RIP Richard Adams

[kev67]

Richard Adams, who wrote Watership Down, died in the last couple of days. He was in his 90s, so getting on, and a WW2 veteran. Watership Down was one of my favourite books as a boy. I read it eight times. I hope his passing over went as well as Hazel's.

[tonywalt]

Yes! Lovely book and great story behind it (bedtime stories to his kids lead to the book being written). It's not a widely discussed book on litnet.

[Dreamwoven]

I know of the book but never read it. I will give it a try after the endless Christmas/New Year holidays in Sweden. The wikipedia item on the book looks interesting.

[bounty]

oh I am sorry to hear---and my goodness yes, Dreamwoven, Watership Down is one of my all time favorites and I heartily recommend it.

[OrphanPip]

There were some quite good animated films made of Watership Down and Plague Dogs during the early 80s when there was a brief fad for adult targeted animated films (which created a lot of cult classics and also fed the beginning of dubbed anime in America). Most of those films were awful but the two Adams' adaptations were quite well done.

[kev67]

I saw Watership Down when it came out in 1979 (I think), when I would have been about 12. I was not very impressed. I was annoyed that they tampered with the story, particularly the rabbit that got killed by the hawk. I did not think much of the quality of the animation: not as good as Disney. I do not think the Bright Eyes song was actually played, or not much of it. It had been number 1 for weeks. I may have been slightly surprised by the violent imagery, but I had read the book a few times by then, so I was expecting some violence. I have heard quite a few kids have been traumatised over the years by their parents leaving them with the DVD to watch. It was probably not quite as traumatising as watching Bambi's mother being shot, but close.

I tried to read Plague Dogs, but I could never get into Richard Adams' other books.

[bounty]

I saw the animated movie first, which then got me turned onto to reading the book. oddly enough, I like that particular order rather than the reverse.

ive read plague dogs, and shardik, and I agree, watership down was so much more enjoyable. its one of my favorite books actually. theres a sort of sequel to it, called "tales from watership down" that was an enjoyable read also.