Japanese author Asako Yuzuki had been writing and publishing for 15 years before Polly Barton’s English translation of her novel, Butter, became a surprise international bestseller in 2024. Described as a feminist crime novel, it told the story of a woman who is accused of seducing and poisoning men with her delicious food. It was a divisive book, with readers either loving or loathing it.
Now Yuzuki is back with Hooked, the story of a successful but socially awkward woman who becomes obsessed with a domestic blogger.
Eriko appears to be perfect in every way but the one thing she has never mastered is friendship, or love. She finds escape from the exacting social pressures of her life by reading the popular blog of a laid-back housewife called Shoko, who is the opposite of a tradwife. (It’s an enjoyably insightful detail that the perfect Eriko fantasises not about some high-achieving woman but about Shoko, and her messy, ordinary life.)
As Eriko becomes more and more obsessed with Shoko, she engineers a meeting and the two become friends, but a well-intentioned gesture by Eriko sends their burgeoning relationship south. The addition of a third character from Eriko’s childhood adds mystery, and the tension builds until Eriko’s story is cleverly revealed.
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There are some male characters – fathers, brothers, husbands and colleagues – and they are fascinating foils, oblivious to – or perhaps simply free from? – the intense concerns and pressures that occupy the women’s minds.
While the story is overtly a simple one, Yuzuki’s habit of dropping large philosophical questions with a delicate touch adds depth and richness to the calm, pristine prose. Quiet questions such as “why does everyone think that you have to be doing something all the time?” become louder as the book goes on.
There is much enjoyable black humour too, like when Eriko asks herself if it is safe to be out walking late at night but then reassures herself that “very little was likely to happen to an average-looking woman over thirty.”
While Butter was hailed as a feminist novel, Hooked is more concerned with men and women, focusing on perfection as an isolating and alienating influence in modern life, and making a convincing case for friendship, love, family and community. It is a subtle, original and thought-provoking book that stayed with me for weeks after I had finished it.
Edel Coffey is a contributor to The Irish Times and an author. Her most recent novel, In Glass Houses, is published by Sphere.
