Hooked by Asako Yuzuki

A biting tale of female loneliness and obsession

After the sensational reception of her novel Butter (2017, translated into English in 2024), Asako Yuzuki is back with Hooked (translated by Polly Barton) – a novel about loneliness and the sometimes twisted and complicated relationships between women.

The book revolves around two very different women in their 30s in Tokyo. Eriko is a career-driven woman with a stable income in a trading company, born and raised in Tokyo. Shōko is a housewife and blogger who writes about her daily life with her husband.

Despite having taken such different life courses, what they have in common is a sense of loneliness and a struggle to create meaningful connections with other women. When the pair form an unlikely and intense friendship, they experience a brief euphoric connection, feeling like they have become “an invincible duo” for a while.

To some extent, the main characters in these novels are not conventional heroines. They don’t need or want to be rescued by Prince Charming; instead, they navigate the expectations placed on them to offer care in other forms. Such pressure comes from their families, workplaces and, more broadly, from society. Amid all of this, they feel a profound sense of loneliness which mirrors growing concerns in Japan.

In Hooked, as the title suggests, female loneliness is explored through how it can give way to intense female friendships and the dangers of obsession.

Eriko appears to be the epitome of a modern city girl, raised by a happy family and holding a high-earning job. Yet her achilles heel is that she has never had close friendships with other women.

Infatuated with Shōko after their encounter, Eriko advances from being a fan of Shōko’s blog to first being her friend and then her stalker. Shōko, despite also feeling a sense of inferiority about not having female friends, is shocked by Eriko’s obsessive behaviour and rejects her suffocating approach. Their fallout leads to secrets, blackmail and coercion.

Yuzuki’s intense and obsessive novel explores the tensions of female solidarity through women seeking the hope and possibility of connection, in a quest to feel less lonely. It interrogates the difficulties that obstruct these connections and how they are rooted in gender inequalities, class differences and precarious employment.

What is fascinating about Hooked is how Yuzuki allows moments of madness to erupt into daily life. At times, the intensity of the characters can make it hard to keep engaging with the book, yet readers will find themselves drawn back to the lives of Eriko and Shōko. These characters are well-rounded figures, powerfully relatable for anyone navigating the complicated dynamics of gendered issues.

Nozomi Uematsu

Lecturer in Japanese Studies (Japanese and Comparative Literature), University of Sheffield