Howl's Moving Castle

Sophie's life is plain and uneventful as befits the eldest daughter of three - everyone knows exciting things only happen to the youngest of three children. However, when the Witch of the Waste comes into the hat shop where Sophie works and casts a curse on her, Sophie's life is turned upside down. In the wake of these events she ends up in the castle of the Wizard Howl and then her life becomes truly unpredictable.

I've been fond of the Miyazaki film adaptation of this book for years but had never read the original source material until now. I found the book a delight with many fascinating plot lines that differ greatly from the film and charming character development for all. A sweet, charming, fantasy novel that holds up well no show more matter your age. show less

(4.5)

Ah, good ol’ Howl’s Moving Castle. To be honest, I haven’t read this for a long time, and I remember feeling lukewarm about it then, but I’m glad I had time for a re-read. Some stories age well.

Book content warnings:
- decapitation (not shown on page)

Representation:
-

Though adventure and destiny are for the youngest children, Sophie Hatter -- eldest of three -- gets thrown into an adventure involving the dreadful Witch of the Waste and the evil, heart-eating Wizard Howl.

After being cursed to become an old woman by the Witch, Sophie seeks Howl’s help, and discovers through his fire demon that Howl himself is cursed by the Witch and has a contract he needs to break. Sophie makes a deal: she’ll break his contract, and the show more fire demon, Calcifer, will break her curse. As Sophie stays on in the castle and prepares to face the Witch, she (unfortunately) finds that there’s more to Howl than she first thought and is perhaps growing fond of him.

Ah, Howl’s Moving Castle, you have nearly everything: brilliant and complex characters, romance, the element of time running out, the found family trope, and a wonderful setting. Okay, so it might be my love for the Ghibli movie talking as well, but the book does stand on its own (I really tried to read as objectively as possible). But it’s really hard to ignore the book’s charm; it reads like a fairytale almost, with a fun modern wit.

The one thing I’d mention is that right after the climax, the book ends. There’s no breathing room. I know it’s deliberate (Howl and Sophie unwilling to look away as the other characters scramble for their attention) , and it creates a very sort of satisfying finality, but I don’t get a chance to settle before it’s all over. I also wish there were more from Howl -- we get everything from Sophie’s PoV: when she fell in love with Howl, when she started seeing everyone in the castle as her family, etc., but you only get teeny tiny glimpses of what Howl’s feeling through other characters’ dialogue. The dialogue at the end could’ve been where things could clear up, but it went by so fast!

This is a very personal opinion though! Howl is a character of mystery anyway, so other people could love this about him (when he truly fell in love re: the tiny glimpses, etc.). Who knows?

As for true flaws I really can’t find much. It’s just a really well-written and well-constructed book. There’s a reason it’s such a loved classic. Now that I have a better appreciation for it, I’ll definitely be going back to read it again and again. show less

No matter how many times I read or listen to this book I cannot help but to love these characters. I am always gripped time and time again by the magical world of Howl’s Moving Castle and it’s cast of characters. I would say that it’s an absolute must read of anyone that loves young adult fantasy.

Now, on to the kind of spoilery bit of why I love this book so much. (I guess it’s a review of sorts.)

I decided that I wanted to re-read Howl’s Moving Castle for the third time, and this was the second time that I listened to the audiobook (thankfully this time I managed to find the unabridged version). This was and still is one of my favourite fantasy books of all time. I first read this book 5 years ago and what I loved about it show more then I still love about it now. Sophie is a hard working, nonsense young woman that instead of hiding and crying about being cursed to be an old woman decides to embrace it. Sure, she runs away from her family and ends up living with Howl in his moving castle pretending to be an old woman and not being able to tell anyone about her curse. But that doesn’t stop her. No, in a way it liberates her.

Being the eldest sister of three, Sophie has always been convinced that she will be destined to fail if she ever set out to make her fortune. So, she resigns herself to working in the family hat shop as an unpaid apprentice where she draws in on herself and becomes skittish and resigned. She doesn’t believe that she should be anything more than content and to live and work in their late father’s hat shop (now run by her step-mother Fanny). So when Sophie is cursed she sees no other option but to leave. It’s not like she can explain to Fanny what’s happened as part of the curse is is that she can’t tell anyone about the curse.

Because of the curse Sophie ends up finding her way in life and what makes her happy.

As an old woman Sophie embraces the fact that she can do and say many things that she wouldn’t have thought of before she was cursed. She becomes bolder, showing of her quick wit and cleverness. She stops being a timid ‘mouse’ that’s afraid of taking charge with her life.

If you can’t tell I love just how much of a strong female character Sophie is. And that she does it all while remaining feminine and true to her self. Just bolder. I would say that Sophie is a great example of a strong female character that is has traditionally feminine traits but won’t hesitate to stand up for herself (after she’s been curse in chapter 2).

I love Sophie. As well as Howl, Calcifer and Micheal.

Howl is incredibly dramatic and self-absorbed and I constantly find myself laughing at (and kind of resonating with) the length things he’ll go to to avoid doing or confronting something. Or someone. I love the fact that Howl is rumoured to be this evil wizard that steals girls hearts and eats when really he’s just a preening Welsh peacock, that charms girls and throws them away when they fall in love with him. He doesn’t start off as the nicest man in that regard. But as the story progresses Howl turns out to care deeply for his family back in Wales (his sister, niece and nephew). And that he has a bit of a soft spot for strays. As seen with the fact that he saved Calcifer from dying, allowed Micheal to live with him when he was orphaned and homeless (he did kind of sneak in and decide to make himself useful so he could keep staying there), and when Sophie told him that she was now his cleaning lady after sleeping there for a night.

Howl is often called ‘Heartless Howl’ but really he’s very soft hearted.

One thing that I love about him is that even though he cares so much about his looks he doesn’t bother at all when he goes to rescue Sophie from the Witch of Wastes looking like a complete mess without any of his beauty spells on. Which speaks volumes about how much he cares for Sophie.

Their dynamic is hilarious. They are constantly goading each other and have lot of playful banter. That changes from them being mere-acquaintance-that-live-in-the-same-house-and-are-both-curse, to begrudging friends, friends and lastly lovers. They only admit their feelings for each other at the very end of the book. Which is a little sad, because I love these two together and I wish there was more of them in the sequels Castle in the Air and House of Many Ways. But I guess that’s what fanfiction is for.

This book is filled with lush fantasy, vasts amounts of peak British humour, witty, dynamic, fleshed out characters (including the side characters). I absolutely adore this book and I encourage anyone to read it and hope that they love it just as much as I do. show less

This is the third time, I think, that I've read this book. This time the plot made sense!

I was trying to figure out just what makes this book so good, and I decided that it has to do with being a type of story that I find very interesting. I will call it the "inhabitable book." The inhabitable book creates a place that is completely real and compelling and that you get to visit every time you pick up the novel. When you think about this place, you experience the same nostalgia that comes from thinking about a really wonderful vacation spot or a former home. You completely understand the feelings that the characters in the story have about this place because they are your own.

Now, it sounds like what I've described is escapism, but I show more think it's something more specific. In Howl's Moving Castle, the novel's fun doesn't just come from the fantasy setting (although a moving castle that exists in multiple locations at once is certainly intrinsically awesome.) It's the home that the characters create, the domestic routine that brings four personalities - Sophie, Howl, Michael, and Calcifer - together. The moving castle wouldn't be a compelling place without them, any more than Hogwarts would be without its students and professors or Middle-earth would be without the Fellowship.

The inhabitable book doesn't just exist in fantasy literature, or children's literature - I think a pretty similar thing occurs when people reread Pride and Prejudice in order to visit with the Bennets.

The inhabitable book can easily become boring, unfocused, and self-indulgent. Jones avoids this fate by embedding the book with one of her characteristic tangled mysteries, imbuing every scene with extra significance. As we attempt to put together the pieces, we also uncover who Howl is, who Sophie is, and what they are to one another.

The result is a book that is dynamic and static at once, both a place and a series of events. I think it's an amazing sort of book to write, and a genre that I would very much like to add to someday. show less

I feel like I've done myself a disservice by having watched the Miyazaki film dozens of times before reading the novel, but not too much of a disservice. There are so many beautiful scenes from the movie, full of magic, flight, and war... that didn't exist in the novel. Who knew? (Apparently, everyone.) And yet, I can't fault the novel for not being great, because it was.

Step by step, all of the characters were pretty damn spot on with what I know of the film, except I was given a great gift of depth and insight that opened up their lives to me. Suddenly, situations that once felt slapdash have reasons, like the flower shop, and sisters actually have lives and motivations and peril. Oh so great peril, indeed!

I think I liked the Witch of show more the Waste a lot more in the novel, including her plot, her deviousness, and her end. It all felt more immediate and satisfying. And yet, the movie was so damn cute and heartwarming. It turned the witch and the turnip head into (almost) immediately likeable heroes. (Well, maybe not the Witch, but she did have her heart for the film.)

How can I decide which is better? I am tempted to go for my go to canned speech about how novels are always better than their movie adaptations, but I'm having a bit of trouble here. The novel was a wonderfully complete set piece with a light voice throughout. The movie had much better magic and action. The fact that both diverged significantly in story doesn't help much, either, and if the movie had been in anyone else's hands, I'd have belched out my canned speech.

I know I can read this novel again with as much enjoyment as I read it this time, and that's saying an awful lot. I'm going to have to say that the novel is a classic. Why I had never heard of it before is an utter mystery. I'm going to name the novel as the winner, mainly because I loved her use of the mundane to put Howl in his place. It showed brilliantly in the novel, whereas it only touched lightly in the movie. I've got to go for my favorite parts to make a decision.

I'm definitely going to read this one to my daughter when she gets a few more years on her.

This is some pretty classic and classy fantasy. YA, but it's obviously in vogue to read YA as adults these days. At least there was no rape and mass death of children or mind-wiping involved. show less

Howl, born Jenkins in a small village in Wales, is a wizard and a pretty good one. Only problem is that he's been cursed by the powerful Witch of the Waste who has also disappeared another wizard and the brother of the local king, Prince Justin. Howl has a fire demon who builds him a castle that can move about and thus he eludes the witch. Three girls live in a hat shop in a little market town in England, the eldest believes the tales that say the eldest is always a dud, and ends up being cursed herself into an old woman, a fate she accepts, but she does end up leaving home and starting adventures of her own. Wonderfully written and wonderfully read. What a premise--a 90-year old heroine and what a delight! Howl himself is a hoot, a show more terrible flirt, kind-hearted but also vain and self-absorbed -- I adore how characters in DWJ's work talk to one another. I've decided to do the Wynne Jones ouevre on audio, so you'll be seeing many more. ****1/2 show less

I had no idea that “Howl’s Moving Castle” was a book first, let alone a series. I was really taken with plucky, pragmatic Sophie who is transformed into an old woman by The Witch of the Waste. She accepts her new situation without feeling very sorry for herself and decides to set out on her own, climbing into a magical castle and basically stumbling into her own adventure.

This was quirky and fun. Diana Wynne Jones does a great job describing scenes but leaving enough gaps that allowed me to fill in the rest with my own imagination.

There were a few occasion where I was tired of all the back and forth of characters entering the castle and leaving only to knock on the door seconds moments later – seemingly, for no reason at all. Or show more characters making great treks across fields or palace grounds for the sole purpose of staging a run-in with another character. Even so, it’s a charming fantasy tale and a great one to breeze through. show less