I, too, was appalled by the excerpts!
I got the book to see if it was really THAT bad.
Before I even opened the book, I read the (really long) subtitle, which says up front that she learns from her daughter and is humbled! (The subtitle is: �This is a story about a mother, two daughters, and two dogs. This was supposed to be a story of how Chinese parents are better at raising kids than Western ones. But instead, it�s about a bitter clash of cultures, a fleeting taste of glory, and how I was humbled by a thirteen-year-old.") None of the excerpts mentioned that one of the main points of the book was that the author learns what works and what doesn't work in controlling children and developing their skills!
I found that the author has a subtle and wicked sense of humor (and thus is definitely easy to misunderstand!) Very self-deprecating. She learns a lot and has bad moments. And some things are just misunderstood (e.g. she calls herself a "tiger" mother because she was born in the year of the tiger).
My final conclusion: this book has been really misunderstood. It is complex, the author is sometimes a disingenuous narrator, and has an unusual sense of humor.
I heard Amy Chua interviewed on Northcountry Public Radio and she was hilarious, warm, friendly, and quite human! This is a complex and interesting text (not a simple parenting book). I ended up amused!
