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Title details for Watership Down by Richard Adams - Wait list

Watership Down

by Richard Adams
Ralph Cosham
Audiobook
0 of 4 copies available
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0 of 4 copies available

Fiver could sense danger. Something terrible was going to happen to the warren; he felt sure of it. They had to leave immediately. So begins a long and perilous journey of survival for a small band of rabbits. As the rabbits skirt danger at every turn, we become acquainted with the band, its humorous characters and its compelling culture, complete with its own folk history and mythos. Fiver's vision finally leads them to Watership Down, an upland meadow. But here they face their most difficult challenges of all.

A stirring epic of courage and survival against the odds, Watership Down has become a beloved classic for all ages. Both an exciting adventure story and an involving allegory about freedom, ethics, and human nature, it has delighted generations with its unique and charming world, winning many awards and being adapted to film, television, and theater.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    May 11, 2010

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781483071916
      • File size: 457758 KB
      • Duration: 15:53:39

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Text Difficulty: 5

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      WATERSHIP DOWN is both a children's classic and a favorite of adults. Whether this is just a simple tale about rabbits or a complex political allegory depends upon the listener, but Ralph Cosham's narration fits both. He is a calm and steady storyteller whose intimate, understated style draws the listener in. As the rabbits embark on a journey of survival, Cosham communicates their fear and uneasiness. He's sensitive to their personalities and moods as they travel together and meet a number of challenges. For the other animals, Cosham uses various accents that differentiate them from the rabbits. In the introduction Adams says that one of the novel's bird characters was based on a Norwegian freedom fighter. J.E.M. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      This simple story of the arduous migration of a band of rabbits to a safer home is an artful blending of epic, myth and creative language. While this rendition conveys the basic story, it obstructs deeper appreciation of this rich work. The narrator seems rushed. There are few suspenseful pauses and no modulation of voice for chapter breaks, lexical footnotes, literary extracts or mythic digressions. The result is an amorphous stream of words which are difficult to disentangle. Such a complex book will succeed in audio only with an articulate reading to help the listener follow its many threads. This reading does not. B.M.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Peter Capaldi's resonant voice is perfect for this rerelease of Adams's 1972 epic. Besides his natural Scottish accent, Capaldi crafts more than 20 distinctive voices for this story of a small group of rabbits who are fleeing an impending disaster. Hazel, the group's leader, sounds likable and capable--but without the machismo of Bigwig, the group's strongest defender. Fiver, too, has a standout voice as the meek prophetic visionary who often influences decisions. Capaldi's pacing is dynamic. His narration of lush descriptive passage of the English countryside is unhurried and soothing, while depictions of battles with rival rabbits and predators bring out all the danger and terror. Capaldi delivers a riveting version of this wonderful classic. L.T. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 16, 2023
      This action-packed graphic adaptation by Sturm (Off Season) and Sutphin (the Wingfeather Saga series) of Adams’s epic novel maintains the existential gravitas of the original while artistically rendering its wild English countryside and memorable cohort of lean, scrappy rabbits. When Fiver has a vision of a field covered in blood, his brother Hazel leads a group of young bucks away from their warren. On their heroic journey, they encounter rivers, dogs, injuries, cars, and many different types of lapine society—from a group that relies on humans for food and looks the other way when rabbits end up in snares, to Efrafa, a powerful warren that rules with an iron paw. Joined along the way by various defectors, Hazel and crew come into their own, eventually establishing and defending their own colony. Their mythology, which includes a sun god and a black rabbit representing “fear and darkness... and death,” guides them and fuels their bravery. The art manages to be both melancholic and dynamic, just like the tone of Adams’s novel. Sturm and Sutphin effectively convey a world as fraught and complicated as the human realm, yet entirely its own.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Text Difficulty:5

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