Farming is really hard. It is a lot easier, though, when you take advantage of your workers and your own family. This all becomes quite evident when reading John Seabrook's The Spinach King. There is actually not a lot of spinach in it which is great because I hate vegetables.

Seabrook is quite close to this story because the farming family he is writing about is his own. His grandfather, C.F., and his father Jack are the two main characters of the story which veers into Shakespearean tragedy. See C.F. could be credited with both making Seabrook Farms a viable company and then also destroying it single-handedly in an effort to ruin his own sons. The author also uncovers some very dirty family secrets which I won't outline here.

There is certainly a compelling story at the center of the book. Seabrook bounces a bit between the years with his father and then back in time to before he was born and C.F. ruled the roost. There is a multitude of threads for Seabrook to follow and it is the only real criticism I have of the narrative. The author writes compelling prose, but the most recent sections read very different from the historical ones. For instance, there are many humorous asides when the author recounts contemporary things. This fun aspect is almost completely missing from historical sections. Also, the back and forth in time is not uniform, so one plot thread may be gaining steam and then you are suddenly shunted away from it.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book even with my minor quibble about the flow at times. It is definitely worth a read if you enjoy a combination of memoir and business history.

(This book was provided as an advance reader copy by Netgalley and W.W. Norton & Company.)