It took me 15 years to think about "Vietnamese Bad Habits"

“Vietnamese Bad Habits” - the 27th book by writer Di Li, is part of a pair of research books on modern Vietnamese personalities (the book “Vietnamese Good Habits” has not been released yet). It is known that when writing this book, the female writer was inspired by the book “Ugly Chinese People” by Ba Duong.

“Vietnamese Bad Habits” includes 48 different stories, revolving around unhealthy habits of Vietnamese people that can be easily recognized in the integration period.

Writer Di Li is a lecturer at Hanoi College of Commerce and Tourism . She also left many impressions with detective works: "First Floor"; "Hell Waltz"; "Red Flower Farm"; "Club No. 7".

Cover of the book "Vietnamese Bad Habits" (Photo: Nha Nam)

Journalist Yen Ba, when reading the manuscript of "Vietnamese Bad Habits", said, "This book contains all the characteristics (and temperaments) that people avoid talking about publicly, let alone concentrate them in one place.

Sprinkling some pepper makes the porridge more delicious, but a whole bowl of porridge with only pepper is too spicy, how can one swallow it! But, the story here is not about a bowl of porridge with too much pepper; this is a bowl of medicine and it is very bitter! Writing about other people's bad habits is a risky business.

Writing about the vices of a nation is, moreover, a dangerous job. But this work is one of the first literary steps showing that the Vietnamese, here the writers, the publishers, the readers, are maturing.

Journalist Hoang A Sang commented: “Writer Di Li wrote this book as a way to teach herself, to reduce one bad habit each day. She did not write in a statistical way, recounting or condemning the bad habits of Vietnamese people, but through it the author and readers together draw useful lessons for life.”

Writer Di Li revealed that it took her about 15 years to reflect on “Vietnamese Bad Habits”, with nuances such as self-esteem, valuing emotion over reason, one-sidedness, blaming, being lazy to thank, being lazy to read books, being lazy to express positive emotions but only liking to say negative things directly, criticizing and praising, being tactless or interfering in personal matters, being biased towards men, being too considerate, and making noise.

Even in “Vietnamese Bad Habits”, there are manifestations such as being mandarin, liking bribery, petty corruption, liking achievements, liking to be a teacher and not a worker, being obsessed with degrees, studying only for promotion, lacking independence, vanity, showing off, greed, not protecting public property, selfishness, thinking short-term and only seeing immediate benefits, the habit of breaking the law, never knowing enough, wastefulness…

Writer Di Li revealed that it took her about 15 years to think about “Vietnamese Bad Habits”

Writer Di Li shared that “Vietnamese Bad Habits” and “Vietnamese Good Qualities” are a duo that she spent a long time researching ancient documents of Portuguese, British, French, Dutch missionaries, merchants, politicians, doctors, and intellectuals who came to Vietnam in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. For more than 10 years, she has had the opportunity to travel to several continents and meet different people and lands to interview, compare, and contrast them with her own national character.

The writer predicts that the book "Vietnamese Bad Habits" will cause a lot of controversy, because opinions are something that cannot be "quantified", so there will never be a common answer.

Moreover, when the views more or less “collide” with some people, it is very likely to cause sadness. But she sincerely hopes that readers will receive these stories with the most goodwill, because the book is a serious result of her long-term research on the character of the Vietnamese people.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/nha-van-di-li-toi-mat-15-nam-de-ngam-nghi-ve-tat-xau-nguoi-viet-19223120617253263.htm