Rich Cohen’s “Sweet and Low” is a good book, but not a great book. There are sections that are absolutely fascinating: the history of Jewish immigration to Brooklyn, the history of sugar, the creation of the sugar packet (!), the discovery of sugar substitutes, the creation of one Brooklyn Jewish immigrants’ family fortune based on the discovery and marketing of sugar packets and sugar substitutes. Alas, the impetus to write this book was the family rift that left Richard, who is basically my age, shut out of the family fortune. He’s just a regular guy who had a crazy aunt and granny who decided all of life’s problems were because of his mother and made sure to leave her and “her issue” with nothing. So he’s pissed and with good cause. Still, the detail with which he writes about his Uncle Marvin (Uncle Marvelous!) and his shady mafia connections goes on a little long. At one point I called out, “I’m interested in this story, but not THAT interested.” Moral: if you are gonna fuck over a family member, make sure he’s not a writer. Added benefit: I can now tell you the difference between Sweet and Low, Equal and Splenda!
