Justice with a smile

"The first English translation of a powerful coming-of-age novel by celebrated Japanese novelist Osamu Dazai, the author of No Longer Human, about a teenage misfit who struggles to achieve his dream of becoming a famous Kabuki actor Based on the diary of a real-life actor, the story explores the self-destructive dynamics that led Dazai himself to commit suicide at age 38-yet in this book, the author imagines a powerfully different ending Michael Day's bold, contemporary translation deftly captures the narrator's unique blend of teen angst, boastful ego and youthful idealism"--