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Life for Sale

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Life for Sale

Written by: Yukio Mishima
Narrated by: Kotaro Watanabe
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About this listen

 “A propulsive, madcap story” (The New York Times) about a salaryman who decides to put his life up for sale in the classifieds section of a Tokyo newspaper after a botched suicide attempt. • "An outstanding writer not only of Japan, but of the world." —The Atlantic

After salaryman Hanio Yamada puts his life up for sale, interested parties quickly 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 enmeshed in a continent-wide conspiracy that puts him in the cross hairs of both his own government and a powerful organized-crime syndicate. By turns wildly inventive, darkly comedic, and deeply surreal, in Life for Sale Yukio Mishima stunningly uses satire to explore the same dark themes that preoccupied him throughout his lifetime. Classics Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Psychological Comedy Fiction Witty

What the critics say

“A propulsive, madcap story. . . . It’s the book’s looseness and weirdness that provide its appeal.” —The New York Times

“[A] big deal . . . the first English translation of a piece of engaging pulp fiction . . . by one of [Japan’s] literary greats. . . . This surreal tale offers a trenchant critique of a city that has misplaced its soul.” —The Guardian

"Funny and horrific and curious and thoroughly entertaining. . . . [Life for Sale] should win Mishima a new generation of fans." —The Independent

“A sexy, camp delight. Beneath the hard-boiled dialogue and the gangster high jinks is a familiar indictment of consumerist Japan and a romantic yearning for the past. . . . Life for Saleis replete with Tarantino-like scenes of smuggling and murder, as well as philosophical musings on Japanese attitudes to the sword, the warrior and honour.” —Evening Standard

“This dark, funny social satire feels like something only Mishima could’ve written. . . . A slapstick comedy with a complex moral underpinning, and an intriguing departure from his introspective work. . . . Pungent insights into the challenges of postwar Japanese life are threaded brilliantly throughout.” —Publishers Weekly

“Exhilarating, surreal.” —The Spectator

"Wildly funny." —The Millions

“A terrific example of Mishima’s fecund imagination at its most free-wheeling and unfettered best, teeming with complex ideas about the paradoxical nature of existence, delivered with trademark panache and a winking smile. . . . Wildly comedic and filled with picaresque flights of fancy. . . . There’s more than a touch of James Bond about Life for Sale.” —The Japan Times
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I love the concept the story is based on, the situations the character finds himself in and the overall premis of the story is very thought provoking. The sense of nihilism and inevitability is captured really well by the narrator and I look forward to listening to more of both the narrator and author.

Thought provoking and interesting

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The narrator not only had a Japanese accent but also a wisp -whatever it's called- that thing where L's and R's are pronounced as W's. I found it charming though. I can't recommend this book enough

Accented narration but great story and acting

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