How do you build a life for yourself from scratch?
Full disclosure: Studio Ghibli’s Kiki’s Delivery Service is one of my favorite comfort movies. It’s the perfect film to have playing when I’m feeling down or when I want to work on a crafting project. So when I found out the movie was based on an original novel, I knew I had to read it. About a year or so ago, I finally got my hands on a copy for Christy Anne Jones’s Patreon book club and read through it.
While not as thematic as Miyazaki’s film, Eiko Kadono’s Kiki’s Delivery Service takes me back to books I used to read growing up. And it delivers all the warmth and comfort of its adaptation.
It’s an old tradition that after her thirteenth birthday, a witch finds a new town to call home for a year where she can study and develop her magic. So when the time arrives for Kiki to do the same, she flies off with her black cat familiar Jiji to a seaside town called Koriko. The only problem is, the only magic Kiki can do is flying. So to establish herself and gain the trust of the townspeople, she starts her own delivery business. Along the way she makes friends, overcomes various challenges, and learns to find magic in the mundane.
“She was impressed that a single ray of sun could make the world this beautiful.”
In her review of the book, Jones commented on how she felt the movie was so good that the book regrettably paled in comparison. While I can understand her assessment, I think it should be noted that Kiki’s Delivery Service was a book first and then a movie. Miyazaki merely took a story someone else wrote and added his own spin to it.
So how does the book hold up on its own? Well, I’d describe it as a cute, cozy story that readers of all ages can enjoy. Though it doesn’t have the same depth or themes as Miyazaki’s retelling, it has its own strength and magic that might go missed if you’re not looking for it. There’s a whimsy to it that reminded me of books I used to read when I was growing up, books like Edward Eager’s Tales of Magic or Betty MacDonald’s Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series. And like the main characters of those books, Kiki learns to overcome her challenges by taking on new skills as she goes along—creativity, compromise, and outside-the-box thinking. By the end of her year, she finds she likes her new home so much that she decides to stay there longer.
It turns out Kiki’s Delivery Service is the first installment of a book series, but at the time of writing I haven’t yet had the pleasure of reading the other books. There was also a live-action remake released in 2014 and a few stage musicals based on the book, though I can’t speak to the quality of those either. What I can say is, the story we know and love today would not be possible without Kadono’s book. I’ve already read it twice, and I look forward to the next rainy day where I can read it again.
Final rating: 4.3/5
Many thanks for reading.
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