Oh, how I love to immerse myself in a good story. A chance to experience places I've never visited, to see through the eyes of other beings, to learn from their trials and rejoice in their triumphs.
I love many genres, mystery and sci fi, romance and satire, fantasy and realistic, horror and thrillers. But the books I love most have one thing in common: a journey.
I'm sure you can recall some favorite stories that, at their heart, involve a long journey that the main character(s) must endure: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Odyssey, The Hobbit, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Gulliver's Travels, to name a few.
Perhaps that is why my favorite book, the only novel I've read four times (and counting) is Watership Down by Richard Adams. Yep, I'm talking about the rabbits.
The main character is Hazel, an average Joe who lives in a large warren with his quirky group of friends, including a tiny fella named Fiver who is either psychic or a little touched in the head. Fiver envisions death coming to the warren, and Hazel gathers everyone he can to escape before it is too late.
And so the adventure begins. This little band of refugees must travel across great distances to find a new home, enduring the constant threat of starvation and predators while discovering a new sense of their own strengths and the power of teamwork.
It's an immersion experience like no other. I swear I can feel what it's like to be a rabbit, how they think, how they live, what they fear, what they enjoy. Each character is so well-drawn that I could easily pick him out at a rabbit party. They don't all make it, and it kills me every time.
But I can tell you one thing. Hazel, the average Joe? There's nothing average about him. It takes a wild adventure for him, and everyone around him, to realize that he is spectacular. Special. He has gifts unique to him. And isn't that something we all like to imagine for ourselves? A grand adventure that brings out the best in us?
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