HOOKED PB

There is a quiet violence to "Hooked". Not necessarily in what happens, but rather what remains unspoken between Asako Yuzuki‘s masterfully written characters. Eriko and Shoko quickly become mirrors for one another’s deepest insecurities, each coaxing the other towards the most debased version of themselves. Eriko especially feels startlingly familiar and uncomfortably real, until the slow unraveling of her innermost thoughts and desires forces you to question everything you thought you understood. Yuzuki's piercing examination of female friendship, loneliness, envy, and the invisible expectations placed upon women creates a lingering sense of dread throughout the novel's second half. What begins with the seemingly ordinary: a blog, a (not so) coincidental encounter, a shared meal, a fleeting kindness, quickly transforms into something catastrophic. "Hooked" is less interested in the shape obsession might take, than in asking why humans become so vulnerable to it in the first place.

This story got me thinking how fast a brain can blur a line. Where one might think a friendship is about to blossom the other might see the Situation completely different. Eriko allows herself to be fully consumed by Shoko, whom she is fascinated and maybe a little jealous about. Shoko in return feels trapped in a so called friendship that took a turn she couldn't predict and know feels stuck in. Two women who want nothing more than a female friend and someone else to connect to. Be prepared to get uncomfortable because the story of the two women will catch you off guard.