Read from March 23 to April 20, 2013
Even when I was a kid, if you told me a story about a bunch
of bunnies who leave home, go to a hill and make a new home would be a
favorite book of mine, I'd never have believed it. Bunnies are not a
favorite, and while there's a certain fantasy element to immersing in
the culture and language of rabbits, its not really a fantasy book,
which has almost universally been a connector between my favorite books.
But it's managed, not only getting into the top 10 of books I read in high school back in the 90s, but hanging around in my top 10 pretty much ever since. It may ostensibly be a book about bunnies, but its really a book about a lot more interesting things. It's about family and friendship. Its about faith. It's about courage of different types. It's about society, and the various ways it can be organized and lived, and the many ways in which it can support or damage those living in it.
It's even in a very meta way about the power of stories and how stories can not only instruct the choices we make and the people we will become, but also honor the choices we have made and help us to learn from them.
And it's also a heck of a good adventure. After a slow opening, it really does start to feel tense and frightening. The thousand are after the rabbits, and you feel it. There's dogs and cats, foxes and birds, man and his machines. Something as basic as stopping for the night is fraught with dozens of concerns and possible dangers. And Holly's recounting of the destruction of the Sandleford warren is horrible not only for the terrifying way the rabbits experienced it, but for the human perspective we readers bring in understanding that this wasn't done with malice or hate, but as he says, simply because the rabbits were in their way and needed to be gotten OUT of the way.
The cast is a bit overlarge and decidedly light on female characters of any importance, both of which are pretty large marks against it. But the central characters are well rounded and I really found myself caring about all of them and wanting everyone to manage to come out of it safe and whole.
Overall, a book I highly recommend.
But it's managed, not only getting into the top 10 of books I read in high school back in the 90s, but hanging around in my top 10 pretty much ever since. It may ostensibly be a book about bunnies, but its really a book about a lot more interesting things. It's about family and friendship. Its about faith. It's about courage of different types. It's about society, and the various ways it can be organized and lived, and the many ways in which it can support or damage those living in it.
It's even in a very meta way about the power of stories and how stories can not only instruct the choices we make and the people we will become, but also honor the choices we have made and help us to learn from them.
And it's also a heck of a good adventure. After a slow opening, it really does start to feel tense and frightening. The thousand are after the rabbits, and you feel it. There's dogs and cats, foxes and birds, man and his machines. Something as basic as stopping for the night is fraught with dozens of concerns and possible dangers. And Holly's recounting of the destruction of the Sandleford warren is horrible not only for the terrifying way the rabbits experienced it, but for the human perspective we readers bring in understanding that this wasn't done with malice or hate, but as he says, simply because the rabbits were in their way and needed to be gotten OUT of the way.
The cast is a bit overlarge and decidedly light on female characters of any importance, both of which are pretty large marks against it. But the central characters are well rounded and I really found myself caring about all of them and wanting everyone to manage to come out of it safe and whole.
Overall, a book I highly recommend.
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