A review by skywardphoto
Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm by David Mas Masumoto

2.0

I started out liking the premise, saving the Sun Crest peaches on his family's farm that had emotional value but little to no financial value. But the whole growing season he wrote about throughout the year seemed to be leading up to him tearing up the trees and moving on- but he didn't. Which is fine, but tenacity for tenacity's sake is foolish. He had a whole section that discussed how risk is only possible for those who can afford it. Well clearly he can afford it- I feel like the further the book went the more arrogant the narrator seemed, despite his constant ramblings about how farmer's weren't in charge of nature, they were collaborators.
Also, I had more questions at the end than answers or closure. How did any of this affect his wife and kids? He mentions his emotional outbursts and time consuming work- so how does that affect his family, not the one who originally owned his farm that he refers to often but the one he lives with day in and day out?
A lot more interesting things could have been explained or expounded upon if he didn't repeat the same stories over and over, out of order, throughout the whole book. I started out excited about his plan to change growing methods and go au naturel, but it was overgrown by the weeds of stubbornness, repetitiveness, and priveledge.