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Oct 02, 2011

Minli rated it:

Disclosure: A friend linked me to Amy Chua's Wall Street Journal article when it first appeared. I admit, my first reaction was a mixture of anger and bitterness, since I recognized much of my own childhood in how Amy Chua treated her daughters. I read several reviews from journalists, Chinese children, Chinese parents, Western parents, Western children and so on. Amy Chua is assigned a gamut of roles, from crazy batshit insane to the messiah of parenting. I thought I should read the book and ju More...

3 comments like (55 people liked it)

May 15, 2011

Skylar rated it:

When it comes to cultural differences, as G.K. Chesterton notes in his essay on “The French and the English,” every cultural vice is partly a virtue, and every cultural virtue is partly a vice. The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother mucks about in this uncomfortable truth. It explores, sometimes in sweeping stereotypes, sometimes in subtler ways, the differences between Asian and American culture, as seen through the lens of parenting.

Full review here.

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27 comments like (20 people liked it)

May 17, 2011

Jeana rated it:

Some of my friends may be horrified, BUT I do not believe Amy Chua is the devil. I actually agree with a lot of what she believes. Although sometimes she may go over the top with it (keeping your daughter up practicing until after midnight is just not okay in my book), I think that this disciplined, practice-practice-practice idea is the way to achieve greatness.

It's funny. Yesterday in the car, I was explaining to my daughter Bianca my theory on talents. It went like this: I More...

6 comments like (43 people liked it)

Nov 22, 2011

Lucy rated it:

There's no way to review a book like this without disclosing some of my upbringing because it shaded how I saw all of this while reading. My father had... control issues. I wouldn't consider him a "Chinese mother" because it was more about dominance than it was about the individual success of any of the children. A slip in any grade would definitely result in extreme punishment, but it would also take a lot less... a lot less.

My main problem with the Chinese childrearing sy More...

7 comments like (10 people liked it)

Sep 21, 2011

Bells rated it:

Amy Chua screams at her daughters more than prepubescent girls scream at Justin Bieber. (At least the screaming girls are screaming affectionate things at the Biebs.) See, Amy is a "Tiger Mother". She DEMANDS perfection from her children on all fronts. For example, she forces them to practice their instruments for hours on end, and when the pieces played are not PERFECT, she yells things like, "you are a disgrace!" and also threatens to burn their stuffed animals.

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5 comments like (16 people liked it)

Apr 28, 2011

Ivy rated it:

Let me make it clear that I am giving this book four stars not because I necessarily agree with Ms. Chua's ideas and parenting style, but because I found this book highly engaging, funny, and moving. I respect Ms. Chua's honesty in portraying herself as a fanatic mom who wants what's best for her girls even to the point of making them unhappy.

Amy Chua is a Chinese mother and in Chinese tradition, the children are expected to study hard and be the best at everything---academically More...

7 comments like (13 people liked it)

Jul 02, 2011

Denise rated it:

I did not like this book and really won't recommend it except to argue with anyone who agrees with author Chua that she has an imitable or admirable parenting style. Her tone was superior and smug, all the while mostly a "brag book" about her talented, abused daughters and how SHE made them so successful. I don't understand a husband and father standing by listening to the insults and humiliation, disguised and excused as a fierce maternal love, heaped by his wife onto his precious dau More...

30 comments like (15 people liked it)

Apr 22, 2011

Frank rated it:

I loved this book! This family is so interesting it reads almost like fiction. It has been a long time since I could pick up a book and thoroughly engjoy it, but this one was a breeze to enjoy. It's so entertaining. She is funny, witty, intelligent, and more.
I have read a lot of criticism about her parenting style. I can understand why people might criticize her, but when I have looked deeper into her actions and read the book more carefully I see that she is a very caring mother. Her st More...

2 comments like (13 people liked it)

Feb 03, 2011

Jane rated it:

Couldn't resist reading this one, especially after following all the media buzz about Chua and her "extreme" ideas. Confession: I found a lot of her practices less startling than apparently much of the general public, as we have (apparently!) been somewhat "stricter" with our own kids than many people today. To mimic Chua: A list of the things my kids haven't done: - Watch limitless hours of television (no cable TV here since my eldest was 5) - play video or computer g More...

6 comments like (19 people liked it)

Apr 13, 2011

Elisha rated it:

Holy cow, I hate this lady so much. Her book kind of gives me a headache, but I can't stop reading it. I hope it doesn't end with one of her kids waving a gun around at a piano recital, but I won't be surprised if it does.

I slept on it before I finished my review of this book, seeing if it would make me more calm... but nope. Amy Chua is just appalling! I can't stand this woman. She pushes her daughters to be the best at everything, because if you're not the best then you're g More...

2 comments like (17 people liked it)

Feb 08, 2012

Aries rated it:

Okey, I rated with five stars. Because it should be. Much that I like about the book is Amy Chua's candid revelation of her parenting style, how it affects her "positively" and "negatively". I understand that the "first impression" the book received, especially from the wide American readers, was out-raged which intimidated several others from reading it.

But, I think the book it very worthwhile a reading. Somehow it affects you and me, for once became a More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2011

Lee Anne rated it:

Anyone who is Asian (which I am not), or read an Amy Tan novel (which I have), will recognize the overbearing, hyper-critical, driven, martyred Chinese mother. Amy Chua strikes a bargain with her Jewish husband: if she "allows" him to raise their two daughters in the Jewish faith, he will "allow" her to raise them in the Chinese way. That means each must play a musical instrument, and practice said instrument several hours every day (even on weekends and vacations); each m More...

1 comment like (17 people liked it)

Nov 13, 2011

Holly rated it:

Decided to listen to this as a breezy audiobook during a few long runs, simply because people are getting all upset and I wanted to know what Amy Chua really had to say. I was vaguely familiar with her academic work on markets, democracy, and globalization (2002's World on Fire).

I listened to this as memoir, which is what Chua intended, and certainly not as a parenting manual! Unfortunately, as a memoirist she's too self-aggrandizing. Her tone is often sarcastic, relentlessly provocati More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 11, 2011

Sara rated it:

While reading this book I realized that Amy Chua was completely misrepresented by our media. Shocking, I know. But I'm disappointed that my questioning, inquisitive, FOX news hating, don't believe it until you see it, liberal self had swallowed the sound bites hook line and sinker. I'm normally smarter than that.

So what was it that made me believe the stories that this woman was the devil, that she was working her two daughters into a suicidal, violin and piano induced depression? D More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 23, 2012

rachel rated it:

The main thought I have after reading this book is that I can never, ever imagine calling another person "garbage" -- let alone my developing child -- no matter how much fortitude I believe he or she has. There is a difference between toughness and abuse. I refuse to accept (cultural differences be damned) that calling your kids names is helpful at all. Make them practice their instruments for hours everyday? Fine. Musicality is a worthy skill and form of self expression. Don't l More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 15, 2011

Rachel C. rated it:

This book definitely has that magical "unputdownable" quality. I started reading it while waiting for the bus and was immediately engrossed. So much so that I definitely neglected my work to sneak in a few more chapters throughout the day.

I think the media's shrill reaction to the book is largely unwarranted. Excerpts taken out of context are inflammatory for sure. But I think, as a whole, Amy Chua is pretty frank about both her strengths and her insane moments, and admits More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2011

Melissa rated it:

i love buying books and having them- i'm glad i borrowed this one. it was interesting, but sort of self-indulgent, and ultimately missed the point. it's sort of an excuse for some pretty impressive emotional abuse, blamed on being chinese. the author really tries hard to make it seem like if you criticize her parenting, you're criticizing chinese culture, but it's just not the case. she sees "western" and "chinese" as mutually exclusive throughout, and decides in the end that More...

2 comments like (14 people liked it)

Feb 14, 2011

Maria added it

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0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 03, 2011

Valerie rated it:

I teach in a school with a large Asian population. One of my colleagues told me I HAD to read this book. Before I read it, my sense was that Amy Chua's critics were ethnocentric and ignorant of Asian culture. After all, I'm a pretty big fan of the Chinese. Like Chua, I think most American parents are way too permissive and too concerned about their children's self-esteem. I also highly value academic achievement; I detest mediocrity and I consider myself a bitchy elitist in general. So whi More...

5 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 26, 2011

Michael rated it:

Well, Amy is mostly a Tiger Mother, but as she freely admits, she has a little part of horse to her, too -- the hind part. Thank God for her sense of humor, because otherwise her extreme ways and very firm outlook would be impossible to take. But she is disarming, obviously exaggerates a bit to make her case, and this book is fun to read -- which would probably take only two or three hours in one sitting. She's a Yale Law professor but an excellent writer, and she has some good points to make More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 22, 2011

Julie rated it:

As a mother who has taken a pretty staunchly anti-tiger approach to parenting, I took this book on more as an exercise in cultural literacy. I expected my feathers to be ruffled (and they were), and to be furiously highlighting areas of philosophical difference (and I was - my Kindle got quite the workout).

What I didn't expect was a well-written memoir with honesty, wit and even self-deprecation and self-questioning between the lines. The author admitted that she wasn't yet sure abo More...

0 comments like (27 people liked it)

Mar 23, 2011

Cathee rated it:

I liked this book a lot more than I had expected. I went into it expecting it would be a "how to" book, trying to convince me that my parenting philosophies are all wrong. But instead I thought it read more like a cautionary tale, showing many of the ways that her plans backfired. Chua is a funny and engaging author. As I read, I found myself feeling more and more thankful for two things:

1) I was not raised by a "Chinese Mother" (as Chua describes it -- which I kno More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 02, 2011

Xin rated it:

Being grow up as a Chinese, I was so attracted to the western ways of raising children. I always felt I had no freedom, and I didn't know what I love to do. All I thought is to excel in examinations. Now in retrospect, I realize that what I was complaining is the Chinese school system not the Chinese parenting style. Compared with Amy Chua, now I would complain my parents weren't so strict on me, especially about piano. I was such a lazy piano student and my parents didn't push at all. They care More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Feb 15, 2011

Kristin rated it:

Ugh... I am neither a Tiger Mother or a Pushover. Granted, my daughter is only 4. Should I be concerned that she is not fluent in a second language, that she isn't reading and despite a year of ballet is not on deck to be a prima ballerina? Of course not. There is time for all of that.

I have taught middle school for 15 years. I see the impact of both types of parents. As a result I have 8th graders on the verge of nervous breakdowns, ulcers or both because their parents demand More...

6 comments like (22 people liked it)

Apr 05, 2011

Reid rated it:

I was kind of blown away by how much I loved this book. I'm not a parent and I'm not Chinese, but I found a lot to relate to. As the doofy white kid in Suzuki violin class who got his ass handed to him by Chinese kids half his age, I really felt like I got an 'inside baseball' look at how my classmates got to be so good. The Chinese school of parenting is, unsurprisingly, totally foreign to me and Chua makes a compelling case for it:

What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun

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1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Feb 02, 2011

Elyse rated it:

A friend of mine gave this book to me and I would otherwise never have read it. I thought it was going to be about the author's thoughts on child rearing. Couldn't be more wrong. It's the story about her family and how they all dealt with her Chinese rules on raising children. Her husband is Jewish and he was raised by liberal Jewish parents. By the way the book is non-fiction. I loved her writing and her honesty. It's a different take on the comparisons between Western and Chinese philoso More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 30, 2011

Emily rated it:

Before picking up this book I read a few horrified reviews. These reviewers described Ms. Chua's parenting style as akin to child abuse, swore that anyone who followed these methods was damaging his or her children, and loudly and vociferously denied that "Chinese parenting" had any virtues. The quotes they used, straight from the source, seemed to back up their assertions, and I too was somewhat horrified.

And then I actually read Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. And I d More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 12, 2011

Andi rated it:

While the author wrote this book as a conversation, it was preachy and honestly, prejudice and left me angry and upset. Not because I think she is completely wrong in her ideas about parenting, but her methods left me feeling sorry for her kids, her constant prejudicial remarks about "westerners" were demeaning and hateful, and her apparant bragging about her superiority as a mother causes me to think she is going to eat her words at some point.

Her ideas are actually pretty More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 13, 2012

Tiffany rated it:

Pg. 29 "What Chinese parents understand it that nothing is fun until you're good at it.To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences."

“Western parents worry a lot about their children’s self-esteem. But as a parent, one of the worst things you can do for your child’s self-esteem is to let them give up. On the flip side, there’s nothing better for building confidence than learnin More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 12, 2011

Jane rated it:

Where I got the book: from the library.

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is Amy Chua's much touted (I could say notorious) memoir of how she raised her two daughters to become academic high achievers and musical prodigies using Chinese methods. Chua states up front that her sweeping assessments of the relative virtues of "Chinese parents" and "Western parents" are just that, very broad opinions, and that Chinese-style parenting can be found in many non-Asian homes, ty More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)