Tim's Reviews > Life for Sale

Years ago I read a little book called Pulp by Charles Bukowski in which he tried to write an absurdist comedic noir. There were aspects of it that I really enjoyed, but a lot that I felt was flawed. Now it's Mishima's turn to do the exact same thing.

The plot: Hanio Yamada wants to die. After a botched suicide attempt, he comes up with a new idea. He will put an ad out in the newspaper, putting his life for sale. Someone will pay and have him die in a way that will at least aid someone else. What follows is a series of misadventures in which each time he somehow manages to survive his client's seemingly deadly task.



Well... this is as absurd as noir gets. I can not stress this enough: this is one of the most bizarre books I have ever read. Tell me, what other book can you find botched suicide attempts, gangsters, conspiracies, a dinner conversation with a plush mouse, a vampire and carrots used in an espionage scheme? Oh, and I'm not even covering half of the batshit insane things in this novel... Each client's task becomes increasingly absurd, to such and extent that one can't help laugh.

Written at the same time as his most literary ambitious project, his Sea of Fertility series, and serialized in the magazine Weekly Playboy... this was obviously a commercial project written for the money. Yet, especially when one considers the depth of his other project at the time, it also seems like he wrote it for a break. This book is ridiculous. This is Mishima, well, having fun. It's silly, intentionally so (CARROTS), and I imagine after a while he had to be sitting there shaking his head in amazement that they were paying him to write this.

Is it a good book? Not really. It's an extremely fun send up of pulp noir but it's extremely flawed. A few plot lines are left dangling (one actually frustrating as it seemed to be something set up for later and disregarded). I honestly would say that many fans of Mishima will be incredibly disappointed reading it as he very clearly is not aiming at making a grand statement about the world (and when he does insert what could be a grand statement it comes off comedic as it's hard to take anything seriously here). I can't really recommend the book for everyone, but...

...

To hell with it, 4/5 stars, because honestly it's that damn fun.