Happy Bank Holiday my friends!
These long weekends are always so much fun, they are a time to enjoy your free time, spend time with you hobbies and get a lot of reading done! Just before I started writing this I was reading Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones for the first week of the Wyrd and Wonder’s read-a-long where we read a set amount of chapters each week and one of the hosts of the event will post discussion questions for the readers to answer.
This is such a fun idea and really elevates the reading experience of the book and allow us to look further into the book, section by section.
If you want to join in with the read-a-long, the questions for the first week are over on Dear Geek Place’s blog!
So without further ado, lets see what the first eight chapters of Howl’s Moving Castle brings.
For those who have seen the film adaptation/first time readers: these opening chapters already make it clear how much of a difference there is between the two versions of this story. How do you feel about that difference? Are you curious to read on, or has it thrown you?
I feel like both the book and movie have such a whimsy in how they start their tales but for vastly different reasons. The Ghibli movie gives a more visual and appealing aesthetic into the world and gets right into the story. The book was originally published in 1983 and has one of those whimsical charms that lends to older British fantasy that feels like childhood.
I love how Jones takes all the rules and known things about this world and puts them forward to the reader as simple fact, that of course we should know these things. Of course it is a misfortune to be the eldest of three and the order of siblings determines your future. Everything is stated so plainly that it seems like yes that’s a given fact.
When I first read the book, yes it did put me off slightly having these two stories be so different yet alike but the book captured me because they still have similar dynamics just they way they are presented is vastly different. I also enjoyed the wealth of information we were given about Sophie and her family. In the movie we see little of it especially regarding to the fact that Sophie is potentially able to use magic, and how she has stepmother who exploits her or that she’s a brilliant hatmaker.
Reading this the second time around feels like being enveloped in a warm hug, and find the book to charming and inviting.
In terms of tone and/or subject matter, this is perhaps not your average young person’s book. How are you finding these factors – do they work for you as a reader?
I feel that the books works really well for those delving into the Young Adult genre as it talks a little more about the realities of working life and the harsh reality of realising that you and your families situation has changed along with Howl breaking girls hearts and the like. For something that was written in the 80s, where most kids would be likely going from children’s books to adult novels, the writing style lends itself to something is a bit more challenging with the quality of other Fantasy novels at the same time. I think it works for a wide range of audiences and stands throughout the time as here we are 40 years later and this story is still being discovered by new generations of people.
Sophie has quite the ordeal dropped on her early on – or does she? She seems to be handling her sudden transformation surprisingly well. What do you make of Old Lady Sophie so far?
Sophie is very much a matter of fact person and seems to accept things in her world that this is the way it is. I feel as though she has lived with herself being able to use magic all her life, which is something you see with her hats, the way she talks to them and gives them certain attributes which allows the wearers of each hat to make that true. I believe her changing to an old woman is something that doesn’t feel terrifying because she is already use to magic like that and changing an items properties into something else.
For a character who feels much older than her years, by being the eldest and looking after and preparing her younger siblings for a life when they’re grown, she is already wise beyond her years and finding her self as an old lady helps bring out her inner qualities and thus is an unusual but intriguing coming of age story.
I for one love her, that in old age she finally feels confident in being very straight and blunt in the way she talks to people and become more assertive of herself and her surroundings and makes for such brilliant character development.
Perhaps less admirable (advisable?) is the way she wanders so blithely into a bargain with a demon, even one as entertaining as Calcifer. Do you think Sophie ought to be a bit more wary of Calcifer, or can she handle herself?
I believe that when Sophie enters Howl’s castle, she feels as though she has already entered the viper’s den so to say. She is old and I’m sure she feels like she is at an age where nothing will scare her but Calcifer brings up a great point that Sophie’s life has shortened considerably. If you have another 20 or so years left, what is the harm in making a deal with a demon but also the casual way that Calcifer complains about Howl, I believe she feels as though it wouldn’t hurt to make a deal when she can look at other ways to break her curse.
The Wizard Howl: Lovably misguided, or dangerously ignorant? Discuss.
I think The Wizard Howl is very vain and conceited and that both things can be true. He is so hell bent on his pleasure and getting all these girls to fall in love with him that he is ignorant of the fact that he causes devastation to these girls. I think for most of what I have read he seems lovably misguided but to Sophie more so dangerously ignorant.
Have you ever read Howl’s Moving Castle? Or watched the movie? What do you think of the choices made to exclude certain topics from the adaptation
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