Watership Down: Richard Adams (Oneworld modern classics) - Hardcover

Adams, Richard

4.08

480,533 ratings by Goodreads

9781780749662: Watership Down: Richard Adams (Oneworld modern classics)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 178074966X ISBN 13: 9781780749662

Publisher: Rock the Boat, 2016

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A phenomenal worldwide bestseller for over forty years, Richard Adams’ spellbinding classic Watership Down is one of the best-loved animal stories of all time. Set in the beautiful English countryside of the Berkshire Downs, this stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival follows a small band of rabbits fleeing the destruction of their home by a developer. Led by a stout-hearted pair of brothers, Fiver and Hazel, they leave the safety of Sandleford Warren in search of refuge, skirting danger at every turn.

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Review:

Despite the fact that it's often a hard sell at first (what teenager wouldn't cringe at the thought of 400-plus pages of talking rabbits?), Richard Adams' bunny-centric epic rarely fails to win the love and respect of anyone who reads it, regardless of age. Like most great novels, Watership Down is a rich story that can be read (and reread) on many different levels. The book is often praised as an allegory, with its analogues between human and rabbit culture (a fact sometimes used to goad skeptical teens, who resent the challenge that they won't "get" it, into reading it), but it's equally praiseworthy as just a corking good adventure.

The story follows a warren of Berkshire rabbits fleeing the destruction of their home by a land developer. As they search for a safe haven, skirting danger at every turn, we become acquainted with the band and its compelling culture and mythos. Adams has crafted a touching, involving world in the dirt and scrub of the English countryside, complete with its own folk history and language (the book comes with a "lapine" glossary, a guide to rabbitese). As much about freedom, ethics and human nature as it is about a bunch of bunnies looking for a warm hidey-hole and some mates, Watership Down will continue to make the transition from classroom desk to bedside table for many generations to come. --Paul Hughes

Review:

‘Watership Down is stunning, compulsive reading.’

(Sunday Times)

‘This beautifully written and intensely moving story is the work of an extraordinary imagination.’

(Sunday Telegraph)

'A great book. A whole world is created, perfectly real in itself, yet constituting a deep incidental comment on human affairs.'

(Guardian)

'A masterpiece. The best story about wild animals since The Wind in the Willows. Very funny, exciting, often moving.'

(Evening Standard)

‘An impressive, immensely readable story, held together over 400 pages by a powerful imagination that soon forbids disbelief.’

(New Statesman)

‘Quite marvelous... A powerful new vision of the great chain of being.’

(New York Times Book Review)

'This new edition is quite spectacular.'

(Bill Heine, BBC Radio Oxford)

‘A classic... A great book.’

(Los Angeles Times)

'Exquisite... a treasured keepsake for those whose original version has become tattered, and a delightful introduction to a new generation.'

(The View magazine)

'A gripping story of rebellion in a rabbit warren and the subsequent adventures of the rebels. Adams has a poetic eye and a gift for storytelling which will speak to readers of all ages for many years to come.'

(Sunday Times)

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