It can be a rewarding and exciting endeavour to read something different, meant for an age younger than you, to rediscover the fun of well written book. For me that book was Howl’s Moving Castle. It had been a book I had wanted to read for many years, particularly after discovering the Studio Ghibli film in a Japanese class in high school well over a decade ago now. Finally, I managed to get a copy and set about reading this long awaited title that had been on my TBR list for way too long. Howl’s Moving Castle, the book, is completely different to Howl’s Moving Castle, the film. I was aware of this before reading, but the differences are quite stark. Whilst I adore the film, it is a very different story. And the book, full of the fantastical and dramatic (and some unexpected location visits), is just as endearing and exciting to experience.
BLURB:
In this beloved modern classic, young Sophie Hatter from the land of Ingary catches the unwelcome attention of the Witch of the Waste and is put under a spell . . .
Deciding she has nothing more to lose, Sophie makes her way to the moving castle that hovers on the hills above her town, Market Chipping. But the castle belongs to the dreaded Wizard Howl, whose appetite, they say, is satisfied only by the souls of young girls…
There Sophie meets Michael, Howl’s apprentice, and Calcifer the fire demon, with whom she agrees a pact. Her entanglements with Calcifer, Howl and Michael and her quest to break her curse come alive with Diana Wynne Jones’s unique combination of magic, humour and imagination.
REVIEW:
Sophie believes she is cursed, mores than the one she receives from the Witch of the Waste, and it seems that bad luck does follow her around, with mishap after mishap leading to hilarious and sometimes terrible consequences. It is her meddling ways that bind the characters of the book together, from her sisters to the residents within Howl’s Castle itself. She has heart, even if she makes the wrong choices sometimes, things do, eventually, work out for the best. Howl is far more dramatic and self-absorbed in the book than the movie adaptation which is exceedingly funny when placed in contrast of Sophie’s seriousness and the significance of the plot points at play.
Overall the book is deeply charming, easy to read and something I wish I had picked up as a child. There are jokes and references in it that I would probably only have understood as an adult, but the whimsical and spirited nature of the writing is perfect for any young lover of magic and witches and otherworldly things. Reading this now in my late 20s was simply joyful. It served as a timely reminder that as readers we don’t have to stick to the boxes we’ve created for ourselves. I may not be child anymore, but reading books for children is something I think we should do a lot more of. For just a few hundred pages I was back in that feeling of being my childhood bed, head under the covers with a light, staying up later than my bed time, trying to get lost in another world.
A deeply strange and fantastical novel for readers of any age looking for a story with curiosity and heart, Howl’s Moving Castle is a wonderful read.
Until next time,
Rating: 4 Stars
Genre: Children’s Adventure (9+)
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