8 ms·
Revisited: Watership Down
- SubiculumCode 9y agoA great novel. I'm glad I was reminded of it. I think I will read it to the kids.
- prawn 9y agoI can't quite remember it in detail. What age kids would it be appropriate for?
- Symbiote 9y agoIt is (or was) on the official recommended leisure reading list for 7-10 year olds in England. More recent lists seem to put it for 11-12 year olds. ("Key Stage reading list watership down" is what I searched for, and sometimes it's stage 2, otherwise 3.) I think I was 7 or 8 when my mother / English teacher gave it to me.
- aidos 9y agoSomehow I'd more or less forgotten about it (even though I'd read it twice myself by age 9). So what we thinking, it'd be ok for a 6yo? How about a 4yo?
- kazagistar 9y agoThere is explicit violence, bloodshed, and death. Make your own judgement.
- aidos 9y agoHaha, yeah it doesn't sound great. It's hard though with these things. Ideally you need to see a snippet of the sort of it to judge yourself.
- kazagistar 9y agoI would just read it yourself, its quite an enjoyable read for adults.
- scallycat 9y agoThe website http://www.arbookfind.co.uk/default.aspx http://www.arbookfind.co.uk/default.aspx is sometime helpful for finding "appropriate ages". Schools use the system to help children find books matched to their reading level.
- jgable 9y agoMy favorite book of all time, bar none. Adventure, bravery, friendship, loyalty, love, life, and death. Written with a vividness and tenderness that brought me to tears. It sounds trite, but it's so true. If you haven't read it, do yourself a favor and do so.
- lsllc 9y agoYou may also like William Horwood's Duncton Wood: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncton_Wood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncton_Wood
- emmelaich 9y agoWhat do you all think of "The Wind in the Willows"? I found it too slow and couldn't finish it. Though maybe I was tried when I was too young.
- lostboys67 9y agoI found wind in the willows less hard going than Duncton Wood: - though my fist exposure was to the stage play in London. Toad Of Toad Hall was a UK Christmas institution with the actor playing Mole (Richard Goolden) having done so since the 1930's
- petewailes 9y agoIt's the literary equivalent of a big woollen blanket. Best read in winter, with a warm mug of mulled wine. It's wonderful.
- itronitron 9y agoLike the author of the article, I also don't think of WD as an allegory but a story about rabbits. It is one of the first books I read that really pulled me into another world. Later I read 'Plague Dogs' which is a different animal and a bit perplexing.
- JoeDaDude 9y ago
- danso 9y agoRichard Adams's passing was not too long ago, just December of last year: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13265256 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13265256 Another great article: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/04/richard-adams-watership-down-interview https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/04/richard-adams-... Was blown away to discover that Adams had written WD, his first attempt at a book, at the age of 52, and that it all came from an impromptu story he made up during a car ride: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/04/richard-adams-watership-down-interview https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/04/richard-adams-...
- brownbat 9y ago"My younger siblings had seen the animated adaptation and had told me there was a lot of blood." I too always associated this story with violence before I read it. The violence in the adaptation has really shaped the reputation of the story. The story has some intense moments, but there are far more memorable bits, like the language and the puzzles and the relationships. The movie feels like Miike or Tarantino in comparison.
- TeddyDD 9y agoThere is animated serial that's less voilent than the movie. There are differences in comparative to the book but I liked it anyway.
- erasmuse 9y agoThe 1978 movie adaptation is superb and deeply memorable. Voices actors include the great John Hurt and Richard Briers. Here's a taste: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGyQmH9NZcw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGyQmH9NZcw There's at least one thing about the film, though, that I find mysterious. It was given a 'U' rating in the UK (which means universal, i.e. suitable for all ages). Yet many people find it scarily unwatchable -- why? SPOILERS. True, there's blood, which is unusual for a children's animation. The enemy warren, savagely run by General Woundwort, is terrifying. But I think the real objection seems to be the perception that vulnerable little rabbits are being picked off one by one as our group journeys across the countryside. Yet, if you look closely, you notice that only one member of the group, a minor character, is actually killed (Violet; by a bird of prey). Bigwig escapes from the snare, Hazel recovers from being shot, and so on. UPDATE. I think I've figured it out. Because of the beautiful song 'Bright Eyes' (sung by Art Garfunkel), we have mourned Hazel even though he was only wounded. So it feels as if he has died, even though he hasn't.
- johntaitorg 9y agoBright Eyes is a very emotional song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elkCXVp_BqU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elkCXVp_BqU
- richardjdare 9y ago
- ythn 9y agoThis book was my first introduction to dystopian societies and I've had a fascination with them ever since.
- peapicker 9y agoGreat book. Named my Manx cat (with a 'bunny tail') Hazel-Rah. She's never forgiven me... ;)
- bap 9y agoWhen I was in my late teens and doing security things on the internet (1992/93) I used the handle Silverweed and everyone assumed it was a pot reference.
- JoeDaDude 9y agoCasual Trivia: Watership Down inspired one of the earliest role playing games, Bunnies and Burrows. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunnies_%26_Burrows https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunnies_%26_Burrows
- lostboys67 9y agoYes I always wished that I had had a chance to play that - Mouse Guard is a more modern RPG with similar theams
- lmm 9y agoMy impression was that Mouse Guard was a lot more Redwall-esque - is that wrong?
- novembermike 9y agoMouse Guard is basically the rangers from the Lord of the Rings in mouse form, with cats and owls as monsters.
- DennisP 9y agoThere's one copy of Bunnies and Burrows available on Amazon, if you still want to try it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00R26QEWI/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00R26QEWI/
- vr46 9y agoSuch a wonderful book, I read it every single year for about twenty years, until I misplaced my copy. There's a beautiful walk that takes one by Watership Down and Nuthanger Farm. Recommended: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2009/jun/07/watership-down-hampshire-walking-guides https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2009/jun/07/watership-dow...
- sideshowb 9y agoYou can also find the "bridge under the iron road" using the map from the original book, though there isn't a public right of way to it. It looks a lot like the one in the film though with trees grown bigger. Trivia: much of the actual watership down is owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
- vr46 9y agoDo you have a maps link? Edit: never mind, look what I found - all the locations :) https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=13rvLA-0vQ5pfBiRjzbRWO2NjCFY&hl=en_US&ll=51.30762181431128%2C-1.3115679999999657&z=12 https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=13rvLA-0vQ5pfBiRjzb...
- PeachPlum 9y agoTry Shardik too, his next work.
- lostboys67 9y agothe Follow up Maia is quite different in tone definatly X rated
- billysielu 9y agoWhat do folks think about this? "She felt comforted by the rabbits’ straightforward approach to their emotions and said that reading the novel might actually help neurotypical people understand autism in a new way."
- johntaitorg 9y agoWatership Down index (work in progress): https://johngtait.github.io/ https://johngtait.github.io/
- philamonster 9y agoI've long had a desire to get "Prince With a Thousand Enemies" tattooed from elbow to elbow across upper back. Also have had various online handles based on that phrase over the last 20 years.
- neaden 9y agoIf you like Watership Down I don't think I can recommend enough H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald. While the books are very different, one is a novel the other is a memoir they both touch on nature, death, life in beautifully similar ways.
- marojejian 9y agoI felt there was a strong allegory to entrepreneurship in WD. I read it as the story of a founding team: one visionary who saw things differently, the other who was able to lead. They escape from their rigid community, and build a specialized team. Very deep stuff in there, so well told. I finally read this as an adult recently, and it is amazing. I'd love more recommendations for books like it (with non-humans as protagonists).
- motiw 9y agoI read the book in second grade and the following paragraph has made a great impression on me and still does "One day the farmer thought, 'I could increase those rabbits: make them part of my farm--their meat, their skins. Why should I bother to keep rabbits in hutches? They'll do very well where they are.' He began to shoot all elil--lendri, homba, stoat, owl. He put out food for the rabbits, but not too near the warren. For his purpose they had to become accustomed to going about in the fields and the wood. And then he snared them--not too many: as many as he wanted and not as many as would frighten them all away or destroy the warren. They grew big and strong and healthy, for he saw to it that they had all of the best, particularly in winter, and nothing to fear--except the running knot in the hedge gap and the wood path. So they lived as he wanted them to live and all the time there were a few who disappeared. The rabbits became strange in many ways, different from other rabbits. They knew well enough what was happening. But even to themselves they pretended that all was well, for the food was good, they were protected, they had nothing to fear but the one fear; and that struck here and there, never enough at a time to drive them away. They forgot the ways of wild rabbits. They forgot El-ahrairah, for what use had they for tricks and cunning, living in the enemy's warren and paying his price? "
- mmjaa 9y agoA seriously traumatising bit of literature, and I'm on the fence over whether it was a positive influence in my life or a negative one - and whether I want my own kids to now read it/experience it, or not. On the one hand, it most definitely highlights the fragility of the human condition. On the other hand, it definitely highlights the fragility of the human condition. In my case, back in 1978 as an 8-year old kid, the movie was definitely a major cause of upset and trauma. Would I now receive cathartic relief by introducing it to my own ~8 year old kids? I'm wondering if I'm going to gain anything by inducing my own children to confront the reality of the mob at such an age - even if I, myself, went through it and seem to have come out okay. The conundrum is, perhaps I've become Watership Down, all the while resisting it ..