Sweet and Low

Sweet and Low by Rich Cohen

Category: Family memoir Grade: C+

I'll never say anything bad about my family again (not, of course, that I would ever say anything bad about my family!). This book is the story of the Eisenstadt family - the family that founded and still owns Cumberland Packaging - the makers of Sweet and Low. The story is told by the grandson of the founders, Rich Cohen. He's part of the branch of the family that ended up getting disinherited so he's got a bit of a bone to pick. This is one screwed up family. Starting with the patriarch, Ben - his first big brainstorm was mucking with a tea bagging machine to create the first sugar packets. He did this so he wouldn't have to clean the sugar containers on the tables in his diner. Ben took it to Domino Sugar without bothering to file a patent and, predictably, Domino stole his idea. Years later, as the diet craze struck, he launched the Sweet and Low brand and built a mega-business. The rest of the family was equally nuts. Ben's son Marvin (known as Uncle Marvelous) took over the business, but also hired a couple of mob-connected senior execs (e.g. a CFO who's previous experience was as a mechanic) who proceeded to rob the company blind and, eventually, get Marvin indicted. There's sister Gladys who, one day, wasn't feeling well and went to her room -- for 30 years!

Unfortunately, as interesting as the story is, there are two flaws that keep the book from being as good as the story. First and foremost, Cohen really isn't that great a writer. He's not "put-it-down" terrible, but his writing frequently gets in the way of storytelling. This shouldn't have surprised me. I read two of his previous books -- Tough Jews (about Jewish gangsters) and The Avengers (about, I think, Israeli spies). Interesting stories -- mediocre writing.

His second flaw is that he keeps heading off on to tangents - most especially his long digression in to the history of sugar. The family was enough of a story and he should have stuck to that.

This book was (again, especially the story) good enough that I'll probably pick up his next book, but not good enough that I can recommend it to anybody.