Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
I have been reading Howl's Moving Castle since this weekend, and I finished it this evening on my way home. I haven't been doing this much leisure reading since high school. Even though I read that the film adaptation is much different (AU-ish?), I am really looking forward to seeing Howl no Ugoku Shiro. I'm not sure what most fans think of Sophie, but I like her character. She's very pushy and grumpy, but I think her personality fit her new role very well. She's the stereotypic grouchy old gramma, and she's not afraid to speak her mind anymore. She admits that she says things she would never have the guts to, before she was cursed. When I realized that maybe Sophie liked Howl in some way, I began to believe that perhaps the Witch of the Waste wasn't such a bad person. Similar to how people had thought Howl was evil, but he really wasn't.
This is how I would have thought (although it doesn't really matter what I think) :P
- Witch "cursed" Sophie because she knew Sophie was bored with her life. This new role as Old Sophie allowed her to speak her mind freely and have new adventures.
- Witch "cursed" Howl because of his character. She sent Old Sophie to Howl so that he could fall in love with her, once her curse was removed. That way, he could never hurt any girl again since Sophie would be familiar with his character.
Something silly to that extend, except of course, it turned out much better than I expected. I like Howl, except his character is so incredibly hard to understand. I couldn't understand some of what he was doing or saying or complaining about. I liked Calcifer right away, and I had always believed him to be a good character. I like Michael very much as well, except I don't have much of an opinion of him as I do of the other characters. They never really explained how the name "Percival" came about either. The romance at the end was so rushed and a bit disorganized to me, but I will definitely read it a second time. Romance is not a big part of the book so that's understandable, although there was a lot of side romances developing around Sophie. Flipping back a bit, I realize Wynne Jones has actually left a number of clues which will probably make reading it a second time just as enjoyable.
This is how I would have thought (although it doesn't really matter what I think) :P
- Witch "cursed" Sophie because she knew Sophie was bored with her life. This new role as Old Sophie allowed her to speak her mind freely and have new adventures.
- Witch "cursed" Howl because of his character. She sent Old Sophie to Howl so that he could fall in love with her, once her curse was removed. That way, he could never hurt any girl again since Sophie would be familiar with his character.
Something silly to that extend, except of course, it turned out much better than I expected. I like Howl, except his character is so incredibly hard to understand. I couldn't understand some of what he was doing or saying or complaining about. I liked Calcifer right away, and I had always believed him to be a good character. I like Michael very much as well, except I don't have much of an opinion of him as I do of the other characters. They never really explained how the name "Percival" came about either. The romance at the end was so rushed and a bit disorganized to me, but I will definitely read it a second time. Romance is not a big part of the book so that's understandable, although there was a lot of side romances developing around Sophie. Flipping back a bit, I realize Wynne Jones has actually left a number of clues which will probably make reading it a second time just as enjoyable.