“This was my college roomie's favorite book as a kid (even though it's grossly long for a child to read). I enjoyed this quite a bit and ended up going out to find its animated movie. Yaay. A group of rabbits live in a warren in England, and they have their own culture, language, and mythology. One day Fiver, a rabbit who sometimes knows the future, predicts disaster, but when Fiver and his brother try to tell the authorities of their warren, they're rejected by the Owsla (the executors of the chief). They try to persuade rabbits individually to escape with them, so they venture forth to try for a new home. The outside world proves dangerous and sometimes fatal for the escaping rabbits, and they encounter all sorts of setbacks. Eventually they find out that Fiver's vision was true, and the rabbits settle in a new warren and create their own society. They encounter more issues when they realize of course they're going to need females, so they have to help some escape from a warren that's run by a dictator rabbit. One of their big rabbits infiltrates in order to liberate the does (and the rest of the oppressed rabbits), which is the big conflict.
I love the book. I'm not usually big on cute talking animals at all, which is why I was happy with this one; it was nice and dark, and the violence is appropriate. The movie left a lot out, to my disappointment, but I still liked the style it used to render the rabbits, and the rabbits' plight was focused on survival, not attempting to demonize humans or dogs or anyone in particular as a main preachy point or something. And who wouldn't love Fiver, the weird psychic rabbit? Cool. ”
swankivy wrote this review Monday, June 29 2009.
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