I actually discovered this site accidentally, while working. No kidding, really. Anyway, for fans of the book, this is a pretty cool collection of images of the places Richard Adams used for the book. The home page. The map. An image of Watership Down as seen from Nuthanger Farm:
Thanks. I found this site a couple of years ago and actually had trouble finding the site again last year when I read Watership Down to my daughter last year. Good stuff.
Had you heard that the book's story began as one Adams told his own children? That's why [highlight]none of the main characters die--his kids insisted.
No, I hadn't, but what with the stories of El Ahrairah, it always sounded a bit like that. It could also explain why Richard Adams is something of a one-hit wonder. I can't tell you the number of times I tried to get through Shardik or Plague Dogs and just gave up...
I can understand Shardik, but I thought the Plague Dogs was a very solid, if much darker, follow-up to Watership Down. His The Girl in the Swing was pretty good too.
^^^^Oh, it is truly an awesome book. But it is really Hazel who is the legend. When I was in the Air Force and compiling great books about leadership, this made my short list because Hazel is one of the great leaders in fiction: he always takes responsibility for what has to be done and he empowers everyone around him. He does what has to be done. The next dog I get is either going to be named Pavlov or Hazel-rah.
I really liked Bigwig's bravery. Taking on the fox, going into the Efrafa's warren, taking on Woundwort. And he had a bit of an attitude and was pretty smart. But as you say he did all for Hazel, he was very loyal, they all were. They are both brilliant. All the characters were great. Fiver, Blackberry, Dandelion, Pipkin, Silver, Blackavar, El-ahrairah, Rabscuttle, The Black Rabbit of Inlé. Hazel-rah is cool name as was Hrairoo (Little Thousand), El-ahrairah and Thlayli.
My favorite book ever. Those pictures are amazing...and very similar to what is seen in the animated film.
Was just looking around and discovered that this November is the 40th anniversary of Watership Down's publication! I also discovered that Richard Adams is still alive at 92! I'm going to reread the book this year. Maybe I will read it with my son.
Best thread bump of the year.... Actually, Adams' completed a "true" sequel: Tales from Watership Down which my son is reading right now. He has to read 30 minutes a day over the summer and this is the first book in a couple of years that he has read voluntarily. Edit: except that the website bungadiri found is down. I oughta give you neg rep for getting my hopes up. Oh, wait. We don't have that functionality anymore, so Mr Thumbs Down guy will have to do:
Used to live round there for a while, its a really quite pretty place. Even Google Maps makes it look nice; http://maps.google.com/?ll=51.30572...=m1EyAkYV7inv8DJvvgFqww&cbp=12,351.37,,0,4.41
I always thought of General Woundwort as a main character, especially later in the book. Not a kid, but I'd be interested in reading that myself.
True. But I'm guessing Adams' kids were perfectly happy with what happened with the General. Plus there's the "did he or didn't he?" thing he did. If I remember correctly, one or more of the Efrafans claimed Woundwort was still out there somewhere.
I get that. He was a bad guy of sorts, made so thru his own trials, but bad nonetheless. He was last seen fighting a dog. He'd lost a fight with Hazel already. killed a weasel once (Adams called it a stoat), but this was a dog. I think the tales of his survival were exaggerated Damn, I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed that book. I hope the sequel is better than Louise Fitzhugh's The Long Secret, which had so little to do with Harriet The Spy that I quit about halfway thru.
It's not better. But it's good. And I don't care for sequels either. And I don't think I finished The Long Secret, either.
I'll try to find it. I read Harriet in third or fourth grade (Scholastic Book Services- you ordered the books at school and they came after you'd forgotten about ordering them, which was usually about two weeks) along with the Encyclopedia Brown series and a bunch of Beverly Cleary's stuff. I was in my mid-twenties when I spotted Secret on a drug store bookshelf and realized that it was the book I'd been looking for for years but never got around to seriously seeking (I could have ordered it from a bookstore anytime, I suppose). But it wasn't my age that made the book boring as hell- I could enjoy most of those books even today.