'Watership Down' by Richard Adams

Set in the Downs of England, a once-idyllic rural landscape, this gripping tale of adventure, courage and survival follows a band of very special creatures as they escape the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a pair of courageous friends, they travel from their homeland of Sandleford Warren, through the harrowing trials imposed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society.


MY THOUGHTS:

My family can't always understand my reading choices. When he saw my current reading, my oldest son said, 'Isn't this a bloodbath about rabbits killing each other?' I think he's partially right, but that sentence falls far short of the epic it is. It's one of my favorite reads this year, and I'll never look at wild rabbits the same way again. I love and appreciate each of the main characters as family members. It's easy to get totally sucked into their journey, and even now, I'm humming Art Garfunkel's 'Bright Eyes', which was written as a soundtrack to this story.

Here's how it all goes down. Little Fiver was the runt of his litter, and has no influence over the others, but he has a rare gift of prophecy that allows him to foresee big trouble coming to his hutch. (Readers are told upfront that residential developers have claimed the area for housing.) Fiver's older brother, Hazel, is the only one who will listen, as he has seen Fiver's gift in action before. When the big boss ignores the warning, they gather a small group of a dozen who rush to freedom in the nick of time. The rest of the novel recounts their adventures and dangers.

While enjoying the hospitality of an aristocratic and super-elegant guy named Cowslip, they discover a shocking secret about his lair. Later, they make the valuable friend of Kehaar, a very cool black-headed gull. Then later they come across Efrafa, the totalitarian regime of a controlling bunny fuhrer named General Woundwort. Throughout the story, young Hazel, while not the smartest or strongest, proves himself to be a generous, big-hearted, and capable leader of his own small group.

In fact, I think it should be required reading for aspiring bosses rather than dry old textbooks. Anyone aspiring to a leadership role should study Hazel's successful approach. It's not just that he's level-headed, discreet, decisive and humble, although he certainly is all of those. Hazel's greatest strength is recognizing the unique strengths of his team members and recognizing the ways in which they are superior to him. It's the best skill to have. They all know that your directions are based on your interest in them as people, and they respect you for it, begrudgingly or not.

And what a team! Fiver is the runt, but they would be nowhere without the gift of second sight. Blackberry's innovative mind gets them out of many scary jams, and Dandelion, their storyteller, understands the importance of a strong tradition of myth and legend to keep a group's morale high. Even Bluebell, with her sassy one-liners, provides the quick wit that can boost the spirits, or at least the retaliatory energy, of the entire company. Perhaps most of all, I love the courageous Bigwig, who has more courage in his furry body than dozens of other literary heroes combined! Seriously, what a guy! Together, under Hazel's wise and caring leadership, they each pool their individual resources to make a super bunny body.

Richard Adams states in his introduction that he never intended the novel to be some kind of allegory or parable, but simply a tale about rabbits that he invented to amuse his daughters in the car. Well, sorry Ricardo! Sometimes readers must ignore an author's opinion and hijack a story for ourselves. This book is full of parallels and allegories for those of us who like to identify them.

There's the feeling of the Old Testament Exodus from the beginning, as two brothers (Hazel and Fiver in this case) approach a powerful leader to plead for the people's liberation, only to be ridiculed and rebuffed. Then there is the pull of the Pilgrim's Progress on the journey itself, which keeps us tied to our little group, knowing that when they find what they are looking for, we will also feel the correction in our own hearts.

And there are several political and social analogies that we cannot help but consider as mirrors of human nature. Rabbit 'owslas' or police forces are hierarchical orders of henchmen around a boss. We can say that each rabbit in the owsla enjoys his position of privilege and secretly enjoys the prestige directed at him. But the great caves of Efrafa turned sour under the leadership of General Woundwort, a dictator in the truest sense of the word. He clearly needs to be taken down, but he genuinely believes he is doing all the rabbits under his rule a favor by keeping them safe from harm. Instead, their radical restrictions are actually restricting their fullness of life and causing them harm.

Overall, I think the biggest appeal for me is the dignity and relatability of the characters. In the grand scheme of things, aren't we humans a lot like Hazel's gang? We are nervous, vulnerable and a little nervous in our big world of threats and insecurity. We fear our own kind of 'elil' or enemies that lurk in the shadows and could try to take us down at any moment. But day after day, we rise up to carry on, holding on to friends who have proven themselves to be true, and trying courageously to defend what we hold dear.

I have to call it one of those rare books that I would recommend to anyone. You must add it to your reading lists, it is so fresh and inspiring.

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