Hooked Quotes

“It was less that she was incompetent, and more that constantly seeking to improve oneself seemed to her like a right pain. She would try hard to get a grip, reprimanding herself that she couldn’t go on this way, but at the very point that she had forced herself to more or less keep up, her health crumbled.”
― Polly Barton, Hooked

“Even now, the notion that the cells in her body were dying terrified her. The idea of getting old, when she was still so immature, when she still hadn't understood anything, petrified her so much it made her want to curl into a ball.”
― Asako Yuzuki, Hooked

“In Japan, fish like Nile perch and tilapia used to be sold a lot under false labels: Nile perch was passed off as Japanese sea bass and tilapia as red snapper. Even though they’d clearly taste better when cooked in recipes designed specifically to bring out their unique qualities, rather than those modeled on the qualities of a different fish! The Japanese have a resistance to freshwater fish, in general. Maybe it’s because people automatically associate them with koi carp and goldfish? But it just goes to show that in Japan, the name is more important than the taste.”
― Polly Barton, Hooked

“When viewed on a global scale, the high standards that Japan demanded of its women were off the charts. How much was required from women as default! Attractiveness, chastity, youth, a calm disposition, a prestigious job, a range of hobbies, a winning smile, stylishness, a likeable aura, consideration of others… and then, of course, popularity with other women. Eriko sometimes felt as if the perception that a woman was nothing if other women didn’t love her grew stronger each year.
These days, TV series and films about female friendship outperformed those centering love stories. Everyone flaunted their female friendships on social media. Open up any women’s magazine and there would be articles about the power of women supporting other women. Even at companies like hers, they were constantly doing market research oriented towards girls’ get-togethers, girls’ nights in and so on.”
― Polly Barton, Hooked

“Now, though, there would be no more escaping. Eriko had emerged victorious - over that young man, over any other of Shōko's men. Finally, she was creating with Shōko a world that men couldn't enter.”
― Asako Yuzuki, Hooked

“Shōko was beginning to feel a form of respect for this woman in front of her, who'd voiced so plainly the discomfort she had with Eriko. She looked at her again, taking in her tracksuited figure, her small, bare face, her messy hair. The nail varnish on the fingertips poking out of her sleeve was chipped. Her powdery skin with its red patches was covered in a fine down. All in all, she looked far more unkempt even than makeup-free Shōko, in her loungewear. And yet this also seemed to cement her status as a special entity, gloriously detached from the world.”
― Asako Yuzuki, Hooked

“You’ve got to live. However hurt and embarrassed you are. Even if you don’t have any friends.’
Was it for her sake that Keiko was getting so ardent about this? Was she trying, even temporarily, to repair her relationship with Eriko? Trying to prevent her old friend, who’d fallen as low as she could go, from becoming any more messed up? They would never confide in one another again, or make plans to meet— and yet, in this moment, Keiko and Eriko were connected by an invisible thread.”
― Polly Barton, Hooked

“I think it’s when two people separate that the things they’ve learned through their friendship can really blossom. It’s all very well to stand on the sidelines and laugh at women for gossiping, and complaining, and comforting each other in a shallow, superficial way. But who’s to say that the ruthless urge to get at the truth, regardless of whether it breaks the other person’s heart, is more virtuous than phrasing your words carefully, out of consideration for another person? I understand now what a talent it is to show care for other people.”
― Polly Barton, Hooked

“I guess the conclusion is: there really are things in the world that you can’t achieve through will alone. Like friendship.”
― Polly Barton, Hooked

“I know that guys your age think you’re kind of hot. Do you know what the temps say about you, though?’
Eriko didn’t want to know. She covered her ears in a bid to shut out the taunting voice.
‘That the goody-two-shoes act is tedious as hell. That you’re way too old to be acting like you’re still the class prefect. That nobody’s envious of you, and it’s sickening to watch you simper and play nice as if they were. You don’t have any friends, do you? “The only thing missing from my flawless life is female friends! Aahhh, I’m just dying for some! It’s the last piece of the perfection jigsaw for me! Pretty please will somebody talk to me?”
― Polly Barton, Hooked

“It wasn't the Nile perch's fault: it had merely been frantically defending its own territory. The tragedy had taken place because the fish had been introduced into a lake that wasn't its natural habitat.”
― Polly Barton, Hooked

“The tendency to invent things had been with her for a long time. Back in high school, she’d pretended not to understand a simple maths problem so as to persuade the boy she fancied into helping her. After studying for the upcoming test together, they’d ended up dating. As an adult, she’d called up a different crush late at night to tell him that she felt like she was being followed, and succeeded in luring him over to her apartment. She didn’t feel guilty about these deceptions. Being neither beautiful nor having any outstanding talents, she needed some hook in order to attract people’s interest. It was something that everyone did, to a greater or lesser degree.”
― Polly Barton, Hooked

“As her eyes ran over the lines of text, she took a bite of the melon bun, which was nearly as large as her face. The thick cookie dough encrusting its surface broke open with a crunch, and out spilled the aroma of butter and brown sugar, and the unmistakable taste of melon. Yes, it was exactly like she'd described. The combination of saltiness and sweetness wasn't bad, but the overall flavor was hardly sophisticated. Savoring it alongside the words flowing down the screen, though, its deliciousness seemed to percolate through her body.

The idea of combining karintō and the trusty melon bun is, of course, totally stupid. Honestly, I burst out laughing when I saw it there in the convenience store. But here's the thing: when you bite into that greasy, crunchy coating with its hint of soy sauce not unlike mitarashi dumplings, it's like emerging from a tunnel into the light, with the bright, fresh green flavor of melon fanning out all around you. I have to report that I'm now totally addicted. A stupid taste. A stupid price. But you know what, getting by on 'stupid food' actually makes things very easy. It's kind of soothing to feel like you've found a way to cheat at life.”
― Polly Barton, Hooked

“...their stepmoher, Urumi, had walked out again.

"It seems like this time might be for real. It's been three weeks. The house is in a total state, and Dad seems dazed. I'm worried about him. Will you come and see?"

You're twenty-five years old, can't you do something about it yourself? -- these words had been on the verge of slipping from Shoko's lips.”
― Asako Yuzuki, Hooked

“She could do her utmost to bump into Shoko at the sushi place, the family restaurant, and at Gisele, making out like it was a coincidence. By now, she had a good enough grasp of the places that Shoko frequented. If that didn't work, then she'd visit her at home again.

Eriko wasn't a stalker: of that she felt certain.”
― Asako Yuzuki, Hooked

“Maybe Tokyo wasn't a special place that had everything after all.....The independent bookshop she'd loved as a girl was now a chain pachinko parlour. The local station building was indistinguishable from all the other stations on this line. Last week, an old artisan cake shop that had been here for generations had closed down. Tokyo was gradually losing its distinctive features, the individuality that made it feel alive.”
― Asako Yuzuki, Hooked

“She knew the demand that she sleep with twenty-three men to make her amends had been insanity -- and yet, she had wanted to do it. She wanted to force Maori to see her bravery and her resolve, and to start treating here humanely as a result. Why, oh why, could nobody really see her?”
― Asako Yuzuki, Hooked

“It was best not to think of herself as dealing with a person -- to imagine the figure beside her as some kind of human-shaped bolster. Come to think of it, with her immaculate looks and extreme behaviour, Eriko wasn't dissimilar to a puppet.”
― Asako Yuzuki, Hooked

“Eriko was gifted at figuring out and responding to men's needs, at sizing up their worth from their possessions and job performance, but she was somehow incapable of making a single one her own.”
― Asako Yuzuki, Hooked

“The tendancy to invent things had been with her for a long time....She didn't feel guilty about these deceptions. Being neither beautiful nor having any outstanding talents, she needed some hook in order to attract people's interest. It was something that everyone did, to a greater or lesser degree.”
― Asako Yuzuki, Hooked

“Open up any women's magazine and there would be articles about the power of women supporting other women. Even at companies like hers, they were constantly doing market research oriented towards girls' get-togethers, girls' nights in and so on. Then there was the declining birth rate, the trend for people to marry ever later. The drive for women to turn their backs on the systems laid down by men and instead establish their own communities, their own rules, was becoming more mainstream.”
― Asako Yuzuki, Hooked

“Doing nothing..." Shoko repeated dumbly. She felt a host of invisible hands had reached down to pull her up from a deep hole towards a quiet, comfortable world of harmony.

"Yep. Just floating along like a fish in a tank. It's amazing how placid your soul becomes. I like doing nothing. You're the same, right?”
― Asako Yuzuki, Hooked

“When she'd first joined the company, the extent to which overt misogyny went upunished shocked her, but by this point she'd resigned herself to it. The trick was to let it wash over you. The men didn't mean it maliciously -- there was a surprising absence of any thought behind these casual utterances -- so it was a mistake to take them to heart.”
― Asako Yuzuki, Hooked

“You have to promise me right here that you won't dislike me or ignore me or move away from me then I won't threaten you in any way I won't do anything like this again if I know that I can relax and enjoy your company. I really can be the best friend in the world. I swear, I swear.”
― Asako Yuzuki, Hooked

“I can’t understand other people’s feelings. I always get irritated and misread them. I can’t even pretend to understand them. I don't know what to do about it.’ However hard she tried to squeeze her words out, the most that Eriko could muster was an embarrassingly small, squeaky voice. She’d never before felt embarrassed in front of her mother. She wasn’t a little girl any more— and yet here she was. Eriko felt she wouldn’t even know the right path if she saw it.
‘Understanding other people’s feelings is really hard. But you need to know that you won’t find other women like me in the world, who’ll always smile and do all the work for you. Who’ll understand everything about you without having to explain anything. I should have taught you that. Friends aren’t like family.”
― Polly Barton, Hooked

“In the tank, the two Nile perch crossed paths. Without looking at the other, they slid past each other with awe-inspiring grace, at a distance of just a few millimeters. They, too, had their unspoken rules of engagement.
It seemed to her that the Nile perch were far more gifted at maintaining a comfortable relationship with each other than she and Shōko were.”
― Polly Barton, Hooked

“The images on the poster showed girls laughing together alongside a selection of red and green fruits, and a pile of pancakes drizzled with honey and butter. Were there really women who’d come to a love hotel to spend time together? She imagined this desolate space filled with the sound of women’s laughter, brimming with all sorts of delicious fruit and cake. Just because you were in a love hotel didn’t mean you had to have sex. True friends would be able to alter the significance of that space.”
― Polly Barton, Hooked

“All that “I’m only doing this for your benefit” bullshit, when this whole time it’s you who’s acted out of line— you really don’t disappoint, do you? It’s clear as day that you look down on my background and my academic record and whatever, but from where I’m coming from, it’s you that’s the lowest of the low.”
― Polly Barton, Hooked

“Maori had caught her in the middle of the Kyoto Uji Matcha and Chocolate Croissant with Warabimochi that was her breakfast. It was a new product at the convenience store that Hallie B had featured on her blog yesterday, with the review: Crazy chaotic deliciousness. Why has nobody thought of this before? Crispy croissant dough, softly melting chocolate, and the jelly-like squidge of warabimochi, all in a single bite.”
― Polly Barton, Hooked

“As she was here doing this, the Nile perches were busy evolving. They would devour their friends, if that was what it took to keep themselves alive. A clear mental image now took hold of Eriko and wouldn't let go: a huge Nile perch, dozens of meters in length, swimming leisurely around a Lake Victoria that now contained no other creatures, its silver scales glistening. Just one mammoth fish. And yet, the Nile perch wasn't lonely. It wasn't lonely because it contained inside that enormous body the souls of the hundreds of thousands of creatures it had eaten.”
― Polly Barton, Hooked