Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua, Penguin, 2011. 

Chinese-American parents are in general much more strict with their children than most other ethnicities. The author describes how she raised her two daughters to become excellent musicians. The elder daughter, Sophia, studied piano, the younger daughter, Lulu, studied the violin. She restricted how her daughters spent their time, giving maximum priority to studying their chosen instrument. The girls were required to practice for huge numbers of hour per day. She was also demanding that they get all A’s in their academic subjects in school. The daughters also became fluent in Mandarin. The daughters had little time left over for going to camp, boyfriends, sleepover parties, pets, hobbies, school plays, watching TV, gaming, sports, playing with friends. 

It was clear that most of the motivation came from their mother, rather than being chosen by the daughters. She even restricted their choice of instrument to either the violin or the piano. The book devotes much space to describing the daughters’ music teachers. There was some rebelliousness from the younger daughter, but not the older daughter. This kind of upbringing is in stark contrast to the lax way most Americans bring up their children. The author comes off as strict and ambitious, but not cruel. The author’s parents were an ethnic Chinese person from the Philippines. The author’s husband was a Jew. He was in the background of this memoir.