【Book Review】Howl's Moving Castle

Howl’s Moving Castle

Sophie, the eldest of the three sisters, is doomed to follow her fate and inherit her parents’ hat shop. Sophie proceeds her mind-numbing life and gives up the hope of achieving her own dreams. Things remain the same until one night she meets the Witch of the Waste, who she has an argument with and is therefore under a terrible spell the witch made that turns her into a ninety-year-old lady. In order to break her spell, Sophie is forced to confront with the witch, to enter the mysterious moving castle of wizard Howl, and to conquer many other obstacles. Through Sophie’s long journey, she discovers much more about herself and the seemingly wicked Howl.

-Spoilers Alert!-

    Now, let’s talk about Sophie and Howl’s relationship. To my surprise, Howl appears to be a less appealing figure in the book, but this fact also makes him more realistic than the Howl in the movie. Book Howl has several irritating flaws, for example, he is fickle especially when it comes to romantic relations, and he is also evasive, fastidious and even narcissistic. In the book Howl is not a perfect figure, but he develops as a person through the progress of the plot. At the end of the novel, Howl learns to bear his responsibility and confront the evil.

Howl and Sophie in the movie

    My favorite character in Howl’s moving castle is no doubt to be our female protagonist Sophie. She is very tough. If I am a young girl and suddenly turn into an old lady, I must freak out or even go through a mental breakdown. Sophie dares to leave her safe house and ventures into the Howl’s castle; she dares to make a bargain with the fire demon Calcifer; she dares to visit the king for the purpose of blackening Howl’s name; she even dares to confront the witch of the waste to safe Mrs. Angorian. (I’m pretty sure I spell it wrong.) I deeply admire her because she is such a brave and clever female character. The interaction between Howl and Sophie’s is always humorous which makes me want to giggle every time I read these parts.

Howl's Moving Castle

    Many readers may know the very famous movie adaptation of this book. I agree with numerous other readers that the original book has a broader view of the world and a well-crafted and more twisted plot. However, I prefer watching the movie to reading the book, which is probably the opposite of many readers’ opinions. I watched the movie seven years ago when I was a young kid, the movie leave me wonderful memories and, therefore, possessed an extremely high status in my mind. The problem with me reading the novel Howl’s Moving Castle is that I always put the images of the movie into the characters of the novel. For example, when I read about what Howl does something in the book, I always relate to the Howl in the movie who does the same thing. Another example occurs when the book portrays the appearance of the moving castle, I instantly imagine the castle in the movie. The thing that bothers me is that the book and the movie are actually very different from each other. The book has more characters than the movie and they each portrays the remaining characters very differently, such as the Witch of the Waste, who is portrayed as an elegant and arrogant woman in the novel but a fat, surly, and filthy middle-aged woman in the movie. I have a weird feeling while I read through these pages, though I don’t hate that feeling.

    If I can be able to give a rating to the movie, I will give it 5 stars. Considering the fact that I give the book 4 stars on GoodReads, I have an explanation for my rating. I am pretty sure most people have the exactly reversal rating compares to mine. They all believe the book is far better than the movie. Now, for the first time, I am having the unpopular opinion againsst the general public. I will skip all my praise for the movie and talk about my problems with the book. The one major issue that I have about the book is that it ends too abruptly. I am eager to read more about the life of Sophie and Howl when they live together as a family, but now all I can do is to read some fan fiction. I am so disappointed about the fact that the author doesn’t write about their common life. Since I have already watched the movie, I have a basic idea of what is going to happen until the end, and I wait for the portrait of Sophie and Howl’s interaction after they live together since the beginning of the plot! I cannot believe the author doesn’t write that, so I give it four stars to express my anger.

    I still recommend everyone who loves the movie Howl’s Moving Castle to go read the book, maybe you can discover something that you haven’t noticed before.

Howl's Bedroom,one of my favorite scenes in the movie. Very different from the book indeed.