Traveller

April 25, 1988
Returning to an animal protagonist for the first time in 10 years, the author of the beloved Watership Down has come up with an ironic, revisionist view of the Civil War as seen by Robert E. Lee's horse, Traveller. Told as he and Lee live in quiet retirement, in a series of monologues directed at an amiable tomcat, Traveller's story depicts the war's battles, retreats and casualties from the naive perspective of a hero-worshipping servant to a great leader; down to the final surrender, Traveller's idealization of his rider doesn't allow him to recognize or even understand defeat. Fans of Adams's earlier novels will rejoice in his undiminished gift for conveying both the physical life and the interior essence of an animal. He makes Traveller a vivid, touching character, never merely a talking beast. But the author's depiction of human action is less convincing with repetitious, meandering delineations of encampments, advances and attacks that rob the tale of drama, reported in quaint Old South dialect that comes, unfortunately, straight from the horse's mouth. 50,000 first printing; BOMC alternate.