may be the best carrot of all. -- Salon
| Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
| $99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub |
Michael Grant
reviewed Tales from Watership Down on April 14, 2013
Tales from Watership Down
I recommend this book to people who have already read (and loved) the prequel, Watership Down, as I did. And even then, I can only recommend it with caveats.
The title is misleading. Only the second half of the book is devoted to Tales from Watership Down -- several new stories about Hazel-rah, Fiver, Bigwig, and the others. The first part of the book is comprised of rabbit folklore, legends of El-Ahrairah, Prince of a Thousand Enemies. I skipped that first half.
For WD fans, these tales should be fairly enjoyable and fairly satisfying (but not as action-packed, emotional, multi-layered, and interconnected as the stories in book 1). I liked them because I got to spend time with the rabbits I grew to love. Sniff.
Possibly in response to criticism of book one, Adams provides greater equity across gender and creates a matriarchal society of rabbits, in some scenarios. Thus, a distant warren is led entirely by does, and at Watership Down, Hazel shares the chief rabbit (rah) position with the doe Hythenthlay, from Woundwort's warren Afrafa.
The storyline about the doe obsessed with White Blindness felt weakly plotted and contrived simply to create gender-balanced leadership roles. White blindness is horrible (look it up). In that same tale, Viltherul is portrayed as a psychic doe, mated to Fiver. She picked up the thoughts and feelings of the obsessed rabbit in a distant warren. (This seems a mistake, because in book 1 Hyzenthlay was the psychic, foreseeing that a rabbit would ride in a car).
In another tale, the Watership rabbits endure a hard winter. Poor beasties, with little to eat. This felt compelling and credible. The scene with the car felt vivid.
Kehaar the seagull plays a role in the book.
Hazel-rah finds his leadership tested by the new generation, particularly by a big buck, called (something)Wort. The solution to that problem felt a bit lame, but the problem felt realistic.
When a new rabbit appears on Watership Down, all the rabbits want to immediately kill it. Why? Because it smells like Man (vile scent that strikes fear and revulsion in every Lapine heart). It takes Hazel-rah and Fiver working together to find a solution. Nicely plotted, except in book 1, the Watership bucks mated with does that they freed from Lucy's hutches at the barn, presumably smelling of Man. The author tries to explain this disconnect, saying that the need for does was very intense in book 1, and they only smelled slightly of Man, comparatively. I'm not buying it, but I still liked that story-line quite a bit. I liked how it was resolved.
The last story was disappointing, because it focused on Campione, the Captain of Woundwort's Owsla from book 1. I have developed no bond with him, and wanted more time with the Watership rabbits.
Writing style: In book 1, I felt Adams digressed from the plot too frequently, to hold forth on something largely irrelevant about nature ( my review of book 1 cites an excerpt, where Adams digresses about martins flocking and perching on telephone wires). That frustrating degree of digression didn't happen in this book, making for better flow and a more enjoyable reading experience.
Typos. At least a dozen. This kindle book cost $9.99. Needs editing.
Quibbles aside, I enjoyed this book. I liked seeing the whole gang again.
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