Watership Down: The Graphic Novel adapted by James Sturm and illustrated by Joe Sutphin took Richard Adams’ novel and made it into a lovely book about the power of the people, and lovely illustrations that show the good and the darkness around them. The story is the one you know and maybe loved as a child, but I was fresh to the story for the most part. I knew that there would be rabbits and people had said it was dark, but other than that, I had no real knowledge. Which would strike most people as odd as it is a classic, and I was an English major, but I never read classics as a kid (or a very small handful), my mother was conservative about a lot of the things I read, and I was not a fantasy fan for the most part, or a fan of “animal stories.”Therefore, I came to this book with two things on my mind: One: That is one HONKING BIG book. And two, you will give it a chance even though it is a “classic” and you know how you feel about them. About halfway through the first section I thought to myself, “What the flaming monkey toots did I get myself into? What is the big deal? I am soooo falling asleep!” You see, this is a classic in the biggest sense of the word: a weighty, long novel (graphic novel) that is trying to pack all the author wants to say about his subject and theme and only has a small space to do it.” It can be dry, even dull. It is not a sit down, boom! I’m done reading. It is something that you need to read while you are comfortable, while you have a nice quiet space to think, and honestly, a pad and pencil to write down all the names! I got such characters as Fiver and Hazel mixed up multiple times. When I read Animal Farm in the graphic novel form, I was glad to see that each character looked different. Rabbits, according to Sturm, I guess only have a few shades to them and since things are “busy” and physically have dark, earthy tones, it makes everything blend together. This is not to say I disliked the book, it was something that I was not devouring, or really getting everything out of it. I feel this is a book that you take your time with, you read it a few times, and the befores and afters of the creators, could be useful, but are not really necessary.
A coworker just reviewed the book for our website and he is a fan of Adams. I agree the work is gorgeously illustrated and he felt it perfectly captured the spirit of (the) book. He felt kids would be okay reading, but I always wondered if we gave this book too early for readers, and I do feel we might give it too early. I’ve heard this has been read to as young as 5-6 years-old and given to fourth and fifth graders. The graphic novel shows the violence, the blood, and there is little question when animals die. I feel you need to know your reader, especially if they are sensitive. I think not everyone would get the themes that Adams was showing (industrialism, nature surviving, war, even religion) but could take the surface story.
