I decided to read this book after I read about Amy Chua in the Time Magazine 100 most influential people edition. The book seemed interesting and I was lacking other reading materials, so I downloaded it and began.Chua is a professor at Yale Law, and the daughter of Chinese immigrants. She is married to a Jewish man, and they have two daughters, Sophia and Lulu. This book is her story of raising the girls in the western world while trying to maintain the ideals of a "Chinese mother."
Battle Hymn is remarkably readable: I read the entire book in one sitting. Chua's voice is humorous and easy to follow. However, she received a lot of negative press for this book - Many critics claim her style of parenting to be emotionally abusive and extreme.
If you check out some of the Amazon reviews, you'll see that this book angers a lot of people. Not me. I loved it. But that's because I come from a competitive musical background. Not on the performing-at-Carnegie-at-age-13 level, but from a moderately serious this-is-what-I-want-to-do-with-my-life level. And coming from that background, I recognize that one of the best gifts a parent can give a child is music. Chua is correct: nothing is fun until you're good at it. And when things are hard, kids don't necessarily want to do what it takes to master a skill and move to the next level. That's when parents have to step in and be hard and firm and drill the child adn force them to perservere. No prodigies would be born and no progress would be made otherwise. Chua's story is one of long, exhausting but fruitful days, and the products they produce.
If you want a quick read and a glimpse into a different lifestyle, I would recommed this book. I was definitely entertained by reading it.
Read more: The New York Times
Buy it: on Amazon
