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A review by robbin
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua
3.0
EDIT: Reevaluating the book the second time through. Looking past the initial desire to stab myself in the eyes when I read, I realize that I hated the book because it hit too close to home. Taking a step back, I remembered that this is someone's actual life.
The biggest problem, then, is this: society tends to read works of nonfiction and use them as how-to guides. You have to remember that they're not really telling you how to live your life, they're just reciting theirs for you to hear. If I read "Whip Smart", I'm not going to take my life and become a dominatrix overnight. See, I've had a bit more training in the world of biographies. Perhaps it was just a mistake to read Chua's first.
Personal bias aside, I've raised my rating. As I said before, the book is well-written and deserves the title of page-turner (if only due to intrigue or blind fury). The paperback version included extras like interviews, where Chua defends her book (and well, I guess her life, too), which was helpful. With that, it's easier to see that the story was closer to a coming-of-age thing rather than a how-to guide that bashes Western thinking. Two stars are still knocked off, though, because no matter how much she says it's basically therapy for her life after her daughter rebelled, the writing itself came off as too arrogant to deal with. That, and have you seen her articles on Eastern vs. Western culture and why Chinese mothers are superior? Okay, tell me THAT wasn't a criticism on the west and a mini-how-to...sure, there were no explicit directions told in the second person, but I swear, I could just feel her breathing down my neck.
(Things were made worse when she came into our store to sign the books. The book made me feel very conflicted; her daughters were super cool and nice; the author herself was really peppy; and her husband looked like he was determining whether he should berate at me or not when I said that I had read the book and that I related. At the time I didn't say whether I enjoyed it or not. Yikes.)
--
I will give this two stars, because it was written well and it kept be reading actively.
But it's the content of the book that is not something I agree with at all. In fact, I sincerely hope that no one out there starts stereotyping us Asians all over again, because she's just confirming all these things that could only apply to her family. Is it even okay to judge someone's life like this? Is it okay to feel like I'm reading a villain's perspective on life? Is it all right to confirm this Asian stereotype? Hmm. I'm not too sure. I guess there was a good reason why this book was in the biography section of our store -- it's essentially a book to brag about the author's accomplishments. If this was in psychology and parenting, the world is going to burn. It's almost like she's trying to create some sort of wicked formula to turn children into musical prodigies, and all you have do is sacrifice your children's ability to think for themselves or have their own minds.
I'm not sure how to feel about this family. In fact, reading this made me question what it even means to be Asian-American, and it infuriates me. I would say that this book got me to think, but topics like this are things I have thought about before...since, well, I AM Asian-American. For another audience, I'm sure it would induce some novel thoughts, but for me, it just stirred up a whole lot of irritation. Where was the direction of this book, anyway? Was it just a journal for her to write in after her youngest daughter broke her heart in two by actually having a personality and her own mind? She writes this as if she's speaking for all the "Chinese mothers" out there. It almost feels like she's making herself seem privileged and that she's the only person fit to do so in this world. Is she really the only person who can "explain" how a "typical" Asian parent acts? The High Expectations Asian Father meme comes to mind.
She is constantly talking about the battle that is being a "Chinese mother" to her daughters, and she doesn't care if she's the one that's hated. But she whines about it. It's a very whiny book, actually. There are several parts where you just want to groan and tell her to just shut up already. By the end of the book, it sounds like her daughters are praising her, but read that big ol' paragraph again and you'll find that she's just praising herself. If she had a thousand hands, she'd try to give herself a pat on the back for every breath her children have taken thus far.
I honestly would not be surprised if the author had planned this all along so her two children and husband could write their own lengthy responses to this woman. It's a pretty good strategy, and I'll bet everyone would rather read her daughters' stories rather than hers. This book has absolutely no heart, and I didn't really find any of it funny. I don't think I've held such contempt for a person since Cathy from Steinbeck's East of Eden. And that woman actually killed people, and it was a work of fiction.
The biggest problem, then, is this: society tends to read works of nonfiction and use them as how-to guides. You have to remember that they're not really telling you how to live your life, they're just reciting theirs for you to hear. If I read "Whip Smart", I'm not going to take my life and become a dominatrix overnight. See, I've had a bit more training in the world of biographies. Perhaps it was just a mistake to read Chua's first.
Personal bias aside, I've raised my rating. As I said before, the book is well-written and deserves the title of page-turner (if only due to intrigue or blind fury). The paperback version included extras like interviews, where Chua defends her book (and well, I guess her life, too), which was helpful. With that, it's easier to see that the story was closer to a coming-of-age thing rather than a how-to guide that bashes Western thinking. Two stars are still knocked off, though, because no matter how much she says it's basically therapy for her life after her daughter rebelled, the writing itself came off as too arrogant to deal with. That, and have you seen her articles on Eastern vs. Western culture and why Chinese mothers are superior? Okay, tell me THAT wasn't a criticism on the west and a mini-how-to...sure, there were no explicit directions told in the second person, but I swear, I could just feel her breathing down my neck.
(Things were made worse when she came into our store to sign the books. The book made me feel very conflicted; her daughters were super cool and nice; the author herself was really peppy; and her husband looked like he was determining whether he should berate at me or not when I said that I had read the book and that I related. At the time I didn't say whether I enjoyed it or not. Yikes.)
--
I will give this two stars, because it was written well and it kept be reading actively.
But it's the content of the book that is not something I agree with at all. In fact, I sincerely hope that no one out there starts stereotyping us Asians all over again, because she's just confirming all these things that could only apply to her family. Is it even okay to judge someone's life like this? Is it okay to feel like I'm reading a villain's perspective on life? Is it all right to confirm this Asian stereotype? Hmm. I'm not too sure. I guess there was a good reason why this book was in the biography section of our store -- it's essentially a book to brag about the author's accomplishments. If this was in psychology and parenting, the world is going to burn. It's almost like she's trying to create some sort of wicked formula to turn children into musical prodigies, and all you have do is sacrifice your children's ability to think for themselves or have their own minds.
I'm not sure how to feel about this family. In fact, reading this made me question what it even means to be Asian-American, and it infuriates me. I would say that this book got me to think, but topics like this are things I have thought about before...since, well, I AM Asian-American. For another audience, I'm sure it would induce some novel thoughts, but for me, it just stirred up a whole lot of irritation. Where was the direction of this book, anyway? Was it just a journal for her to write in after her youngest daughter broke her heart in two by actually having a personality and her own mind? She writes this as if she's speaking for all the "Chinese mothers" out there. It almost feels like she's making herself seem privileged and that she's the only person fit to do so in this world. Is she really the only person who can "explain" how a "typical" Asian parent acts? The High Expectations Asian Father meme comes to mind.
She is constantly talking about the battle that is being a "Chinese mother" to her daughters, and she doesn't care if she's the one that's hated. But she whines about it. It's a very whiny book, actually. There are several parts where you just want to groan and tell her to just shut up already. By the end of the book, it sounds like her daughters are praising her, but read that big ol' paragraph again and you'll find that she's just praising herself. If she had a thousand hands, she'd try to give herself a pat on the back for every breath her children have taken thus far.
I honestly would not be surprised if the author had planned this all along so her two children and husband could write their own lengthy responses to this woman. It's a pretty good strategy, and I'll bet everyone would rather read her daughters' stories rather than hers. This book has absolutely no heart, and I didn't really find any of it funny. I don't think I've held such contempt for a person since Cathy from Steinbeck's East of Eden. And that woman actually killed people, and it was a work of fiction.