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Liked It “This is so well written. It was fascinating, but I felt that the end was a little abrupt. Worth a read though.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “This is pretty hard to get into- if you read it, skip the first chapter- it summarizes a lot of what will happen. If I had done that, I think I would like it a lot more.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
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“This is so well written. It was fascinating, but I felt that the end was a little abrupt. Worth a read though.”
Brian Fuchs wrote this review Tuesday, July 28 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“The family story was great, but I found myself a little impatient with the digressions into things like the growth of Brooklyn and the history of sugar.”
JulieK wrote this review Friday, August 29 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Ok. . . here's a not-so-nice story about the rise and fall of a family business. Cohen's at his best when he's recounting the family squabbles; but when he strays from his family, he disconnects with the humor.
Hoyt wrote this review Monday, June 30 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Interestingly, the book's cover delivers a summary of the book better than any Cliffs notes could. And you know what? I bet if Cohen had adapted this tale to a graphic novel that it would have packed a better punch and made for better reading.”
“very, very good. a terrific job of blending a striking family story with real research into the history of sugar and sugar substitutes... one of those subject you don't realize is interesting until you get into it. marvelous structure in the storytelling.”
Howard G wrote this review Thursday, June 26 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“This is pretty hard to get into- if you read it, skip the first chapter- it summarizes a lot of what will happen. If I had done that, I think I would like it a lot more.”
Sarah N wrote this review Thursday, June 5 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“From Publishers Weekly:
Bethel wrote this review Tuesday, March 25 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Disinherited from the family fortune built by his maternal grandfather, Ben Eisenstadt, who invented the artificial sweetener Sweet'N Low, Cohen mines a wealth of family history in this funny, angry, digressive memoir. Ben worked as a short-order cook during the Depression and conceived of but failed to patent the sugar packet before he and his son Marvin hit pay dirt in the 1950s with the saccharin formula for Sweet'N Low. Today a distant third to Equal and Splenda, Sweet'N Low is run by Marvin's son Jeff, who took over after Marvin and several other chief officers were charged with tax evasion and criminal conspiracy in 1993. This story of the family-owned, Brooklyn-based company is, at its heart, a tale of immigrant strife and Cohen's fractious Jewish clan, including his grandmother Betty, for whom "love is finite," and his hypochondriac, housebound Aunt Gladys ("a tongue probing a sore"), who connived to eliminate her sister (Cohen's mother) from Betty's will. Though Cohen often dollies back in a self-conscious if breezy effort to pad his memoir with big ideas—the history of artificial sweeteners, the post-WWII weight-watching craze, etc.—the real grace of his writing (seen in Tough Jews) lies in the merciless, comic characterizations of his relatives. ”
“Worth reading. I love books like this. Kind of "fun but finally irrelevant history" which I spend hours with. I imitated the author and I tried Sweet & Low all by itself in a Chili's in Skokie IL, after reading this and almost had a heart attack from that stuff almost burning a hole in my skull. It tasted like sh**** metallic acid that made my jaws feel like they were being peirced by scissors on each side. Good stuff. Try it today! Pour some on your tongue. You'd never guess that the annoying aftertaste you get from putting it in your coffee could be so horrifying. I credit all the coffee I've ever drunk with partially saving me from what might have been many painful slips. Oh, and when I did this experiment we didn't have anything to drink on the table yet. So unless you want to seriously suffer, have a drink nearby.”
Jeff S wrote this review Friday, December 28 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Only vaguely interesting.”
dirckhals wrote this review Sunday, November 18 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Started strong but ultimately disappointed. Probably because the jacket blurb got me thinking the mob activity and the disinheritance were tied together in a single story - but that's not how it was. Unfortunately life is rarely as integrated as a novel, and the last part of the book, about the disinheritance, felt tacked on.”
capybara wrote this review Wednesday, August 15 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
