Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Jun. 30th, 2008 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreThough her younger sisters are apprenticed out to live much more exciting lives, eighteen-year-old Sophie Hatter is kept home by her stepmother to work in the family hat shop. While her stepmother, Fanny, rides in carriages and wears fancy clothes, Sophie is left to decorate all the hats, making the shop famous in the process. The oldest sister in a world where fairy tale tropes are accepted as a normal fact of life, she’s long since accepted that her life will be dull and uneventful.
That changes, however, when the wicked Witch of the Waste comes to the shop. Mysteriously offended by Sophie, the witch casts a spell on Sophie, turning her into an old woman, and also preventing Sophie from being able to tell anyone that she’s been cursed. While wandering the kingdom, looking for a way to return to her true age, Sophie finds herself at the castle of Howl, a wizard who supposedly hunts and eats young women. Inside Howl’s castle is Calcifer, a fire demon locked into a contract with Howl. Even though Sophie can’t tell him, Calcifer can see that Sophie is under a curse, and strikes a bargain with her: if she can free him from his contract with Howl, he’ll break the witch’s curse, so Sophie gets Howl to hire her on as his housekeeper.
Howl, of course, doesn’t actually eat young girls, he just spread that rumor (and a number of others) himself trying to get some privacy, though not for any scholarly or noble reasons. Though chivalrous and kind-hearted (but don’t tell him you noticed) Howl is on the petty and flamboyant side, not to mention, well, cowardly. So cowardly, in fact, that he will ask his housekeeper to pretend to be his elderly mother and badmouth him to the king to get out of looking for the king’s brother, and when that doesn’t work, flee.
While Howl was quite fun, the book is Sophie’s story, as she grows from the quiet, meekly obedient girl resigned to a dull and uneventful life into a young (in spirit) woman making stepping far outside of what she thinks is her assigned role and taking charge. I admit, at first, I was a little unsure. One of the big problems I had with Charmed Life wass that Cat’s character growth and development of a spine happened abruptly within a few pages, as opposed to throughout the book, which kept me from really caring about it. Sophie’s growth, however, is very gradual, most of it without her knowing about it, though the men in her life certainly do, as she slowly but surely bullies them into shape.
Between Howl and Christopher, though, I have to wonder: does Diana Wynne Jones really like vain heroes? (Not a complaint, just curiosity.)
That changes, however, when the wicked Witch of the Waste comes to the shop. Mysteriously offended by Sophie, the witch casts a spell on Sophie, turning her into an old woman, and also preventing Sophie from being able to tell anyone that she’s been cursed. While wandering the kingdom, looking for a way to return to her true age, Sophie finds herself at the castle of Howl, a wizard who supposedly hunts and eats young women. Inside Howl’s castle is Calcifer, a fire demon locked into a contract with Howl. Even though Sophie can’t tell him, Calcifer can see that Sophie is under a curse, and strikes a bargain with her: if she can free him from his contract with Howl, he’ll break the witch’s curse, so Sophie gets Howl to hire her on as his housekeeper.
Howl, of course, doesn’t actually eat young girls, he just spread that rumor (and a number of others) himself trying to get some privacy, though not for any scholarly or noble reasons. Though chivalrous and kind-hearted (but don’t tell him you noticed) Howl is on the petty and flamboyant side, not to mention, well, cowardly. So cowardly, in fact, that he will ask his housekeeper to pretend to be his elderly mother and badmouth him to the king to get out of looking for the king’s brother, and when that doesn’t work, flee.
While Howl was quite fun, the book is Sophie’s story, as she grows from the quiet, meekly obedient girl resigned to a dull and uneventful life into a young (in spirit) woman making stepping far outside of what she thinks is her assigned role and taking charge. I admit, at first, I was a little unsure. One of the big problems I had with Charmed Life wass that Cat’s character growth and development of a spine happened abruptly within a few pages, as opposed to throughout the book, which kept me from really caring about it. Sophie’s growth, however, is very gradual, most of it without her knowing about it, though the men in her life certainly do, as she slowly but surely bullies them into shape.
Between Howl and Christopher, though, I have to wonder: does Diana Wynne Jones really like vain heroes? (Not a complaint, just curiosity.)
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Date: 2008-07-01 04:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-01 04:04 am (UTC)