The author, Richard Anderson (1920-2016) survived WW2 and later, as a father who spins tales for his kids while on long drives, tells the tale of these rabbits. His kids insists he write down the story, hence, this book. Anderson insists the book is about rabbits, however, there are Biblical figures and the lessons about 'war and peace' are there. Seems the author's subconscious dictated the story that unfolded.
A few main characters:
- The gentle leader, Hazel (aka Hazel-rah which means Prince Hazel in rabbit language).
The seer (or the one whose 6th sense sees much) is - Fiver. From where (or who) do the messages come? That's for the reader to interpret.
- The brave warrior who fights for freedom, Bigwig
- The Hitler-type leader - General Woundwort - whose obsession with control rules all he does.
I love Hazel's assessment, "Rabbits don't behave like men. If they have to fight, they fight; if they have to kill, they kill. But they don't sit down and set their wits to work to devise ways of spoiling other creatures' lives and hurting them. They have dignity and animality."
Wow, that's quite the statement! Well said, Hazel-rah!
The rabbits in this book have some of their own language. Such as, to silflay is to eat/graze. A hrududu is a car or truck -- just imagine a human child who is allowed to make up certain words for things; the rabbits do this. The reader gets used to this "rabbit language" -- even if it requires a bit more concentration to remember these words. But hey, when reading a classic such as this one, a book with lessons about freedom and bravery in the face of oppression, etc, a bit of concentration is required, in my humble opinion.
Overall, this book gets 5 stars from me. I read it on my own whilst "L" deals with her daughter's upcoming wedding(!). In the rabbit world, they don't have weddings, lol...just home-making (digging warrens/burroughs), and family life, and telling stories of "Brave Rabbits" and "The Evil One" - or so says the author, Mr. Anderson.
