Howl’s Moving Castle
by Prof. Cassandra S. Lobiesk
I don’t know why I was so surprised when I saw the original, book version of Howl’s Moving Castle in the bookstore. When I watched the Hayao Miyazaki movie with the same name, I just thought it was another masterpiece in his long line of movies dealing with pollution, a strong, female heroine, and technology versus nature. Little did I know that it was inspired by Dianne Wynne Jones, who in turn was inspired by a boy desiring for a story about a moving castle.
Jones’ Howl starts with Sophie Hatter, one of three pretty girls living in a hat shop located in bustling Market Chipping, a town in the fictional world of Ingary. As the oldest sister, Sophie is resigned to being the most unsuccessful of her siblings, since it is a known fact that the eldest would be the least fortunate. Her situation, however, takes a turn for the worse when the dreaded Witch of the Waste casts a spell on the flabbergasted Sophie. Spelled into the body of an old woman, Sophie leaves the comfort of the hat shop and finds herself coaxing inanimate objects to life, and persuading fire-demons to open magical doors on moving castles.
To make matters even more unfortunate, the moving castle belongs to the Wizard Howl, a vain, handsome “slitherer-outer” who never answers questions and has the knack of charming ladies into loving him. A powerful wizard, Howl is also on the run from the Witch of the Waste, and with the help of Calcifer his fire-demon, his home travels from one place to the next.
The Miyazaki movie is based loosely on Jones’ story, with great many differences, of course. In the movie, Sophie is an only child, and is the target of the Witch of the Waste because of Howl’s potential partiality to the timid, pretty girl. The book throws in a deeper plot underneath the spell, and it turns out that the Witch’s reasons for cursing Sophie was no more than Sophie being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Howl’s Moving Castle was very entertaining to read, and Jones really tries to put you inside the shoes of a mentally ‘old’ Sophie. As the 18-year-old that she started off as in the book, Sophie spooked easily and was very shy; as the grandmotherly Miss Hatter, she was calmer and more outspoken. Her latter personality, coupled with natural curiosity, made her a persistent and amusing match against Howl himself.
There were a number of other characters to note, but my favorite was definitely Calcifer, the poor, caged demon residing at the fireplace. Calcifer’s illustration was also well-done in the film, and I don’t think I could have imagined him any other way.
The dynamics inside the moving castle between the four characters became almost as regular as breathing: Calcifer would be found crackling away up the chimney, apprentice Michael Fisher would be at his desk practicing another spell, Howl would spend over two hours in the bathroom, and Sophie is either bustling about cleaning the castle or poking her nose through various things. Meanwhile, plots unravel and curses eventually catch up with their victims.
For those who have actually seen Miyazaki’s Academy Award-nominated film and liked it, Jones’ Howl promises to be just as enticing and filled with even more events lacking in the film. This completely gets the Cassie stamp of approval!
I agree, I absolutely love both the book and the movie ~ they both hold their own set of charms. And I also agree that Calcifer is SO lovable. I wish they had incorporated the poem the book was based on a little more in the movie but such things don’t always translate well (Japanese) i suppose. My only note would be that Lettie is actually in the movie, she works at the bakery, so Sophie isn’t an only child but the emphasis on the siblings that was in the book definitely isn’t in the movie.
Great review, those of you who havent, take her advice, and READ AND SEE!
Haha, I completely forgot the Lettie in the movie (it’d been a while since I last saw it). But there definitely wasn’t a Martha, and that’s right, there wasn’t much of an emphasis regarding her sister.