Search - Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

As an asian-american, the book aggravated me. What her children endured sounded like torture, and I'm so glad she wasn't my mother. They may be quite excellent musically and academically, but I morn the loss of their childhood. Her method lacked balance and love. It may behoove Ms. Chua that it IS possible to excel in life without the oppression, and being the best in music seems more like mom's dream rather than her dtrs'. They have all these acclamations for their success, but so what? There are so many joys interspersed in daily life that was lost. Despite my negative review, I do acknowledge that this is an autobiography and therefore someone's unique life story. For that, the book is what it is.

There has been much controversy about this book. If anyone bothered to read it through to the end, they would have noticed that the author herself questions her Chinese parenting style and comes to the conclusion that while you need to support and push your children to find their own strengths, you also have to do that within their own personalities. There is no one size fits all approach but strong values and concepts will prevail. She also demonstrates that motherhood is hard hard work.

I was interested to see what all the hype was about and very curious to read this story. It started out very engaging and I could very well relate to what she was saying growing up in an Asian home myself. But the whole story revolves around her obsession with getting her children to practice music which 1) you get tired of even reading about and 2) really feel bad for the children. She tries to redeem herself in the end by saying how her children appreciate her for pushing them so hard but I can't imagine what the children lost in the process. She defines that giving her children this hard discipline leads to happiness in the Chinese sense which I don't agree. Success does not mean happiness and the way she ended her story was weak, as if she had to come to conclusion as to how she chose to raise her children to justify her doing it in this way.

It’s easy to attach controversy to this book. Parenting is a sensitive subject, and there are a lot of stereotypes surrounding Asians, Asian Americans, and “Chinese” parenting. But if you’re reading BATTLE HYMN OF THE TIGER MOTHER with the expectation of analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of Chinese parenting, you’re getting your reading experience wrong. BATTLE HYMN is a comic memoir of one mother and her two daughters; it is NOT meant to be read as a representation of all Asian or immigrant parents, it is NOT a parenting manual, and it is NOT trying to make any formal statements about any kind of parenting.

Amy Chua is in the unusual, unique, and privileged position of tiger parenting. She adopts the Chinese parenting model—because she herself is in fact American, and thus her memoir cannot be a representation of actual Chinese immigrant parenting, because it is always tempered by the girls’ American society and the “Western freedom” that Chua does give her daughters. Read the book carefully: Chua doesn’t talk about demanding her daughters to be doctors or lawyers. Her love for her daughters isn’t conditional to the girls’ success, just to whether or not they put all that they could into their efforts.

What BATTLE HYMN really should be read as is comedy—and if it makes you rethink your parenting strategies, well, then, more power to you. Chua skillfully weaves hyperbole and just a tinge of the absurd into her prose, with the result that, even in the guise of SuperScary Tiger Mom, she remains utterly charming and amusing. Sometimes I couldn’t decide whether to be shocked at a scene, or to nod in sympathy, or to laugh out loud.

More people than you think—especially children of Asians and immigrants—will be able to relate to the story of Amy Chua and her daughters. BATTLE HYMN OF THE TIGER MOTHER is an entertaining and thought-provoking look into the parenting adventures of one determined mother and her two talented daughters. It has certainly made me think more about what kind of parent I’d want to be if I am ever a parent—and to expect the unexpected when it comes to people.

The book started off well and was captivating but at the end I felt like I was just reading it because I knew I had paid for the book and felt I should get my money's worth. Got to be more of a "brag fest" about the author's kids by the end of the book.

I had to see what the hype was about this book because I'm also an Asian-American raised by immigrant parents. I wasn't impressed with Amy Chua's book. You should know this is more a memoir than a parenting book. Her parents' style of parenting is what Chua uses(ed) with her two daughters. Her parenting style is dark and, at times, brutal. Some of her anecdotes leave the reader feeling very uneasy. She comes across as a drill sergeant and her children the new recruits who must be broken in. While I'm not a fan of lenient, "I'm your friend" style of parenting that some Western parents use, I'm also not a fan of harsh, borderline abusive methods either. My parents raised me without resorting to the name-calling, disturbing methods Chua used and I turned out fine.

I look forward to the day when her fully-grown, fully emancipated daughters write their own tell-all book about their upbringing.