Hooked
Asako Yuzuki (translated by Polly Barton)
HarperCollins
Reviewed by Cushla McKinney
Predating Butter (the only other of Asako Yuzuki’s novels to be translated into English to date), Hooked deals with similar themes, including misogyny and family dysfunction.
Not to mention the superficial and obsessive nature of so many of our social and parasocial relationships.
At first glance, it seems odd that “The Diary of Hallie B, The World’s Worst Wife”, in which a woman with neither job nor children recalls days spent ignoring housework and evenings out at conveyor sushi restaurants, should be one of Japan’s top blogs.
Perhaps it reassures other stifled housewives, whose lives are not reflected elsewhere that they are OK.
But for Eriko Shimura, a consummately professional career woman, it is the fact that neither of them has a social life that gives her hope.
Indeed, she comes to regard their mutual friendlessness as a point of connection.
So when a forensic examination of the blog reveals that “Hallie” (whose real name is Shōko) lives nearby, Eriko arranges an “accidental” meeting in the hopes of translating this imaginary relationship into real life.
Although initially flattered, Shōko is so alarmed by the subsequent bombardment of texts and calls from her new acquaintance she blocks her, prompting Eriko to use everything in her power, up to and including blackmail, to re-establish contact, with catastrophic results.
Her actions may be appalling, but Eriko, who appears to be somewhere on the autistic spectrum, remains a surprisingly sympathetic and vulnerable character.
She finds the rules governing social interactions mind-boggling and, heroic attempts at self-justification notwithstanding, recognises her approach to relationships is deeply dysfunctional.
Her needs and obsessions are as destructive to herself as to her victims, and some of the most painful moments in the novel involve her personal and professional humiliation by a co-worker, whom she neither likes nor respects, in the hopes of learning the secret of female friendship.
Despite the bleakness of this synopsis, Hooked is far from depressing.
As is fitting for a satire about the constraints on women’s lives, themes of appetite and consumption abound, including sensual descriptions of food (another of Eriko’s obsessions) which dissipate tensions that might otherwise become overwhelming.
By the novel’s end, both women have not only recognised the ways in which their own behaviours and expectations reflect the relationships modelled those of their parents, they have taken the first steps towards independence.
My main quibble is that the development of character and theme is often more explicit than implied, which at times feels heavy-handed.
But this is a minor flaw in an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable novel and I look forward to English publications of Yuzuki’s other work.
Cushla McKinney is a Dunedin scientist
