battle hymn of the tiger mother book review

Parenting is one of the most emotive subjects available to an author, and Chua plays on this perfectly, writing provocatively and arrogantly, and subtly asking the reader to measure their parenting against her own. However, an anecdotal account such as Chua’s, is never going to provide reliable evidence for or against and so there is little sense lingering on the various merits of the two methods – instead one has simply to enjoy the book as a spark for debate, and a quirky read. Much of the debate surrounding this book is based on the contrasting parenting styles of ‘Western’ and ‘Chinese’ parents. Sparks fly as the tiger mother does battle with her culture-torn cubs the results are explosive.

Chua demands the best and is willing to use corporal punishment, emotional blackmail, and downright stubbornness to make sure her girls spend the required time studying and practising their musical instruments (piano and violin respectively) each night. Chua’s almost fanatical belief in the eastern model of rote learning and restricted socialising leads to some fascinating confrontations with her two daughters the dutiful Sophia and the rebellious Lulu. Thus, she invests her own time heavily in her children’s education and goes to extreme lengths to ensure that her children achieve their potential and, more than that, beat all their peers into second place. The Chinese mother, as defined by Chua, demands the best from her children, and believes that they are capable of extraordinary things. In the book Chua examines the application of Eastern parenting principles in her own life as she attempts to raise her two daughters the ‘Chinese way’.

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (2011) is a parenting memoir written by Amy Chua a Yale Law professor and Chinese-American, who is married to novelist and fellow academic, Jed Rubenfield.

Battle hymn of the tiger mother book review