Watership Down

Rating:
Summary: Best novel I have ever read!
Review: Reading this book was the best experience i have ever had. It opened my eyes and broadend my horizons. It's basicly about a group of rabbits who leave their warren and try to find a new home. It makes you think like a rabbit and feel their feelings. I am reading the book again and I am still learning and discovering new things about Hazel (The main character) and his compainions. A must read for anyone who can read English. YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: WONDERFUL!!
Review: I chose this book because it was on a list of classics and near-classics. When I first saw it, I was dismayed--it looked so long! But this tale was so riveting that I finished it within a few days--even staying up into the early morning to keep reading it. Please don't be turned off by the fact that the book is about rabbits! (I almost was.) You will discover much about yourself and about human nature through reading this amazing book. It's well worth the time you will spend reading it. I went right out and got the sequel, "Tales from Watership Down."

Rating:
Summary: One of the greatests
Review: This book is amazing. It has elements of everyday life mixed with human compare and contrasts. It's tale of adventure and hardships are greatly blended with homelife element. It may be about a group of rabbits but it is one of the most amazing books ever written.

Rating:
Summary: A classic
Review: It took some coaxing, but I finally convinced my 13 year old, a huge Harry Potter fan, that there was greater literature out there for her to explore. We listened to a fine reading of Watership Down over the past month in the car -- and she was transfixed. Indeed, she went from reluctance, to enthusiasm, to downright hostility if I listened to any part of it while she was not in the car. The book is simply beautiful -- filled with religious and political allegory, but also filled with characters you admire and whose company you actually enjoy: Hazel, the courageous leader, Bigwig, the warrior, Fiver, the prophet, Blackberry, the intellectual, Bluebell, the jokester, and Dandelion, the story-teller, to name a few. The adventures detailed are gripping, from escaping from a doomed warren, to fighting for their lives against the totalitarian regime from Efrafa. In between, our rabbit friends encounter cats, dogs, foxes, and man himself, the most destructive creature of all. As all the accolades here attest, this is a book rich not only in excitement and entertainment but also in wisdom and insight. No knock against J.K. Rowling, but Richard Adams fable of courage and survival far surpasses the much touted Harry Potter. Even my 13 year old seems on the verge of conceding this.

Rating:
Summary: This book is great!
Review: You should definetley read this book whether you are young or old! You will not be able to put it down and it will rank on top of your list!

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Read
Review: I highly recommend this novel. It is very interesting!! A must have. The anthropomophized rabbits show basic human characteristics that are required for their survival. They overcome many problems that they meet throughtout their journey.

Rating:
Summary: Cheer, laugh, wonder nd cry as you read this wonderful book!
Review: Note: I used the kids review form because I am too lazy to become a member I'm actually 14 my E-mail is [e-mail]

I'll tell the truth. I thought this book was going to suck when my friend recommended it. I mean by cover of the book you'd think that this story was going to be about these happy go lucky rabbits that have to find carrots. But not so it turns out that this book is about courage, leadership, and bravery as these rabbits journey into the beyonds in search of a place they can call their own.
The story is pretty simple and I won't spoil any of it for you but I will tell you this: this storyis so wonderfully crafted and so beautifully told that you'll be hooked to it. Richar makes a great job of describing the characters and settings and such a beaoutiful job of bringing out your emotions in this book that you will change the way you look at things you will take this story and you will treasure it you'll fall in love with all the characters: Bigwig, Hazel-Rah, Fiver, Buckthorn, and all them "dam" rabbits and you'll cry at the sad, but happy and cheerful ending of this wonderful book.
Overall: 5/5

Rating:
Summary: Rabbits, Rabbits Everywhere...
Review: I know, it is a story about RABBITS!! They are regular rabbits though, not the "Peter Rabbit" type, and you forget about the rabbit part quickly, as they form a culture, norms and society all their own. As you read this book, the pace keeps the reader turning page after page, and for the intellectual out there, there are the ideas of religion, communism and democracy to explore.

This is not a cutesy novel, but well written, with developed characters, and the timeless themes of good vs. evil and loyalty.

Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Adventure...
Review: I read this book because I remembered being shown the movie as a child and not really understanding the movie, but finding it scary and sad. At 24 years-old, I figured I could probably grasp the plot by now, and I was curious what it was all about.

I was not disappointed. This is one of the best books I've read in a while. As far as I'm concerned, the fact that the characters are all animals makes it more interesting, not less (was Animal Farm boring for lack of humans?). Animals are often used in literature to represent human archetypes and it can be quite a useful tool. Here it's no different: you have Hazel, the leader coming into his own, Fiver, the seer, Bigwig, the warrior, etc. The rabbits experience adventures worthy of the Odyssey throughout the story, and I found there was never a dull moment.

The basic plotline is that a small band of rabbits escapes from their warren (rabbit community) after a rabbit with some sort of sixth sense (Fiver) predicts its destruction. The rest of the story chronicles the rabbits' journey through the English countryside to try to establish a new warren elsewhere and acquire does so that the warren will flourish. There's lots of dangers for wild rabbits from all sorts of expected and unexpected sources, and their adventures are the meat of the story.

I decided the story still is scary; at times it was all I could do to force myself to actually read the words rather than skip ahead to discover if one of the characters survives the close fight, or epic (for rabbits) three-mile journey, or hopeless mission. But it's not sad. It's an inspiring story of courage, ambition, loyalty, and friendship, with plenty of adventure along the way - all the ingredients for a great story.

Regarding the disappointed reviewer who read this in an English class - a poorly taught English class can ruin any great book. This book has important, if not altogether original, insights into human relationships, government, society, oppression, liberation, fear, death, etc. I think this is a very valuable book and one of the best I've ever read. I'm glad I gave it another chance.

Rating:
Summary: So-So
Review: This is a book that my Gifted English class had to read and, as usual, over analyze. We read it over a long period of time with many tests, etc. and I was pretty disappointed. I know that with a story about talking bunnies you shouldn't expect too much but there was something telling me that this book may be a little bit more...I was wrong though. Blah Blah Blah is about all that I saw on the pages after about a week and eventually I just wanted to put the book down and begin stomping on it. I guess that in it's entirety it wasn't all that horrible but I have to ask myself if it was truly worth my time to read it and I am not sure what I would say. It has a lot to say but it could have been said in a much more condensed version. To be honest I could have cut at least a hundred pages from it and still been able to get the same message across. I guess that in the end I would have to say that if you really want to read this, go check it out at you local library.