Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (2011) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

Summary edit see section history

People edit see section history

• Lulu: Add a description of this character.
• Sophia
• Jed
• Amy Chua: Chinese-American raising her daughters in the "Chinese" way
• Jed Rubenfeld: Amy's Jewish husband who is a professor a Yale Law School. Also a writer.
• Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld: Older daughter; an accomplished piano player.
• Louisa 'Lulu' Chua-Rubenfeld: Feisty younger daughter who plays the violin.
• Amy
• Katrin: The author's seven-years-younger sister who is an MD at Stanford
• Mrs. Vamos: A prestigious violin teacher who coached Lulu a few times
• Mrs. Kazinczy: A psychotic Hungarian violin teacher
• Mr. Shugart: Lulu's first real violin teacher
• Mommy: This is what the author's daughters still call her even though they are teenagers
• Popo: This is what the author's daughters called their paternal grandmother
• Jake
• Krisztina: This is a good friend of the author's family who arranged a recital for the girls in Hungary
• Michelle: Sophia's very first piano teacher from the Neighborhood Music School.
• Samoyeds: The breed of the author's two family dogs
• Sy: The author's father-in-law
• Kiwon: A dog loving violinist who accepts students of promise for lessons. He himself attended the Julliard Pre-College program for early gifted musicians.
• Amy Chua: Remember the book is satire!
• Yang
• Juliet
• Alexis
• Cindy
• Aaron: Kiwon's boyfriend.
• Millie
• Istvan
• Peter
• Romeo

Quotes edit see section history

• “Be modest, be humble, be simple,” my mother used to chide. “The last shall come first.” What she really meant of course was, “Make sure you come in first so that you have something to be humble about.”

• “They assume strength, not fragility, and as a result they behave very differently.”

• “Western parents try to respect their children’s individuality, encouraging them to pursue their true passions, supporting their choices, and providing positive reinforcement and a nurturing environment. By contrast, the Chinese believe that the best way to protect their children is by preparing them for the future, letting them see what they’re capable of, and arming them with skills, work habits, and inner confidence that no one can ever take away.”

• “What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it. To get good at anything, you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences.”

• “If you think holding something in place with your collarbone and lower left jaw is uncomfortable, you are correct. Add to this a wooden chin rest and metal clamps jutting into your neck, and the result is the "violin hickey".”

• “Instead of making my kids study from books, private schools are constantly trying to make learning fun by having parents do all the work.”

• “There's also something about insubordination and getting kicked out that Americans love.”

• “How could I have set her up for such a disappointment?”

• “Before you know it your children will be grown and gone, and you'll be old even if you feel just like the same person you were when you were young.”

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you’re good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences.

  Highlighted by 1289 Kindle customers

• Western parents worry a lot about their children’s self-esteem. But as a parent, one of the worst things you can do for your child’s self-esteem is to let them give up. On the flip side, there’s nothing better for building confidence than learning you can do something you thought you couldn’t.

  Highlighted by 1014 Kindle customers

• “My goal as a parent is to prepare you for the future—not to make you like me.”

  Highlighted by 828 Kindle customers

• They assume strength, not fragility, and as a result they behave very differently.

  Highlighted by 807 Kindle customers

• Western parents try to respect their children’s individuality, encouraging them to pursue their true passions, supporting their choices, and providing positive reinforcement and a nurturing environment. By contrast, the Chinese believe that the best way to protect their children is by preparing them for the future, letting them see what they’re capable of, and arming them with skills, work habits, and inner confidence that no one can ever take away.

  Highlighted by 747 Kindle customers

• Tenacious practice, practice, practice is crucial for excellence; rote repetition is underrated in America. Once a child starts to excel at something—whether it’s math, piano, pitching, or ballet—he or she gets praise, admiration, and satisfaction. This builds confidence and makes the once not-fun activity fun. This in turn makes it easier for the parent to get the child to work even more.

  Highlighted by 713 Kindle customers

• Chinese parents demand perfect grades because they believe that their child can get them. If their child doesn’t get them, the Chinese parent assumes it’s because the child didn’t work hard enough.

  Highlighted by 705 Kindle customers

• Third, Chinese parents believe that they know what is best for their children and therefore override all of their children’s own desires and preferences.

  Highlighted by 499 Kindle customers

• “Be modest, be humble, be simple,” my mother used to chide. “The last shall come first.” What she really meant of course was, “Make sure you come in first so that you have something to be humble about.” One of my father’s bedrock principles was, “Never complain or make excuses. If something seems unfair at school, just prove yourself by working twice as hard and being twice as good.”

  Highlighted by 351 Kindle customers

• The truth is I’m not good at enjoying life. It’s not one of my strengths. I keep a lot of to-do lists and hate massages and Caribbean vacations. Florence saw childhood as something fleeting to be enjoyed. I saw childhood as a training period, a time to build character and invest for the future.

  Highlighted by 297 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• New York
• New Haven
• New York City
• Carnegie Hall
• China
• Russia
• Florence
• America
• Boston
• United States
• Budapest
• London
• Chicago
• Wall Street
• California

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Parenting: This book focuses on the contrast between Western and Chinese parenting styles.
• culture: Describe this theme.

Series & Lists edit see section history

List the series to which this book belongs.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Amy Chua (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: HQ0759 .C59 2011
• Dewey: 306.874

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Add a note to help parents select a book for a child.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Parenting & Families › Parenting
• Books › Biographies & Memoirs

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• US Penguin: Publisher
• New York Times Book Review: Diabolically well-packaged, highly readable screed ostensibly about the art of obsessive parenting.
• USA Today Book Review: All hype, no heft. That's the real story of Amy Chua's memoir/Web sensation, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.
• Washington Post Book Review: The cover of "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" was catnip to this average parent's soul. Although the memoir seems to have been written to prove that Chinese parents are better at raising children than Western ones, the cover text claims that instead it portrays "a bitter clash of cultures, a fleeting taste of glory" and the Tiger Mother's humbling by a 13-year-old.
• Archdiocese of Boston Book Review: Amy Chua hit a nerve last month. In early January, her book, "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother," made its debut like Tom Brady dropping in on a sorority house. Book reviews and columnists leaped on the book. Local talk shows had the perfect topic to keep the blood flowing in cold weather. No one, least of all the talk show hosts, could keep from entering the fray and taking sides.
• Wall Street Journal Book Review: There's nothing like parenting for uncovering our most deeply held beliefs. In general conversation with friends, plenty of us exercise a certain liberal-mindedness, a flexibility of perspective that eases social intercourse. Why alienate pals by lecturing them on the need to be more detail-oriented, or frugal, or neat? At work it's rarely smart to tell colleagues that their thinking is sloppy or dull, even if it is.
• National Public Radio Book Review: Amy Chua may well be nuts. What kind of a mother hauls her then-7-year-old daughter's dollhouse out to the car and tells the kid that the dollhouse is going to be donated to the Salvation Army piece by piece if the daughter doesn't master a difficult piano composition by the next day? What kind of a mother informs her daughter that she's "garbage"? And what kind of mother believes, as Chua tells readers she does, that: "an A- is a bad grade; ... the only activities your children should be permitted to do are those in which they can eventually win a medal; and ... that medal must be gold"?
• The Guardian Book Review: The frenetic interest in Amy Chua's unexceptional memoir about her dedication to raising children who excel shows the ease with which our anxiety about being the best possible parent is aroused. The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother reveals a previously guessed-at but carefully closeted Chinese approach to child rearing. While western mothers praise a child for every squiggle drawn, Chua learned from her parents to accept nothing less than the best. "Chinese parents demand perfect grades because they believe that their child can get them. If their child does not get them, the Chinese parent assumes it's because the child didn't work hard enough."
• Chicago Sun Times Book Review: It is difficult to critique Amy Chua’s book without commenting on her parenting style. It’s been a hot topic in the news for several weeks. “Western” parents, whom Chua classifies as too permissive and eager to praise mediocrity, are in turn critical of the author’s “Chinese” style of parenting, which in its most extreme form consists of drill sergeant-type tactics and the seemingly constant reinforcement that “you’re not good enough.”

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history