Watership down

I’ve read this banger of a novel once a year for many years now - it always holds up.

Eine Gruppe Kaninchen macht sich auf, eine neue Heimat zu finden, nachdem ihr Bau durch Menschliche Bebauung zerstört wurde. Die Kaninchen sind ausreichend vermenschlicht und intelligent, um tiefe eigene Persönlichkeiten zu entwickeln. Gleichzeitig betrachten sie aber weiterhin mit Kaninchenaugen die Welt. Sie haben ihre eigene Sprache und wunderschöne Mythologie, was sie noch lebendiger macht. Das Buch ist voller herrlich ausschweifender Landschaftsbeschreibungen. Und wie die Kaninchen sich in ihrer Freundschaft stets gegenseitig helfend die wildesten Abenteuer bestehen ist entzückend. Trotz dem niedlichen Setting ist die Geschichte durchaus ernst und der Spannungsbogen war für mich als Kind eine Herausforderung. Das Buch hat definitiv seinen Hype verdient und ich werde es immer wieder weiterempfehlen und selbst lesen.

This was a fun and nice book to read. It is cool to see a lot of human things described from 'rabbit perspective' with only some of them knowing what to do with something. I loved the parts where one of the rabbits came up with something smart, without a way to make the other rabbits understand how it worked. Like the boat.

This was a fun and nice book to read.
It is cool to see a lot of human things described from 'rabbit perspective' with only some of them knowing what to do with something.
I loved the parts where one of the rabbits came up with something smart, without a way to make the other rabbits understand how it worked. Like the boat.

All the world will be your enemy, Prince of a Thousand enemies. And when they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you; digger, listener, runner, Prince with the swift warning. Be cunning, and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed.

I grew up reading the Redwall series, which will always stay close to my heart. While I haven't read the Lord of the Rings series, I adore the movies and have seen them more times than I can even count. Both of these series laid the groundwork for my love of adventure, and storytelling, and story-making with my best friends through years of playing Dungeons & Dragons.This story is so captivating and beautifully written, and while I'll always be surprised I read this book at 25 and not 15, I'm so happy I finished it!

Perfect for an afternoon when you need to be sedated for surgery, or generally want to be bored out of your skull. Took me forever to read, just because I didn't want to anymore.

I will never look at rabbits in the same way ever again.

My aunt Jackie, may she rest in peace, said that she wouldn't read this book because she didn't like 'whimsy'. This is not a children's book, or at least not just one. The author acquires great power and flexibility by the use of talking animals. A fat, boring or clever human character is just that (except, perhaps in Dickens), but a fat, boring or clever rabbit benefits from our common understanding of rabbitness - both our accumulated feelings starting back with Peter and the fantastic world that must be created for them to live in.