Processing Associate Samuel Masih recommends Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.
Howl’s Moving Castle was a very fun read. My older sisters both grew up loving the Studio Ghibli films, and so I had seen bits and pieces of the adaptation of this book before I read it. That being said, my first full consumption of this story was through the original novel, and the world that Jones builds is so interesting.
Basically every fun idea and gimmick from the Ghibli film is based on something that comes from this novel, but the difference is in the stories and themes that are given.
The novel is about Sophie and the curse that was laid upon her by the Wicked Witch of the Waste, who is the main antagonist.
She eventually seeks out Wizard Howl because of his affinity with magic, and the story explores Howl’s past and subsequent romance with Sophie. The Ghibli movie is very different, as its plot changes the Witch of the Waste into essentially a gag character, and instead merges a lot of Howl’s mentor characters into one antagonist. This may be because I read the book first, but I found that the original novel has a better and easier to follow plotline.
That being said, the story and themes of the movie were much more interesting for me. The Ghibli adaptation, like most, are heavy handed on their anti-war and anti-imperialist messaging, and this being the subject matter heightens the film adaptation above the novel. I found the themes of the novel to be quite uninspired and safe because the plot is a pretty simple love story, where Howl has a “bad” past at face-value, but he’s actually a really nice guy. However, the magical ideas of the novel were so fun, that the boredom with the story and themes were definitely overshadowed.
While I do sound harsh in this review, I would definitely give the novel a read, especially if you enjoyed the magical elements of the Ghibli film. It certainly helped me appreciate the film more to see where the ideas and characters were derived. There are also more books in this series, but the ending of this book was so conclusory, that I had no drive to read on, but maybe one day, there will be more reviews on the subsequent books.
