Yukio Mishima

'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 realises the future holds little of worth to him, he puts his life for sale in a Tokyo newspaper, thus unleashing a series of unimaginable exploits. A world of murderous mobsters, hidden cameras, a vampire woman, poisoned carrots, code-breaking, a hopeless junkie heiress and makeshift explosives reveals itself to the unwitting hero. Is there nothing he can do to stop it? Resolving to follow the orders of his would-be purchasers, he comes to understand what life is worth, and whether we can indeed name our price.

Life for Sale

"After botching a suicide attempt, salaryman Hanio Yamada decides to put his life up for sale in the classifieds section of a Tokyo newspaper. But what begins as mere nihilism takes a turn for the unexpected as interested parties come calling with increasingly bizarre requests. What follows is a madcap comedy of errors, involving a jealous husband, a drug-addled heiress, poisoned carrots--even a vampire. For someone who just wants to die, Hanio can't seem to catch a break, as he finds himself caught up in a continent-wide conspiracy that puts him in the cross hairs of both his own government and a powerful organized-crime cartel. Wildly inventive, darkly comedic, and at times deeply surreal, Life For Sale is refreshingly unlike anything else in Yukio Mishima's oeuvre, and an essential work of international literature, finally available in English"--

Little Flower

It happens to be a philosophical book that doesn’t cater to my taste. It failed to engage me and didn’t offer much in terms of entertainment. I don’t have much to say about it. The only thing that made finishing the book bearable was the realization that I could relate, particularly as someone grappling with a quarter-life crisis. For the record, I don’t think mindsets similar to Hanio’s are too far-fatched.

𓆨

idk i was really bored in the middle of it

kayla 

George

jess

felt like a much nonpareil juncture of Murakami's and Dazai's work. abundance of magical-psychological realism elements, quite a novel experience for me to Mishima's oeuvre, pretty nice for a short read, 4 stars.

Katie Chua

fine, kinda wacky, not sure how i was supposed to feel or even how i did actually feel after i finished it lol

jam 🍯

Haritlak Thawikasikam

'The best book I've read this year ... darkly comedic and full of tension and surprise' Marina Abramovic '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 realises the future holds little of worth to him, he puts his life for sale in a Tokyo newspaper, thus unleashing a series of unimaginable exploits. A world of murderous mobsters, hidden cameras, a vampire woman, poisoned carrots, code-breaking, a hopeless junkie heiress and makeshift explosives reveals itself to the unwitting hero. Is there nothing he can do to stop it? Resolving to follow the orders of his would-be purchasers, he comes to understand what life is worth, and whether we can indeed name our price.

Life for Sale

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