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There are currently 22 member reviews
for Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
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Lynette M. (charlotte, NC)
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
I thoroughly enjoyed Amy Chua's book. I was, at turns, both amazed and horrified by her descriptions of her mothering techniques. I found the insight into the Chinese way of parenthood to be fascinating but not sure it is something I could adopt or agree with for my own children. Her style of writing was very honest, humorous and engaging and I think this would make a terrific book club choice. I would be fascinated to hear her husband's perspective on some of the same events. I highly recommend this book.
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Maggie R. (Canoga Park, CA)
I'm speechless
Five stars for well written and fascinating book - but a bit like watching a train wreck. No! You didn't say that! You didn't do that! Will look forward to the daughters' memoirs.
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MaryEllen K. (Albany, NY)
Extreme Parenting
This book provided a fascinating insider's look at the Chinese parenting style, as related by Amy Chua. I had always believed that I myself used an authoritative parenting style; however, in comparison to this Tiger mother, I look permissive! I personally feel that at times, she was far too demanding of her daughters Sophia and Lulu - and yet, I can hardly argue with the results she achieved. Aside from the girls' extraordinary academic and musical accomplishments, from all accounts they are also polite, interesting, and well spoken young women. It occurs to me that there is far more to the "Chinese versus western parenting" than meets the eye. At the surface level, it appears to be about controlling versus permissive. However, I translated it in my mind to INVOLVED versus apathetic. No matter how domineering or controlling Amy Chua was in her parenting style, the level of her involvement in her children's lives was incredible. I think any child, whether they realize it or not, would rather have an involved parent, than one who was disengaged and uninterested.
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Susan S. (Lafayette, CA)
Not at all what I expected
Wow! This was definitely not what I expected, but definitely fascinating, and not like any other parenting memoir I have ever seen. From the way the book started I was expecting self-deprecating humor; what I got instead was a story of what the author refers to as Chinese-style parenting that was so harsh and restrictive that to me it bordered on child abuse. I kept wondering - does the author realize what she sounds like? By the end it's pretty clear that for the most part at least, she does, since we end up hearing about where her techniques failed as well as where they succeeded. I was undecided about how to rate this, until I realized that any possible downgrading of it by me would have been a critique of her parenting choices, as opposed to a critique of the book itself. The book is well-written, unusual, easy to read style-wise, and boy! does it pack a punch! It would provoke some extremely lively book group discussions.
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Shirley D. (Amherst, MA)
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
"Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" was a delightful read, a charming story. The heart of it was a vivid picture of the conflict of child rearing – the Chinese way as opposed to the Western way. As a former teacher, I would say "yes!" to some of the Chinese values and "no" to the laxity as shown of the American easy "whatever" attitude. Then again, I would find myself disagreeing with the strictures of the Chinese mother but agreeing that there is a lack of discipline in American households.
Amy Chua presented an excellent picture of the differences, not only in the methods of education, but also in the final results. I hope there can be a meeting place between these two before the educational standing of the US will fall even further below its already low spot on the world's graph of educational standing.
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Marsha S. (Nags Head, NC)
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
I was mesmerized by this true-life account of Amy Chua's approach to child-rearing, and the resulting affect on her children, family and friends. She approached parenting as a Chinese mother, with a fierce and unwavering certainty that the harsh, strict discipline and insistence on obedience and hard work is the superior way to raise children. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of her reinforcement of the children's music lessons and the resulting accomplishments. Because of the jarring differences between Eastern and Western styles of parenting, I had to keep reminding myself that this is actually a true story and not a work of fiction. I think the book will appeal to anyone who has struggled with the challenges of raising a child and wondered about the effectiveness of their own approach to parenting. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is well-written, brutally honest, amusing, infuriating, and entertaining - I couldn't put it down!
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Melissa K. (Oviedo, Florida)
Very Insightful
I enjoyed this book very much. It was interesting reading the perspective of parenting from an Asian mother. So many aspects of parenting is based on cultural norms. It was enlightening to learn how discipline is instilled in children in the Asian culture. Amy Chua was able to insert wisdom, and humor into her writing that made the book entertaining as well as insightful.
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