Book Review: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Being a single lady sans child I am not normally the type to pick up a book about parenting.  That being the case I should probably explain how I came to read Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother to give you a bit of context.  Well, I first became aware of the title via a phone conversation with my good friend El Lobo.  He recounted to me the tales of a crazed Asian mom who bullied her two young daughters into classical music mastery.  The extremity of these parenting tales peaked my interest and I figured I had to read the entire book to (a) get the full story and (b) have a good laugh at the expense of two kids' wrecked childhoods.  So basically I was motivated by morbid curiosity and the faint promise of some sadistic humor.

With these questionable motives in mind I picked up Tiger Mother as soon as a copy became available at my local library.  I began reading with a single minded intensity, totally eager to scan past shocking descriptions of heinous verbal abuse dealt out by a psycho stage mom.  And you know what?  I didn't get that.  Amy Chua (the author and self-identified "Tiger Mom") has been portrayed by the press as a cruel, unfeeling enemy of all children.  But I didn't get that impression from the book.  On the contrary Chua comes across as a woman concerned with providing her two young dauthers with a strong foundation for adulthood, a healthy dose of self-esteem, and a passion for the arts.  Chua attempts to accomplish these tasks the best she can, but sometimes she screws up majorly.  In other words, she's basically an average parent.  Everybody is doing what they think is right, but mistakes are inevitable.  What particularly endeared me to the author is that she acknowledges where, when, and why she went wrong.

As I read the book I got the impression that the text was written primarily for Chua's closest family and friends.  Yes, the text is perfectly fit for public consumption, but the book focuses almost solely with Chua's personal experience.  The book describes Amy Chua's experiences of raising her kids in the "traditional Chinese immigrant style" (aka, strict, no-nonsense, academically-focused parenting).  With that subject as the premise, Chua has the opportunity to research and explore the differences between traditional Chinese and western style parenting in a broader sociological sense.  But generally she skips over any broader explorations of parenting styles in favor of telling a smaller, more personal story about her own life experiences.  Which is fine.  Chua wrote a breezy, light memoir about her life.  This kind of book totally has its place.  I guess I'm just a little disappointed because when I read through the book I couldn't help thinking that it could be so much more.  Like the Tiger Mother examining a shoddily produced b-day card, when I look at this book I can't help but see so much missed potential.

Don't get me wrong, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is a decent, reasonably entertaining read.  And you can be sure that when Chua does lapse into moments of crazed mothering it is pretty hilarious (see the brief moment when she threatens to burn her daughter's stuffed animals as a punishment for a lapse in musical tenacity...comic gold).  Also it's a pretty slim, quick read so picking up Tiger Mother is not a huge time investment for anybody.  That said, I generally believe that the effort you get out of something is often comparable to the effort you have to put in (a sentiment that the Tiger Mom herself would probably agree with).  So with that in mind, Tiger Mother is an easy read, but it's not a particularly enlightening one.

In conclusion:
Three outta five stars.  A mixed bag.