Watership Down by Richard Adams

A friend of mine (Carlton, who may or may not actually participate in this little incentive), has been after me to read Watership Down for sometime. I've been hesitant though, and those of you who know the book's premise but not its story can probably relate to my lethargy. After all, a 475 page book about rabbits couldn't possibly be interesting reading for a mature adult, right?

Well, I finally took the plunge, and I'm glad I did. Watership Down reminds me of nothing so much as Lord of the Rings with, well, rabbits. Structurally, it's a classic Hero's Quest, made up of several episodic adventures during Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig, Blackberry, and the rest of his warren's trek to Watership Down. To classify the book as children's literature is to do it a grave disservice. It's been speculated over the years that there is some allegorical significance to the story, a notion which Adams denies in his introduction, but there are certainly deeper themes than one might expect in a book about bunnies. Friendship, loyalty, patriotism, war, mythology, religion, and death are all explored to varying degrees.

Best moment? "Siflay hraka, u embleer rah." Want to know why? Read the book.