Think about your mum for a minute: is she or has she ever been Asian? Great! One with an intense drive for you to become a medical professional? Awesome! Someone who has routinely disapproved of your life decisions in a way that was crushing at the time but retroactively hilarious? Yes? If so, Michelle and Benjamin Law would like to hear from you:
Have an Asian mum? @mrbenjaminlaw & I are writing a book about Asian mums’ advice & wisdom, and we need your input! http://t.co/r3CfBr5axB
— Michelle Law (@ms_michellelaw) November 21, 2013
The link clicks through to a Tiger Mum related survey form asking questions like “describe the most embarrassing thing Your Asian Mother has ever said/done/worn”, “please list Your Asian Mother’s best – and worst – advice over the years” and “do you have any excellent telephone voicemails or phone calls with Your Asian Mother you would like to share?”
Ben, half of the Brisbane-based literary siblings who may or may not be writing a book in an attempt to debunk the negative cultural stereotypes associated with Amy Chua’s 2011 best-selling novel Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, had this to say regarding his own Asian mother when we interviewed him a few years back for his debut novel, The Family Law.
There’s this one story where my Mum in a way, basically fakes her
own death,” he told us. “She turns off all her phones so no one can call her and just
sends us into this despairing panic about whether she’s okay or not. And
at the time I thought that was crazy but given some time away from the
situation and after some heated words you can start to see why someone
would react in that way.”
Beat that. If you can, let them know here.
