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Sweet and Low: A Family Story (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Cumberland Packing, the company that manufactures Sweet'N Low, occupies a boxy building across the street from the Brooklyn Navy Yard..." (more)
Key Phrases: saccharin ban, fake sugar, pink packets, New York, Joe Asaro, Gil Mederos (more...)

4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (75 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sweet and Low by Richard Cohen bills itself as "the unauthorized true story of one Brooklyn family." And what a family. Cohen, the disinherited grandson of the artificial sweetener Sweet 'n' Low's inventor, combines two parts Horatio Alger-memoir, one part cultural commentary and three parts personal criticism into a fascinating snapshot of American life, immigrant experience and a broad sermon on the perils of fortune. Cohen's maternal grandfather, Ben Eisenstadt, a mid-grade inventor and Brooklyn restaurateur concocts the idea of selling sugar in individual packets--a revolutionary concept in the age of crusty, unsanitary sugar dispensers. His idea stolen by the big sugar companies, Cohen squeaks out a post-war living selling his packets in their shadow until he and his son, Marvin, invent the formula for the saccharine sweetener and catch the first big wave of the American diet craze. Those little pink packets create a vast fortune soon tarnished by interfamily squabbles, Mafia influence, FDA edicts and, mostly, the baser aspects of human nature--greed, jealousy and pride. Cohen, a writer for Rolling Stone and The New Yorker, among other publications, weaves a compelling and often biting narrative about his mother's family. Using those pink packets as metaphor, he paints a dystopic portrait of the American Dream, that, in his family's case, was as devoid of nourishment as any artificial sweetener.--Jeremy Pugh --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

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. Photos. (Apr. 11)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Picador (March 20, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312426011
ISBN-13: 978-0312426019
Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (75 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #523,106 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
Cumberland Packing, the company that manufactures Sweet'N Low, occupies a boxy building across the street from the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
saccharin ban, fake sugar, pink packets, packing machines

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Joe Asaro, Gil Mederos, Mario Mederos, Marvin Eisenstadt, Joseph Asaro, Navy Yard, United States, Irving Anolik, New Jersey, Andrews Court, David Blumenthal, Little Steven, Nine Kings, Wall Street, Diet Coke, East River, Fort Greene, Gerard Petri, Uncle Abie, Abraham Gellman, East Fiftieth Street, Richard Faughnan, Abbott Labs, Benjamin Eisenstadt

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Sweet and Low by Rich Cohen

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Customer Reviews

75 Reviews

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (75 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars HOW SWEET IS REVENGE?, April 24, 2006

By	Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME) (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This review is from: Sweet and Low: A Family Story (Audio CD)

They say revenge is sweet. How about revenge is "Sweet and Low," a not very flattering account of family and fortune? Author Rich Cohen evidently had get-even in mind as he makes it plain that he doesn't much care for members of his family and he certainly didn't like being disinherited.

Nonetheless, scandal and vitriol often add spice to the listen and this is the case with Cohen's narrative. His grandfather, Ben Eisenstadt, began it all when he opened a diner across from the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Ever on the lookout for an opportunity, he saw the wisdom of putting sugar into little packets rather than having it sit in clogged glass table dispensers. As the tale goes, he pitched his brainstorm to a sugar company that claimed it as their own.

Angry but undaunted Eisenstadt then came up with the idea for Sweet `N Low, which was offered initially as an aid for diabetics but soon swiped by diet crazed Americans. The family was in high cotton.......until studies linked saccharin to cancer. As they say, there goes the business. Or, as Cohen would say, "Fourteen rats get cancer and nothing will ever be the same."

Once corruption was discovered within the company court battles ensued, Cohen's mother's side lost, and their names were whited out in wills.

Cohen may be bitter but he's also a dandy writer ("Lake Effect" and "Tough Jews"). His descriptions of family from the kind of woman "who wanted you to think she never went to the bathroom" to Uncle Marvin who said to call him Uncle Marvelous are hilarious.

The highs and lows of Sweet `N Low isn't exactly The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire but it is an interesting and often smile provoking listen.

- Gail Cooke

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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An American Classic, May 20, 2006

By	Zeke Wagner (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sweet and Low: A Family Story (Hardcover)

This book is large. In it, the writer, Rich Cohen, disinherited from the vast sweet n low fortune, comes to see the history of his family, and the history of our time, in the little white granules that sweeten our coffee, but leave a bitter aftertaste. It is told with panache and humor, and also with a great deal of compassion, even toward those who did his side of the family wrong. It is an American story as old as the west, or as old as the Great Gatsby. It is the story of the American dream, and what happens when that dream comes true. It is a be careful what you wish for story, or, as my grandmother used to say, "We were happier when we were poor."

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38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sweet, sour, bitter and salty....all in one!, April 24, 2006

By	Jon Hunt "musician, teacher" (Old Greenwich, Ct. USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Sweet and Low: A Family Story (Hardcover)

Rich Cohen's new book "Sweet and Low" is a breezy and fun-filled romp through the broken fragments of a family that has more ditzy characters than an offbeat novel. The author states on the back cover, "to be disinherited is to be set free" and in his liberation the readers of his book have much about which to cheer. Cohen is wickedly humorous and spares no one and no detail. He gives "dysfunction" a new name.

Ostensibly a story about the discovery of the first widely used sugar substitute, the Cumberland Packing Corporation which packages it and the company's successes and failures, "Sweet and Low" is really about the men and women in the Eisenstadt/Cohen family and what life was like under the surface. Patriarch Benjamin Eisenstadt, the hard luck/good luck founder of the company is the rock that holds the family together. Beyond that, look out. There's the agoraphobic, housebound Aunt Gladys, Uncle ("marvelous") Marvin, the eternal man-child son of Ben, vitriolic grandma Betty and suicidal great-grandma, Bubba. Reading "Sweet and Low" is like watching a tv variety show without the tv. Yet it is author Cohen who really puts everything in perspective. What makes this book so enjoyable is the writing and it is, indeed, very good. Cohen has a way of not only grabbing the reader's attention, but holding it, then guiding it through the twists and turns of his family's "behavior". It is a tour de force. While the author allows himself some bitter feelings (perhaps more wistful, had everyone gotten along) he nonetheless has some nice things to say. His ability to stick the knife in cleanly is balanced by a notion that while people may have bad attributes they aren't necessarily bad people.

"Sweet and Low" could have been just a kiss-and-tell book about a family gone awry. It's much better than that and it's due to Rich Cohen and his marvelous way of telling the family story. I loved "Sweet and Low" and encourage readers to purchase a copy and enjoy it.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorougly enjoyable read!
Sweet and Low is a fascinating blend of history, business and family dynamics.
Richard Cohen has an excellent story telling ability and sense of humor. Read more

Published 22 days ago by Laura

5.0 out of 5 stars A dysfunctional family business
It's a testament to Cohen's writing and perhaps my own quirkiness that I found the history of artificial sweeteners so fascinating, but of course the real story here is the... Read more

Published 3 months ago by Alissa

3.0 out of 5 stars Wiseguys don't make good writers
Rich Cohen tells his family's classic immigrant success story ... and how the family eventually became torn apart. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Avid Reader

4.0 out of 5 stars Sweet & Enjoyable
What an easy and fun read - I'll never look at my sugar substitute the same way again! I especially enjoyed Cohen's style featuring sarcasm at its best. Read more

Published 11 months ago by groupworker

2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth it.
This book sat on my shelf for years, and I just picked it up. Interesting story, but poorly executed. Amateurish writing, and vindicative tone do not a good book make. Skip it.

Published 15 months ago by book'd

3.0 out of 5 stars Leaves Too Many Unanswered Questions
I'm not generally a fan of memoir or biography, but my book group selected this to discuss, so I duly picked it up. Read more

Published 15 months ago by A. Ross

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but irritating.
The story of Ben Eisenstadt, inventor of Sweet 'N Low, the fortune he amassed as a result, and its effect on his family (it ripped it apart). Read more

Published 22 months ago by David M. Giltinan

4.0 out of 5 stars ELLEN & HER ISSUE
Sweet & Low by Rich Cohen is a wonderful & delightful read. It is tempting to assume Mr Cohen's motives in writing this book. Read more

Published 22 months ago by C. Davis

5.0 out of 5 stars The mystery of the pink packet
Rich Cohen is only getting better with time. This is a captivating story of the ubiquitous pink packet and the family business around it. Read more

Published 24 months ago by Olga Kay

2.0 out of 5 stars Not too funny.
I read this book along with a book club group, and we all agreed that it was not as funny as portrayed, nor as well-written. Read more

Published on August 28, 2007 by Readsalot

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