Year of Epic Fantasy Reading 2017: Day 19 (Howl's Moving Castle)

Title: Howl's Moving Castle
Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Themes: Insecurity and Vice
Quotes: "It was very odd. Sophie had always thought she was nearly as strong minded as Lettie. Now she was finding that there were things she could only do when there were no excuses left."
Reading/Listening Time: 8 hours, 36 minutes

Rant:

About a month ago I made a post comparing the movie and book versions of this story, I want to talk about the book particularly here though because a lot of people assume that just because they've seen a movie based on a book they know the characters and they know what the book is about. And, guys, that's just not the case with this one. They are completely different. So if you've seen the Studio Ghilbi film I would highly encourage you to check this one out, but I would also caution you not to expect them to be exactly alike: this book is it's own thing, it has a completely different message and Book!Howl and Movie!Howl are completely different people.

Review: 

The story takes place in an alternate reality where everything's vaguely Victorian, but there's also wizards and sorceresses. They can be good or bad, but most of the time it just sounds like they work their trade like everyone else.

I think this book is real sweet and smart. It's about a girl named Sophie trying to make her way in the world. At the start, she's kind of neurotic and every time she wants to do something she always thinks all the reasons why she can't do the thing. It gets so bad, she has a hard time even going into town on a visit. Her normal routine bores her, but anything out of that routine fills her with terrible anxiety.

And then one day a witch walks into the shop where she works and curses her...into an old woman.! And you know, it's a curse...like it's not a good thing that happened to her, but really it kind of liberates her from everything that's been keeping her from doing the things she'd like to do with her life. I find it delightful that everything fearful and uncertain about her life suddenly becomes an opportunity; because she feels like she has nothing to loose, she's ready to make the most of it. 


There's a lot to like about this story, but this was my favorite aspect of it. 

At first the plot itself seems kind of oddball, like "The Wizard of Oz" or "Alice in Wonderland". Just a bit of random occurrences and obstacles kind of thrown together loosely for our protagonist to encounter, but there's actually a pretty substantial mystery behind it and there ends up being a satisfying resolution to it all and how it all fits together.

I'd written a whole character analysis for Howl, but I don't want to include it because I think focusing on him too much gives you the wrong impression of the book. It's like Iron Man in the first Avengers movie: he's a big part of it, but the story is more about the ensemble, and how their lives intertwined. It could have focused on Suleiman, or the General, or even the evil sorcerors and it would have been just as interesting because of the way it explores the characters motivations. 


Rating: 4/5 Stars.