“Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” Amy Chua
Chua’s memoir was quite controversial a few years ago when it was published, and one can understand why. Her story of how she raised her daughters sound unbearable if you happen to be one of her daughters, but it does have its results. As Chua points out, Western and Chinese parenting styles could not be more different, and this is easily seen through her narrative, although at times it seems exaggerated and farfetched. An example of this would be when she tries to think of her dog’s future and tries to train it to succeed. It seems as though Chua was trying to impress her audience and also be self-deprecating, although the second characteristic did not come through as clear as the first. What can, and should, be drawn from her memoir is that although Western and Chinese parenting styles are quite different, both are valid and have good outcomes.
“State of Wonder,” Ann Patchett
Patchett might be famous for her novel “Bel Canto” (which I also enjoyed very much), but “State of Wonder” was spectacular. A story of a tribe with everlasting fertility in the Brazilian Amazon, one researcher goes to find out what happened to her coworker and how exactly he died and ends up learning so much else. This book is most definitely a page turner–even though the reader knows most of the major plot twists up front, the ending cannot be prepared for. Patchett’s writing style intertwines not only intricate plot details, but also different languages, with what seems like minimal effort.