Hooked (review)

At chance meeting during a fire drill at her New York public school, seventeen-year-old Thea is immediately smitten. Her parents’ awful relationship has left its scars, however; she is constantly worried that her newfound love, Will, will disappear. He doesn’t, though, even when he graduates and starts at Columbia, even when she tells him she’s pregnant; eventually, they decide to keep the baby and set up housekeeping, with the reluctant help of both sets of parents. When Thea accidently injures the baby, however, Will is frightened by the fragility of their son and their inexperience, and he suggests that they give the baby up for adoption. Thea then turns to her father, who welcomes her and the baby into his home. His expectations for her are still aimed at a traditional path of college and career, but Thea is getting some ideas of her own, especially after the crocheted clothing she creates begins to sell for serious money. The narrative covers a lot of time and emotional ground but still manages to maintain a level of detail that sufficiently develops character. The story charts Thea’s growth from a cynical, insecure teenager to a young woman who figures out that her perpetual worries about her own worth and losing Will’s love were all in her head. The dream of making a living as an young crocheter is one that could only be realized in New York with a business consultant father with plenty of start-up cash, but what is credible are Thea’s struggles to grow up enough to appreciate the qualities of both her free-spirited mother and her rigid, buttoned-down father, and her learning to be humble enough to ask for and accept their help, even when it comes with strings attached.