Watership Down by Richard Adams

A group of eleven buck rabbits leaves their warren in search of a new home. Rabbits, whose prolific reproduction often leads to overcrowding, apparently often do this. Except, in Watership Down, the rabbits can talk, and they leave home because one among them has a vision of a disastrous future for the warren. They make their way to Watership Down, a hill they eventually see off in the distance, and settle there, then spend the rest of the book looking for does so their adventures can become tales told to future generations.

The author claims in his introduction to have done his best to make the rabbits realistic—except, of course, for the talking thing. I think he stretches their capacity a little bit, producing some very clever and heroic rabbits, but certainly no more than our own myths and legends do of people. He frequently used The Private Life of the Rabbit, by R. M. Lockley, as a source, so this is not just an adventure tale, but also a decent portrait of rabbithood. One of the interesting tidbits—rabbits naturally practice a peculiar form of birth control. Does sometimes reabsorb their unborn offspring, possibly in response to overcrowding.

Some of you may remember that I had this book along to read at Trombleganza last year. I didn't get around to it then, though Nicole did try to start reading it. And I didn't eventually pick it up again until about a month ago. Now, it's finally done. It was an enjoyable read, and I look forward to sharing it with Rachel some day. I can also share with her the story of the Nacho Cheese Doritos, which have left some of the pages still a little discolored.