Howl's Moving Castle (1986)

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 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. ( )

I’ve owned the sequel (middle book) to this trilogy for years, so when I realised it wasn’t the first book, I picked up books 1 and 3. Although it’s essentially a children’s book, I’m not above re-reading books I loved as a child or reading famous ones which I missed out on and this is one of those. I loved this. Yes, not all the characters are exactly likeable, but I could name more than a few characters from my childhood books that are far from perfect. There’s a lot of plot here, surprisingly so. The story gets a little snarled up in its own cleverness, but had I come across this as a child, I’m sure it would have been one of those I kept all these years. Howl is a bit of an egocentric, but not as clueless as he first appears to be. The castle is perhaps the best character in the book. I will say I’m uncertain what age group this is for. I could have read it aged around 8, but there are long words, some dated, that I’m unsure children today would know. A book some children may need help with. But this is a fabulous story that will stay with those who love it for years. (Side note: there are some notable differences between the book and the film; I prefer the book.) ( )

Lovely re-reading experience! A handsome wizard who courts many girls and jilts them, a moving castle that makes all sorts of lovely magic, and a girl who was turned into a 90-year-old woman by a wicked witch -- put them together, give a hint of romance between the wizard and the girl, and demonstrate the wizard has a kind heart after all and the girl has natural talent for magic, and the book cannot go wrong. Kept me up in the middle of the night because I just couldn't put it down. I recommended it to my daughter and she's reading it now. Seems like it's time to re-watch the Ghibli film too! ( )

I don’t know what’s with this book. Is it possible to find it really boring and at the same time beautiful? I got bored for most parts but the gradual process of Howl and Sophie’s love story is beautiful.

I love the movie. I watched it first before I read this book. I don’t want to compare them and I would like to think that they are two different beautiful masterpieces. ( )

Mmmm. Mostly aged okay. There are some Jones-isms where people end up in modern day England again for no well-explained reason.

At least Sophie was pretty powerful from the beginning. I can deal with that. ( )