Pros: A unique
tale with nifty goodies
Cons: I never
liked Howl
The Bottom Line:
Close to five stars, but not quite - maybe I'm just picky about my books these
days...
Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle has origins, and those
origins are here, with the creation of Diana Wynne Jones’s book of the same
title. The moment I heard the movie came from a book, I sought it out and
finished the mere 212 page book in two days.
Sophie is the eldest of three, which means she won’t amount
to much, or so everyone says. After her father dies, her mother Fanny sends her
sisters Martha and Lettie off so they can make their fortunes and Sophie is to
stay at the hat shop and become and apprentice. So Sophie makes hats. Day after
day. She talks to them a little too, since there’s not much else to do while
making hats. But one evening a woman comes in – a woman who turns out to be the
Witch of the Waste, and when Sophie doesn’t give her what she wants, *poof!* a
spell is cast and Sophie becomes an old woman. Drat.
Deciding to set out on her own even as an old woman, Sophie
leaves and heads out, winding up inside Howl’s moving castle where she meets
Michael, Howl’s young apprentice, and Calcifer, a fire demon. Calcifer sees
Sophie is under a spell and they make a deal – Sophie breaks Calcifer’s contract
with Howl and he will break her spell. Sophie agrees and announces herself as
Howl’s new cleaning lady. But during her time there she learns that Howl does
steal hearts – figuratively, and then breaks them, one of which may be her
sister. There’s an odd and frightening scarecrow that keeps chasing after the
castle. The Witch of the Waste is after Howl. Howl himself is a selfish pretty
boy, whose talents are great, but redeeming qualities few. And throughout all
this, Sophie learns a thing or two about herself and her own talents.
9 out of 10 times the book is better than the movie. Though
this book was good in its own way, I liked the movie better. Actually, I think
a meshing of the two would make things perfect, but that’s beside the point.
Jones’s writing style is crisp and clear, and she gives us plenty of magical
items and encounters, and people to boot. A man stuck as a dog. A scarecrow
with a mind of its own. Boots that zip you ten miles over the landscape. A
spell with some very unique end results. And of course, a castle that moves and
has a door that opens to four locations. Delightful.
I think Howl and the very end was my only problem. Though I
like all the characters and everything that is happening, it was no surprise
that Howl was a spoiled pretty boy. But I expected to see some change as the
book went along. Maybe I missed it, but I don’t ever recall seeing any. The
things he says to Sophie are never truly mean-spirited, but I personally
wouldn’t take to kindly to them either. Naturally Sophie is annoyed or angry
with him most of the time, but at the end suddenly it’s as though we have a
complete 180 by both characters. Actually just Sophie – there’s only one tiny
instance before when we spot a change in Howl, but that’s it. Even in the book
is said that he hadn’t changed much. I’m just not convinced she would fall for
him, as I expected I should be.
But aside from all that, it’s a cute book. Read it to your
kids, they’ll probably enjoy it. The plot may be a tad bit thick, what with the
missing persons and the scarecrow’s purpose and what the bad guy was trying to
do exactly. But read it yourself if you’re curious; you can’t go wrong when
there’s a little fire demon involved.
NT
Originally published
on Epinions.com.
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