Howl's Moving Castle

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/howls-moving-castle/

There are a lot of differences with the film, and I guess it made me more conscious of what DWJ was reaching for as a writer. For a start, the novel is very English, and also Welsh, in a way that the film is not. The suburban streets are definitely not Continental, in a way that's difficult to describe but impossible to mistake. But also, DWJ is much more into complex family dynamics than into spectacle. Howl's apprentice Michael (rather than the Alpine-sounding Markl) is a grown young man rather than a boy. Sophie has two sisters and a stepmother. There is a lot (as usual with DWJ) about family dynamics, both Sophie's birth family and her adopted household in the moving castle. There show more is a distinct lack of spectacular flying scenes. The plot is still a bit tangly, and the resolution is just about better than the film, untidier than usual for DWJ. However, it's great fun. show less

I love this book. It's my second time reading it and this time it's for a local book club. The characters are much more unique than in the Ghibli movie (which is still amazing, don't get me wrong), and it is somehow comforting and cozy, while also having an undercurrent of dread and confusion. My only quibble is that the ending felt abrupt and more of these revelations could have been used to build up the climactic events. But it's still a delightful read.

I read this book twice, with less than a year between each time. The first time I read it I struggled with letting go of the movie version. I was frustrated both because I realized I was expecting the book to fill in certain gaps from the movie that turned out to not be in the book at all, but also because so many people whose opinion on books I rely on have a deep and abiding love for this book, and I was just... not... feeling it.

Don't get me wrong, I rated it four stars the first time. I just wasn't as rapturously in love as I wanted to be.

But still, I figured my family would appreciate it, so I put it on the bedtime story shelf, and the next spring someone picked it up. The second time through of course I knew what I was getting show more into, so there wasn't the constant failing expectations to deal with, and I found myself enjoying surprising my family with the differences from the movie.

I still can't do a Billy Crystal voice, though, which will never fail to be a disappointment to me.

Sophie and her conspiring sisters are just great, and getting to embody Howl's massive tantrums by reading them out loud made them more fun. I'm glad I got another chance to encounter this novel. show less

This is the story the way Sophie remembers it. The film is Howl's perspective. Both are excellent in their own ways and you cannot change my mind about the preceding headcannon

2025 Advent, Day 3 (a reread): I stand by my prior statements. I will only add that i nearly forgot Howl is a PhD student living in his sisters shed. Also, I note that he wrote his dissertation on curses and spells but never claims to have gotten the degree. New headcannon: he literally entered an alternate universe via portal to escape academia.
Speaking as a current phd student myself, i am not going to say "same" but, like, I get it.

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

So much good in here! Creative, brave, risky, almost cliche-free, upbeat inventive fantasy. Miyazaki made a movie out of it, and you can see why. It's got his pacing and commitment to otherworldliness. Plotting lags near the end, and she attempts to wrap things up with everyone suddenly having an "appropriate" romantic interest. No. Unearned. I would have preferred more time with each character.

After running afoul of the cruel Witch of the Waste, young Sophie is transformed into an wizened old woman. She eventually seeks refuge with the wizard Howl -- the Witch's sarcastic nemesis -- and makes a deal with his fire demon, Calcifer, who is bound to Howl by contract. Calcifer wants Sophie to break the bond, but he isn't allowed to explain the contract's conditions. But that's perfect, since Sophie isn't allow to explain her curse either. So they make a mutual pact to break the enchantments binding one another...once they can figure out how to do that. In the meantime, Sophie cleans Howl's magical house, helps Howl's harried apprentice, and tries to rein in the incorrigible Howl himself.

The book bubbles over with magical hijinks show more and cases of mistaken identity. All the characters move in a dozen separate trajectories and still manage to collide in exactly the right spots.

Also: the plot hinges on a John Donne poem. Squee. show less