Author: Mishima Yukio
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Publication Date: 2019 (1968)
Pages: 192
Format: Paperback
Genre: Modern Classic
Source: Xmas Gift
'Life for sale. Use me as you wish. I am a twenty-seven-year-old male. Discretion guaranteed. Will cause no bother at all.'
When Hanio Yamada realizes the future holds nothing of worth to him, he puts his life for sale in a Tokyo newspaper, thus unleashing a series of unimaginable exploits.
A world of revenge, murderous mobsters, hidden cameras, a vampire woman, poisonous carrots, espionage and code-breaking, a junkie heiress, home-made explosives and decoys reveals itself to the unwitting Hanio. Is there anything he can do to stop it?
Life for Sale had a different feel compared to the other Mishima works I've read so far. But it was no less enjoyable and interesting because of that. It had a slight satire edge to it, and some moments were almost Kafkaesque. Yet beneath all that was a deeper commentary on life and what makes it worthwhile. I was certainly invested in Hanio's story right from the start and it was fun to follow his experiences throughout. This is a book that can seem deceptively light and almost silly at first but which has a lot of layers of thought beneath that. It gets 5 stars from me.
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