A review by anna1isa
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

2.0

I may revisit this review once it's more settled but I'd like to say NOW that the best part about this book is Miyazaki's interpretation in film. I would not recommend to people who, like me, are largely familiar with or fond of the studio ghibli movie adaptation. The characters here are comparatively shallow and unlikeable, especially Howl. Man, that guy stinks. Calcifer was somehow translated in both versions very similarly and he's lovely.

There were too many peripheral characters that I didn't care about and I simply cannot believe that Howl's major internal conflict/weakness in this book is that he's literally Welsh. I similarly cannot believe

Sophie and Howl end up together in the end, since it was so entirely unearned and unconvincing and honestly rotten considering how much of an asshole he was to her throughout the book.

 

Edit: I've returned and I'm lowering this review from 3 to 2 stars because my anger and disappointment with this book does not abate.