Ever read a book you basically wanted to dislike for various reasons yet still you like it, and you like it a lot? Watership Down by Richard Adams is one of those books, for me. It should seem cheesy and all rabbity and odd, but it’s endearing and compelling instead.
I suppose it depends on how you view the story. 
As a sweet tale a father started telling his children on car rides or an allegory about corporate persecution, domination of the vulnerable, logic and sentiment at war and so much more.
If viewed as the latter I wonder who would be most disturbed by a freedom so longed for, snatched away, the children or the parents? Both can understand, but children still have the hope of that freedom, while adults realize it is more illusionary.
Depending on the level you choose to read or believe, perhaps a challenging read, but worth it. Very strange, but there it is.
Watership Down has been adapted to film, TV, theatre, games, and has inspired songs, album titles, references, and parodies, it’s become a cult classic. Why? I’m sure there are various reasons.
Perhaps because the 1970s were a time of change where people were exploring massive social, political, and economic shifts. Using anthropomorphic depictions of animals lets us examine human issues, problems, flaws, transformations, strife, horror, etc. through nonhuman images in a sort of Safe Mode.
It’s a lot like Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (by Robert C. O’Brien, later made into The Secret of NIMH) which published just a year before, similar ideas and visions. But maybe we’re reading too much into WD, sometimes a rabbit is just a rabbit.
I wonder…40 years from now what literature will represent our times, to last the test of time, if any? Maybe just an app or chip or a memory. Hopefully all is not Lost.
yadadarcyyada 
Now I’m intrigued since I know I’ve read it but can’t remember (oh the damned fog!) . Have to get a copy….. Susan x
LikeLike
I read it as a child and have reread it a couple times since, periodically, to remember if or know if I still like it. I do. Hope you enjoy or remember enjoying. 😉
LikeLike
Yes. we seem to r read those books which hare something it for us..
Bless Susan x
LikeLike
Actually it had its genesis really in the war… told in embryonic form in the 1960s, written in 1967-9. It came out later because it took six Brit publishers refusing it before one had the vision to publish it. I know, I was there… XXX
LikeLike
Well, I suppose the actual story has been around for thousands of years in one form or another. So glad various authors had the good sense to write the story down and various publishers had the good sense to publish them. It was lovely to hear your version of how it got published Juliet. 🙂
LikeLike