The Sage of Waterloo
"On June 17, 1815, the Duke of Wellington amassed his troops at Hougoumont, an ancient farmstead not far from Waterloo. The next day, the French attacked--the first shots of the Battle of Waterloo--sparking a brutal, day-long skirmish that left six thousand men either dead or wounded. William is a white rabbit living at Hougoumont today. Under the tutelage of his mysterious and wise grandmother Old Lavender, William attunes himself to the echoes and ghosts of the battle, and through a series of adventures he comes to recognize how deeply what happened at Waterloo two hundred years before continues to reverberate"--Amazon.com.
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In an attempt to get close to my 2017 Goodreads Reading Challenge target, I selected a number of short books from the library that were between 100 and 200 pages. Some books, like “The Sage of Waterloo: A Tale” by Leona Francombe, caught my eye as I prowled around the fiction section.
After picking up the thin volume, TSOW's premise captured my attention. I know not to get too excited about comparisons to other beloved books, such as Richard Adams' “Watership Down.” However, I figured that there was no harm in trying a new book that wouldn't take forever to read.
Due to holiday activities, I didn't make it through TSOW. Boo. Early in the book, I found myself disappointed despite low expectations. TSOW could have been a really neat little book. Instead, it drags on, which is hard to do in a few hundred pages (small pages, at that, so think of the time commitment to read this book as about 100 normal pages).
There isn't anything “rabbitty” about William and all of the other rabbits, other than Old Lavender. Of course, each author has a different take on the level of anthropromorphism, without which it would be difficult for a human to read a book written from an animal's point of view. However, every rabbit knows every detail about the Battle of Waterloo, including the ball the night before the battle, as well as every name and maneuver of both sides. While the idea of stories passed down from generation to generation would be a great way to both expand the characters of each rabbit and to world-build, neither is successful. I had to skim through the dull battle scenes in order not get through this short tome.
William also takes a journey, of sorts, and interacts with Arthur, a blackbird who frequents Williams' owner's yard after leaving Hougoumont. Arthur is probably the most interesting character in the book besides Old Lavendar. In fact, a book written from his perspective would have been more interesting given the range and number of characters he could talk to. William barely talks to his fellow rabbits and never seems to develop his gift, which must be more than simply having a white coat inherited from a rabbit taken by a young French boy and released into the forest near the battle.
Overall, I was sad that a book filled with so many interesting options took advantage of none of them.
