A review by melanie_reads
The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King by Rich Cohen

3.0

A classic American rags to riches story. Samuel Zemurray arrives in the US a penniless immigrant and becomes a titan of industry. Zemurray's story is an amazing tale. However, I found Cohen's biographical writing style a bit peculiar and difficult. Cohen, despite acknowledging that he has no data or reference material to back up this fact, imagines that Zemurray's great regret in life is not raising his kids to be observant Jews. There are multiple instances when Cohen's ideas about Zemurray enter into the narrative and I personally found them lacking.

Also, this is probably not the author's fault, but I was diappointed by the complete absence of photos in this book.