Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua

Synopsis
According to Amy Chua, playing drums leads to drugs and a mother is not meant to be liked by her children. Her 'job' is to prepare her children for the future. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is a story of how Chua came to raise highly successful children.

Review
Category: Adult non-fiction/Biography
Age Group: Teens and Adults
Star Rating: 5/10


Discussion
After reading about much controversy surrounding this book, I picked it up and was prepared for two things; 1, to be completely shocked and blown away by just how emotionally abusive Chua was, and 2, to feel extreme pity for her children.
I was steeling myself to read the book after reading some reviews (a memorable one from Goodreads by Elisha Condie-

"Holy cow, I hate this lady so much. Her book kind of gives me a headache, but I can't stop reading it. I hope it doesn't end with one of her kids waving a gun around at a piano recital, but I won't be surprised if it does...Amy Chua is just appalling! I can't stand this woman."

So yesterday, when I finally picked it up from the bookstore (it is surprisingly sleek and the print is relatively large), I was surprised to find, firstly, that it wasn't all that interesting, and secondly, that Chua was not really the sort of abusive mother I expected her to be. She's tough, sure, but I don't think it's to the point were she's abusive. She does back off at one point.
The problems don't lie there. The book appears to be about conflicts between Chinese and Western parenting on the back cover. However, when you flip through the actual thing, three-quarters of it are about Chua screaming at her kids to play the piano or the violin; the remainder is a song of praise for Chinese parenting and slamming any other conflicting opinions between her and her husband (this isn't a direct quote, but think along the lines of: 'I am always right; you're the American Puss and I'm the Chinese Tiger. You will take our kids to water parks with dangerous slides and let them engage in such revolting behaviours over my dead body.') It isn't keeping me interested and the only reason why I ploughed through it was for the pure sake of finishing the thing. Another big problem with the whole thing is that the author can go on, and on, and on...and on, about something absolutely insignificant.
Take the Caviar example.
The Chua family is in Russia. They order caviar. Lulu refuses to eat it. Mother tells Lulu she must eat it. Lulu refuses. Mother tells Lulu she is an uncultured savage. Lulu screams.
This goes on for pages and Chua focuses all her parenting energy into making her daughter eat that one single egg. As it appears, there is nothing more interesting for her to say.
In summary, we as readers are basically left to ponder the life-changing question of whether Chua's kids will:

• play the piano at Carnegie Hall, and not get into the Ivy League
• play the piano at Carnegie Hall, and get into the Ivy League (which we all know will probably happen)
• not play the piano at Carnegie Hall, and get into the Ivy League
• not play the piano at Carnegie Hall, and not get into the Ivy League (The shock horror of bringing your forefather's dreams and your Chinese heritage down by not getting into the Ivy League and not playing piano at Carnegie Hall!)

Verdict
A brief verdict: firstly, this book is too repetitive. There is apparently nothing more interesting to talk about apart from the fact that Lulu refuses to play the violin properly. If it is that much of a big issue, make her give it up, please. Secondly, the author seems to be very stereotypical, far over-generalising 'Westerners' and 'Chinese' people. This gets to me a little. Otherwise, the book is told in a witty, honest, fresh maner, and is a good read--if the preaching doesn't get to you first.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Synopsis: My Sister's Keeper is a story about a girl who is diagnosed with APL, a rare form of leukaemia, at a young age. Her parents are willing to do anything to save her, to the point where they create a 'spare parts child', first to donate cord blood at birth, then blood and bone marrow.
This is where things are complicated, when Kate is diagnosed with end-stage renal disease (kidney failure). Her parents want Anna, the 'spare parts child' to donate a kidney, and Anna, who apparently has had enough of being her sister's lifesaver, decides to file a lawsuit, suing her parents to the rights of her own body.

Suitable for: Anyone who has Time for a Book that Drags on and is Filled with Flimsy Junk
Age Group: Teens and Adults (or older children capable of handling a more mature topic)
Star Rating: 2/10

Verdict: Put very bluntly, My Sister's Keeper is a book with a good storyline which is ultimately wasted by the quality of the writing. Picoult drops metaphors in every chapter which were clearly intended to be deep and meaningful. Which I, as a normal person, has no brain capacity to absorb (a lot of junk about a house being bulldozed and rebuilt-literally-and then the narrator, in this case the mother, ends by saying 'but you know what? They rebuilt.) I mean come on. It is being over-dramatised far, far, far too much and it ends up becoming a load of cheesy junk. How does a house being rebuilt have any relationship to a kid with leukaemia?
Enough of that. Apart from too many failed metaphors supposedly containing the Meaning of Life, the characters personalities are completely cliche; there's the Teenager who Rebels, the Kid with her Own Opinions, and the Saint. Oh please. Added to that heap of failure there is also an amazingly stupid and completely irrelevant sub-plot about Anna ('spare parts child')'s lawyer, and the counsellor/social worker being in love. This is meant to be a book which questions ethics and morals and the basis of human society and the legal system, not a love story. Even Twilight would be a better choice than this if I wanted to read a love story (and considering how much I dislike Twilight, that's saying something).
Spoilers Below
The ending was an epic fail. It was too predictable, and far too unrealistic. Leukaemia Kid is miraculously cured. Dad gets over Spare Parts's death. Mum mourns but gets over it. Teenager who Rebels becomes good.
I personally know a cancer survivor, and someone who died from cancer. And either way, that's not the way it works.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (book) by Roald Dahl

Charlie and the chocolate factory is a classic story by Roald Dahl about a boy named Charlie Bucket (a chocolate lover) and around the world, Willy Wonka, the most famous sweet maker in the world, sends out 5 golden tickets in chocolate packets and the lucky winners will get to go into his chocolate factory where no one is allowed to go in. One day, Charlie finds a fifty pence piece (around $80 AUD) and when he buys it he realises that it has the golden ticket.

When he visits the factory with 4 other children, it is one of the experiences that will change his life forever.

Rating: 9.5/10

I used to love this book as a child, mostly because of the plot, and the funny jokes that Roald Dahl seems to slip in. The description of the lollies (mostly chocolate) made me dribble all over the book.

The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard

The Deep End of the Ocean is the story of a three-year old boy, Ben, who is kidnapped. His mother, Beth, wanders then in a self-centered haze. Nine years later, however, Ben is found again-this time as Sam Taylor, mowing Beth's lawn.
The real problem for me with this book is that some parts of the first part drag on for far too long. We already know about Beth's main characteristics and flaws as they are demonstrated in the first few chapters. Mitchard goes on too much about this and it can get fairly boring in parts. However, in the second part of the book, you really start to see a dysfunctional family breaking down slowly, and it is quite interesting to see the different reactions characters have to this (e.g. the older child becomes 'bad' i.e. rebels, the mother becomes increasingly self-absorbed, and the father becomes a workaholic).
However, a fair warning would be that this book contains, from the start, no happiness. Happiness does not exist in Beth's world. It is a story of how a family can survive but die in spirit. The story is left unfinished, with a trailing end, and we never quite know what will happen next.
This book left me with many questions. How can we define a 'good mother'? What would a family struck by tragedy do? And finally, was Ben (Sam Taylor) ultimately better off being raised by his kidnappers? It leaves a lot of room for thought.

Suitable for: Parents and Grandparents

Age Group: Adults

Star Rating: 8/10