Review | Book review: Shanghai author Han Han on his many bugbears, himself included
High-school dropout turned writer and rally driver, Han keeps pushing the limits of what he can say, whatever the risk. The result is an essay collection that sometimes flares with genuine anger
By Han Han
Simon & Schuster
After dropping out of high school, budding troublemaker Han Han wrote a scathing satire of education titled Triple Door. A runaway success, the novel sold more than two million copies upon its release, in 2000. Now, in his new collection of translated essays The Problem with Me, the self-mocking Shanghai-based author doubts its popularity was deserved.
“I’m surprised whenever I think of this. Triple Door is immature, with a showiness that distracts from the plot,” Han writes in one of the essays.
Han is also famed as a rally car driver, and the writer with a gift for dodging both death and censors does himself down throughout much of the new book. Still, he has succeeded in both careers, thanks to a willingness to keep testing his mettle, irrespective of the risk. The Problem with Me is partly dedicated to every car he has ever struck.