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    Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
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    Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
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    Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
    Audiobook5 hours

    Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

    Published by Penguin Random House Audio

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    "[E]ntertaining, bracingly honest and, yes, thought-provoking."-The New York Times Book Review

    At once provocative and laugh-out-loud funny, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother ignited a global parenting debate with its story of one mother's journey in strict parenting.  Amy Chua argues that Western parenting tries to respect and nurture children's individuality, while Chinese parents typically believe that arming children with skills, strong work habits, and inner confidence prepares them best for the future.   Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother chronicles Chua's iron-willed decision to raise her daughters, Sophia and Lulu, the Chinese way - and the remarkable, sometimes heartbreaking  results her choice inspires.  Achingly honest and profoundly challenging, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is one of the most talked-about books of our times.

    "Few have the guts to parent in public. Amy [Chua]'s memoir is brutally honest, and her willingness to share her struggles is a gift. Whether or not you agree with her priorities and approach, she should be applauded for raising these issues with a thoughtful, humorous and authentic voice." -Time Magazine

    "[A] riveting read… Chua's story is far more complicated and interesting than what you've heard to date -- and well worth picking up… I guarantee that if you read the book, there'll undoubtedly be places where you'll cringe in recognition, and others where you'll tear up in empathy." -San Francisco Chronicle

    "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother hit the parenting hot button, but also a lot more, including people's complicated feelings about ambition, intellectualism, high culture, the Ivy League, strong women and America's standing in a world where China is ascendant. Chua's conviction that hard work leads to inner confidence is a resonant one." -Chicago Tribune

    "Readers will alternately gasp at and empathize with Chua's struggles and aspirations, all the while enjoying her writing, which, like her kid-rearing philosophy, is brisk, lively and no-holds-barred. This memoir raises intriguing, sometimes uncomfortable questions about love, pride, ambition, achievement and self-worth that will resonate among success-obsessed parents… Readers of all stripes will respond to [Battle Hymn of the] Tiger Mother." -The Washington Post
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJan 11, 2011
    ISBN9781101484432
    Unavailable
    Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

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    Reviews for Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

    3.5/5

    594 ratings86 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I don't really want to add my late-to-the-party analysis to the furor and hubbub over this book, but I have to say: I enjoyed reading it. I think if you read it as a memoir full of the parenting-related musings of a very smart and driven woman, it's fantastic. If you read it as a parenting manual, it's a little (sometimes a lot) terrifying, but at least thought-provoking.

      I don't think I'll quite be a tiger mother, but I think I might be less afraid to demand excellence and perseverance from my children than I otherwise might have been. Some children really do thrive when they're pushed, and certainly even those with great potential can fall short of it through sheer laziness/willfulness/rebelliousness. See my determination not to study for spelling bees because it "wasn't fair" if I learned words by memorizing a list instead of reading -- obviously it was just less fun to memorize lists than it was to read books! Whether or not it's a parent's job to overcome that (by any means necessary?) is open for discussion.

      Also, a much quicker read than I expected.
    • 2/5
      This book made me somewhat uncomfortable. On the one hand, it is a tribute to Asian parents and the exceedingly high standards their offspring achieve in our Western culture educational systems. On the other hand, this is an autobiography of an Asian author/mother who is obsessed with her children being the very best among all competitors - a true "helicopter" parent who denied her daughters the ordinary freedoms of being children among their peers. To no one's surprise, things unravel and results are not all what Chua intends.As with politics and religion, many fail to recognize moderation between the extremes. I appreciate the candid sharing of parenthood, but it leaves the reader with a rather bitter "Western culture" taste. The writing is OK, nothing special.
    • 4/5
      Interesting look at contemporary "Chinese" parenting vs "American" parenting, as the author applied it to her own children. Married to a Jewish White American, Amy tries to apply the chinese style to her two girls. It worked well for one, but was a horrible clash with the other. Reading this wore me out from the Mom's perspective, because the Mom involved herself in everything in minute detail. I can't imagine keeping up that and working too.
    • 4/5
      Absolutely hilarious! Had a great time listening to this with my brother and parents and it brought back some nostalgic moments with my own music lessons early in life. Though I was probably more of my own tiger mum since mine didn't subscribe to tiger parenting.
    • 4/5
      Great book, although some parts feel repetitive and boring, hence the 4 stars.
    • 4/5
      Liked a lot! Fun to read. You definitely don't have to be a fan of her parenting style to enjoy the book, and Chua ends up being a lot more of a sympathetic and thoughtful character than you might expect from reading the cover of the book.
    • 4/5
      Quite an eye-opening book. A view not only into the author's life, but an aspect of Chinese culture. It was interesting to learn that a "Chinese mother" isn't necessarily Chinese, nor a mother; it's a construct. It will certainly shock people, and indeed has. The destination is as important as the journey.
    • 5/5
      I thought this book was hysterical! I laughed out loud so many times and wanted to keep reading different passages to my husband. There were times I was horrified at something the author said to her children but it really felt in the recounting of the episode she was shocked at herself (and maybe a little bit horrified too).Basically she is a well-educated Chinese mother who raised her children as she was raised - maybe just a little bit harsher.
    • 4/5
      Hilarious.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book! I know it got a lot of heat and caused controversy, but I think its great. Ok, so it may be a little over the top in some places. But it was empowering to hear from a mom who thinks its ok not to coddle your kids and to push them to achieve their potential. Good to remember our current American parenting style of "everone is a winner, everyone gets a trophy" isn't the only way.
    • 4/5
      WOW! I love Amy Chua! I love the way she dreams BIG for her children. She does not accept mediocrity. She just wants what's BEST for her children. She is very motivated, just very INTENSE. If you disapprove her parenting style then just look at her 2 children. Her children are very succesful and confident. I would love to have kids like her.I wouldn't do what Amy Chua is doing but she has good advices She did it right so for the haters out there: STOP HATING AND FOCUS ON BRINGING UP YOU CHILD AND IF YOU'RE NOT YET A PARENT THEN FOCUS ON IMPROVING YOURSELF TO BECOME A BETTER PARENT SOMEDAY. .
    • 5/5
      I know this book caused a lot of uproar in the States but I actually really liked it. I don't agree with everything that Amy did but I also think there are plenty of good lessons to learn from. I only gave the book 4 1/2 stars because I thought it was a little thin and disjointed in places.
    • 3/5
      3.5 stars.

      This was an extremely fast read and a fascinating one too. I think when you distill the general ideas down the theories are not half bad and not too far from my own parenting philosophy. Children can rise to big expectations especially if as a parent you are there in support them every step of the way. Don't get me wrong there was some extreme examples in the writing - but I can't imagine the book selling otherwise.

      I give Chua huge credit for putting herself out there with this piece.
    • 4/5
      I thought I wouldn't be overly interested this book, being that it has to do with child-rearing and I don't have kids, but I found it to be both entertaining and thought-provoking.
    • 5/5
      Amy Chua's memoir of parenting, BATTLE HYMN OF THE TIGER MOTHER, is another book my daughter gave me, one of those books I'd have probably passed over. But it's a damn good book. I'm not going to say much, because I know there's already been plenty written about this book, and I suspect the author has been thoroughly excoriated by many parenting experts as well as righteous regular parents for her methods of "Chinese parenting" and also for her criticism of lax, lazy Western parenting. The thing is, I tend to agree with most of what Chua says. I mean look at her results: two super accomplished talented daughters, who I suspect still love their mom in spite of all her rigid disciplinary methods, etc. There's a line in the book that sums up what Chua has done with her girls, when a woman friend tells her:"But you've given your girls so much ... A sense of their own abilities, of the value of excellence. That's something they'll have all their lives."And the woman is absolutely right. I've always been a bit leery of parents who want to be 'pals' with their children. Let kids make their own friends; what they need are parents. Bottom line: this is a brutally honest look at an exceptional family and how they got to be that way. Oh, and one more thing - Amy Chua is an extremely talented writer. Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      This is totally misrepresented by the media as a parenting how-to book. What it really seems to be is the memoir of a woman who is desperate not to lose control and finds herself losing it anyway. She never seems to come to any sort of decision whether or not she really succeeded with her daughters or not, even though they are both what most people would call highly successful children. I find it sort of sad and telling that she's becoming compulsive about owning dogs . . . since she can just let go of demanding things of them and simply love them. I think Mrs. Chua would have been happier if she could have found a way to form her children into prodigies while still being able to just . . . love them for who they were. Since that's a nearly impossible task, however, she's never quite satisfied.
    • 4/5
      This was a really interesting book. Since it is a book about parenting styles I should preface my review by explaining my own. I swing toward being an 'attachment parent'. I give my kids strong boundaries and lots of patient understanding. I don't yell at them, but I often nag them until they do what I want. My review will have some obvious bias.

      Amy Chua, the author of this memoir, is a second generation Chinese mother. She is determined to raise her children in the Chinese way. The book is largely about how much she yelled and screamed and bribed and threatened her kids until they did the required amount of music practice to a required standard each day. The book is also about how she felt emotionally about what she was doing, how she believed in it, and how she ultimately learnt that she need to relax just a little.

      The book is full of humour, the author pokes a lot of fun at herself. During university I had a very good Chinese friend, her humour was dreadful. It was almost rude. I found her funny but lots of people took offense at her. I suspect a lot of readers miss the humour in this book too. This woman loves her kids, wants the absolute best for them, is convinced that only she knows what that is, and is determined that they will become good Chinese children. She constantly goes head to head with her youngest daughter, and in doing so loses the fight. She is completely unaware of any other way of getting her children to do what she wants... She tells them and they do it, if they don't she tells them louder, threatens, bribes, and basically yells a lot. The book is funny because she is clearly laughing at herself as she writes it, she is learning about herself and her family as she writes.

      There is an entire chapter when she bought a dog and decided that that dog would reach its full potential. At one point in an argument with her husband she asked if even cared about the dog reaching its dreams. It was very funny, the author was being honest about how driven she was, while letting us have a laugh with her about it all.

      I suppose I can also recall having a step-mum like her. We loved her but she could yell, as adults we all sat around giggling and laughing about it. She apologised many times for the way she way, she knew it was wrong. I suspect this author might be the same. She only had one method of parenting and when it didn't work she didn't know what to do, but she wanted her kids to get it right, and she wasn't going to let them fail. I really like what she is trying to do (even if my own method might be different).

      This book is a great compliment to the library of attachment parenting books that are on my shelf. It does have some interesting ideas, some of which I agree with.
    • 4/5
      Wow. Now I know the difference between the Chinese way of parenting and the Western style. An amazing look inside the Amy Chua's family and how she has raised her daughters. She is driven, focused, extremely hard working and, I have to admit, it sounds exhausting. She is the driving force behind her daughters and her tactics may seem appalling, but they worked, for the most part. Very interesting book.
    • 4/5
      I finished it in one day. The stories were told from the heart.
    • 3/5
      Narrated by the author. For all the controversy this book generated, I think what was missed is that she finally learned her way wasn't always the highway. Parenting is an inexact art and science anyway, and thankfully her daughters weren't driven to drink by her ways (yet, anyway). I did find her incredibly obstinate and oblivious, a driven overachiever who believes everyone should subscribe to her view of the world. Amy Chua reads the audiobook. (Surprised, anyone? She probably felt no one would capture her feelings exactly). Actually it works quite well. Her entrenched stubbornness is maddening and shrill in her own voice but at the same time, you can tell that in hindsight even she knows being a tiger mom wasn't that effective.
    • 4/5
      This book as a selection for my face-to-face book club this month, and I was really intrigued when the members of the book club picked this as a selection. I suspect that is was because of the controversy that the book as stirred.

      I must admit that the timing for reading this book was good for me because my husband and I had just gone to a showing of the documentary The Race to Nowhere, so my reading of this book is probably somewhat tempered by the viewing.

      While I understand the controversy surrounding the book, especially the reactions to some of the harsher exchanges in the book between Chua and her daughters. Honestly, however, I expected it to be much more disturbing of a read than I anticipated, and I expected to find myself angrier with Chua's parenting approach much more than I was.

      Overall, I found the book well-written, insightful, and often very poignant as Chua recalled raising her daughter's and carefully explained the differences she sees between Chinese Mothers and Western Parents. One of the more interesting aspects is her explanation of Chinese Mother as she carefully notes that a parent does not have to be either Chinese or a mother to be a Chinese Mother, but rather it's more of a philosophical stance or belief system about the role of the child and the parent and beliefs about education. This does, however, mean, that much of this philosophy is not informed by the Chinese culture for those Chinese Mothers who are indeed Chinese.

      As I was reading this, I found myself reflecting on my own upbringing and my parents approach to various aspects of child-rearing, including their beliefs about the value of education. And, I reflected on my recent viewing of The Race to Nowwhere. The one thing that I keep thinking was that it's really all about balance and helping your children find a balance in life while still understanding that school should be a priority.

      I must admit that I do see value in some of Chua's parenting strategies but others, including the inability for a child to pick the musical instrument that he or she would like to learn, a bit too harsh. For instance, we have a piano and a trombone, neither of which my son has been interesting in learning to play. Instead, he wanted to learn to play the guitar, so after some discussion with family and friends, we have decided to pursue this desire. I will admit that I still hope that he will want to tickle the ivory at some point, but unlike Chua, I am not going to force piano lessons on him.

      What I do think is appealing about this book is that as you read you realize that Chua does really want the best for both of her girls, and she does come to learn that she cannot push each of them in the same way or in the same way that she was pushed. However, there are times that the book will make very angry as they view the way she talks to her daughters and the way she often manipulates them to get them to succeed in the way she wants them too.
    • 5/5
      Warning: if you have younger children and read this book, you might be tempted to feel guilty and start forcing them to play piano for 5 hours a day. Actually, this book is pretty funny. And even though I'm the exact opposite of this mother, the western parent that she would so despise, I loved this book. It made me really think about parenting. And not just parenting, but life and the meaning of life and what we are here for. What is really important in the end? And I think that was her point. We are all different, and we all have strengths and flaws. And we all try to do our best as parents. Most of the time :)
    • 1/5
      This is the April book for our book club. It was not one of my favorites - but it has to the potential to be a book full of discussion spots.The premise: Amy Chua has two daughters and she has determined they will be raised as good Chinese daughters because she is the perfect Chinese mother. That means she bullies, screams, pesters, sacrifices, prods and accepts nothing less than absolute PERFECTION!Her husband is only a shadow in this story, but he has given his wife full control of this part of their life and my goodness she takes over. Sophia, the older of the girls is molded into a piano prodigy. Lulu the younger is molded into a violinist extraordinare. At least that is the plan...Lulu does not take kindly to this plan. Slowly she becomes a formidable opponent for her mother's zealous mothering. The battle brews throughout the story and explodes. There is an interesting ending...one that I won't give away.What do I think...I have been a teacher for my entire adult life. I have rubbed up against many different types of parents - all of them "Western" parents. I could not quantify them in a few sentences or a generalize what they are. Amy does this continuously throughout the book. She constantly explains what 'western' parents would do rather than the wonderful "Chinese mother' method. I HATED THAT!!! This entire book is a stereotype! Earlier I called Amy zealous, but that is being generous to mom...she is so far beyond that I can't really quantify her. This description makes me want to assume that all Chinese Mother's are Tiger Moms. But based on my teacher past I am sure that is not true!! ARGH!!! That is exactly what I hate about what she did.So what did I get from the story...A push to understand again that parenting is an extremely personal task which most of us fail miserably at and yet we end up with INCREDIBLE kids. We try our best with our abilities and our stereotypes, and our kids are both the guinea pigs and unknown element.And that brings me to the other reminder for me as a teacher... I sometimes assume I know what the parenting is like in a family. But, I can't. The parent can do exactly the same thing with tremendously different results!!Finally - I am SO pleased I didn't grow up in a family like this. I don't think I would have survived!!!So...I would say this is the kind of book you can ask someone else to describe to you, or check it out at a library...save your money and borrow my copy!
    • 4/5
      Incredible that such a thoughtful and self-aware book could come to be viewed so widely as a polemic. In fact, Chua is as critical of her own parenting style as one could possibly be expect a parent to be. As she reveals in the Afterword, in China, her book was viewed as advocating giving children greater freedom. For an American living in China and aware of the failings of both systems, Chua's story is a valuable example of a truly caring mother who, in the end, does her best to suss out the best of both. But apart from Asian and American culture, it's also a poignant, funny, and surpassingly honest story about parenting itself.
    • 5/5
      Hilarious, perceptive, thought provoking, worth reading by anyone with children or anyone with a parent. I 90 percent agree with Eve that the coverage of this as a "parenting manual" is misguided and that Amy Chua is somewhat ironic, very self aware, honest about the failures of her parenting philosophy, and somewhat self mocking.

      One representative passage, about her seven year old daughter not sufficiently practicing a difficult piano piece:

      "I threatened her with no lunch, no dinner, no Christmas or Hanukkah presents, no birthday parties for two, three, four years. When she still kept playing it wrong, I told her she was purposely working herself into a frenzy because she was secretly afraid she couldn't do it. I told her to stop being lazy, cowardly, self-indulgent and pathetic. Jed [her husband] took me aside. He told me to stop insulting Lulu--which I wasn't even doing, I was just motivating her."
    • 2/5
      I have to rate it low. It made me gasp it horrified me, and made me grateful for my Western parentage and my own life and way of thinking. It made me tense and angry; it will surely be a great discussion for the parent book club at my school which I read it for. It is extremely well written, and clear, easy to read. I could not rate it higher because I cannot say that I loved it at all, and that is a personal opinion based on nothing but my horror at the way this woman thinks and acts; of her obvious lack of regard for American values; for American society, really. I am not even sure I am glad I read it. I am sure Amy Chua does not even care that I read it, based on her attitude and opinion of Western civilization. The one thing I am glad for? I am glad that I did not spend money on it and was able to borrow a copy.
    • 3/5
      As a book, it's just okay. As a conversation piece, it's a must-read.
    • 5/5
      I thought this book was hysterical! I laughed out loud so many times and wanted to keep reading different passages to my husband. There were times I was horrified at something the author said to her children but it really felt in the recounting of the episode she was shocked at herself (and maybe a little bit horrified too).Basically she is a well-educated Chinese mother who raised her children as she was raised - maybe just a little bit harsher.
    • 5/5
      I think this is a very interesting case study in raising children.

      It is the autobiography of a Chinese mother raising two daughters "the Chinese way." Which is to be demanding, so utterly demanding of excellence: nothing less than an A grade, or perfection in musical studies. There is are no play dates allowed or generally playing around that most kids do today. And there is simply no talking back to parents. The author tells about her eldest daughter being the most dutiful and perfect child. The second girl was quite rebellious and more difficult to raise in the Chinese way.

      The author is a Yale professor of law, who found time to raise two daughters to be musical and scholastic over, overachievers.

      An article on this book appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Last time I looked, it had gathered over 4,000 comments by readers of the article.

      Most Westerners and third generation Chinese thoroughly disagree with Ms. Chua's version of childrearing. However, she attests her children had a lot of input on what she wrote, and that they now totally, almost totally, appreciate the way she brought them up. Amy Chua said this is amazing to Western parents who typically complain about how ungrateful their children are.

      One important point in the book was that the reason you hate a school subject is because you are not good at it. And if you are forced to get through to the point you are good at the subject, you will then suddenly find you like the subject very much.

      Coincidentally, I have just finished The Chosen One by Chaim Potok, which has been a very popular book in its day where the story is about intensive, demanding Jewish life for children. There is a lot less verbal combat in this book, but the point is the same: Excellence in study and very hard work now gives you freedom for life.

      There are probably two main viewpoints a reader can get from these two books so far as education is concerned: one, is to be grateful not to have endured That, and, two, to have been pushed to greater levels of accomplished while young.
    • 4/5
      In her memoir, Amy Chua sets out to demonstrate how the Chinese style of parenting is superior to the method that indulgent Westerners use in raising their children. Her 2 daughters had strict rules they had to follow. They never went on play dates, never slept over a friend's house and had to practice their musical instruments at least 2 hours a day. The result? Her oldest daughter, Sophia, performed at Carnegie Hall at the young age of 14. Her younger daughter was a whole different story (you'll have to read the book to see what happens). In her book, Amy Chua describes with humor and honesty her family's struggle with her extreme parenting styles in a Western world. This book was a perfect selection for me to enjoy this past week while my son was studying for finals. As I read her book, I found myself waffling - should I push harder? Am I being too tough and extreme? As Chua discovers, we all want our children to be happy and successful in life. The dilemma is how do we help them achieve this. Excellent book!