Picked up a 1977 copy of Watership Down for 50 cents and finally got why people rave about it

I always skipped the classic animal books thinking they were kiddie stuff. But this beat up old paperback from a church sale had this intro that explained the rabbit language and mythology and it clicked for me. The writing is way darker and more epic than I expected. Anyone else find a book that totally flipped your opinion on a whole genre?

2 comments

2 Comments

hayden7204d ago

...and the crazy part is, that little intro about the rabbit language is what gets people. It's like the author knew the book would look like a kids book but he was writing something completely different. I had the same thing happen with The Plague Dogs, same author actually. Picked it up thinking it was another animal adventure and it wrecked me for a week. Flipped my whole idea of what animal fiction could do, it's basically disguised philosophy.

thomasm414d ago

My buddy Dave found a moldy copy of The Once and Future King at a garage sale for like a quarter. He always thought King Arthur stuff was just Disney knights and goofy sword fights. He told me within the first few chapters he was calling me at like 11pm going on about the animal rights stuff and the whole might vs right thing. Changed his whole view on fantasy novels and now he's weirdly into Le Morte d'Arthur of all things.