The whole time I was reading, this reminded me of a John Irving novel. I love his writing so that’s a compliment ;) The concept of the story was really interesting - a group of siblings who came to be with a little help from science, a little bit of love, and a lot of weird history. I went into it blind and loved seeing it all unfold. The writing is literary but approachable, the characters flawed but ultimately likable, and they often had me laughing and/or groaning at their choices, even though they were totally in character (you know how sometimes you just see it from the outside and have opinions??). It did take me a while to read because it’s a slow burn, no real hook, some easy to spot twists; but if you’re in the mood for slow and easy it’s perfect.

“ I thought: What would that feel like, to realize what you’ve missed? And what if the later child somehow answers the brokenness in the older siblings and in the family as a whole? So, I made up a family to explore some of these issues and watch those ideas play out.“ quote from author about her ideas behind the novel.

Synopsis: The Latecomer follows the story of the wealthy, New York City-based Oppenheimer family, from the first meeting of parents Salo and Johanna, under tragic circumstances, to their triplets born during the early days of IVF. As children, the three siblings – Harrison, Lewyn, and Sally – feel no strong familial bond and cannot wait to go their separate ways, even as their father becomes more distanced and their mother more desperate. When the triplets leave for college, Johanna, faced with being truly alone, makes the decision to have a fourth child. What role will the “latecomer” play in this fractured family?

Personal review: 3.75 stars

Packed with intergenerational trauma, character development, and dysfunctional family dynamics - this book was filled with all the drama of a contemporary fiction novel. This author chose to dig deep into the relationships between the characters- their struggle to conceive, struggle with an empty nest and then, struggle with the decision to have a “latecomer” baby- this book lacked plot, but made up for it in character development. If you are a fan of deep dives into family dynamics, relationships and drama - this book is for you. I could see this book making a great series in the near future! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Latecomer was very well written, but quite description heavy which caused it to be a slow burn. Depending on your mood and mindset it can be worth the trudge, but it took me a while to finish because I felt very distracted while reading it.

Special Thanks to Cross on Books and NetGalley for this book in exchange for my opinion.

I listened to this in audio and I kept putting it down. Johanna Oppenheimer married Sallo (forgive my spelling as I said, I listened. Call in incredibly rich. Old rich. It seems the only thing that makes him happy is art. Pricey art. However, something terrible happens to him which he just can't shake his guilt from leaving with his fiancee and best friend and someone else. His best friends girlfriend? He can't remember.

Anyhow Salo did not marry his fiancee, but he did later marry Johanna who was at the wedding. As much as they tried they couldn't produce children, so after trying and failing, they froze Johannes eggs. And after implanted, she produced 3 children...triplets. However they were never close ...two boys and a girl. The children, except for yearly photography pics of the 3 of them every year and Johanna(s) again forgive my spelling, hung them all over the house. Salo took down the art, by now he accumulated so much, he had warehouses full of them.

As a father he was barely interested in the kids or his wife, but he treated them well. I can't say there was any affection towards any of them. They never wanted for anything they were so super rich.

Every year they go to a fair and one attraction is a house of unusual art. Not pricey, just very different. One artist would see a person and draw them as buildings. Strange, nothing he would buy, but interesting. Then a beautiful light skinned woman came up to him to say hi and knew he was Salo Oppenheimer. She was at the same wedding as hiim and his fiancee and now married to a woman at the wedding and she was Stella, stunning without trying and she had love of this unusual art. I think she was the curator of the attraction.

Meanwhile triplets Harrison, don't speak for my spelling again Lwellyn, the 2 boys were different and never friendly nor mean. The girl (Sara)? same, different and closer to Lwellyn, but not too close by any means. They all grow and leave the home and Johannas has an empty nest now because they all are college age and just has years of beautiful photographs of her 3 children., year after year and nothing to do. . Her husband loved ART, but one day she saw him with a woman., with a small child looking like Lwellyn, just a shade darker. And she almost faints. Could that be Salo? No. His only interest is art..

And then comes The Latecomer. That's all I'm giving folks. Great book. Highly recommended.

And here

The Latecomer is a compelling, layered character-driven story which follows the wealthy New York Jewish Oppenheimer family, which initially consists of parents and a set of triplets. Years later, a fourth child is born. The family members have an inability to connect and communicate with each other. The story spans decades and is composed of chapters which alternate between the POVs of different family members. The characters, although not all sympathetic, are complex and well-developed. Interesting cultural commentary is woven throughout. The plot is a slow burn but still offers plenty of surprises.
I liked the deeper themes of this novel which included class, education, privilege, race, sexuality, identity, family dysfunction, grief, generational trauma and coming of age.
The Latecomer is an enormously satisfying work of literary family drama. Thank you to Celadon Books for an early copy. #TheLatecomerBook #CeladonBooks #CeladonReads #partner

This was not a title I requested; I was reached out to to read and review this book. It's not my typical book but I thought I would give it a try. This was a long one with characters that were difficult to like. It ended up being a DNF for me.
Thank you for the opportunity to read. Due to not finishing it, I will not review it on my social media as that is not fair to the author who worked hard on this book. Not every book is for everyone and, sadly, this one wasn’t for me.

I ended up dnfing this book at 55% because of the length of time it took me to read it and the fact I just wasn't interested in it anymore. It honestly was a slog for me. The writing was fine i just couldn't find it in myself to be interested in this book. I will give the author another chance though.

Loved this book! I was so thrilled to get both the ebook ARC as well as the audio version. The audio version was narrated by the amazing Julia Whelan. She gives such incredible nuance to all the characters. The first quarter of the book sets the groundwork and gets a little tedious but stick with it. I loved another great NYC story as well as the family drama. This was completely different from the Plot - one of my favorite on last year. Highly recommend!

I also received a physical arc of this book--thank you so much for the opportunity to read it! I haven't read litfic like this in quite a while, so it was a great change of pace. I really enjoyed it; I thought the characters were very compelling, and I'm a sucker for a well-done family drama. (Speaking of family dramas: my mother has now read this one too, and made a point of complaining about a historical inaccuracy having to do with brands of cars in the novel, so do with that what you will.)

QUICK TAKE: Jean Hanff Korelitz does her best Wes Anderson impression, and she had me hooked for the first half of the book (loved the Passover seder), but ultimately I struggled with THE LATECOMER, probably because I hated every single one of the kids and never understood why they were so terrible to each other. I'll of course read the author's next book, but as a huge fan of family dramas, I did not click with this one.

We sometimes hear about families who don’t like each other, but we rarely hear of families who hate each other.

‘The Latecomer’ follows the Oppenheimer’s, wealthy Jewish family in Brooklyn. Salo and Joanna’s love story is far from romantic as it stemmed from a tragic accident. But Joanna’s desperation to create a family provides her with purpose. Unfortunately, her children and husband have no familial bond with each other despite the consistent attempts from Johanna. Like similar poles of a magnet, the harder Johanna pushes, the more fiercely they reject each other.

This is an unlikeable family full of betrayal and rivalries. It was tough to see how they treated each other but not all families are close-knit. Family relationships can be complicated and it can be difficult to make peace with your differences. Through the character’s own storylines, we explore topics such as on race, privilege, generational trauma and guilt.

Your patience will be tested as a majority of the book is laying the groundwork for the last 25%. Once we get introduced to the fourth sibling, ‘The Latecomer’ nearly two decades later, we see if it is possible for families to heal from deep wounds and if all feelings are truly permanent.

Check this out if you like…
🥀 multigenerational family dramas
🥀 slow-paced books
🥀 different POVs
🥀 strategic foreshadowing
🥀 plots with character development

The Latecomer is a family drama that follows the marriage of Salo and Johanna Oppenheimer and their three triplets from the very beginning in the 1960s to 2017. This novel switches between all five characters points of view from chapter to chapter. It can get a bit confusing with so many POVs in my opinion. Although this novel kept me engrossed to a point, it wasn't very likeable. None of the characters were good people. They were over privileged, extremely chaotic and obsessive. Adding to this was the length of the book and the fact that nothing really happens it's. You're just following the lives of this family.
Because I was able to finish this one and I did care enough about the story to find out what happened I gave it 3 stars. It might be worth a read to some people.. The author does do a very good job with descriptions and setting the scene.
Thank you to @celedonbooks and @netgalley for the early copy.

To follow up The Plot, one of my favorites from last year will be a difficult task I thought as I settled into the remarkable Latecomer. Fortunately, Jean is much smarter than I a. and soon I was so into the characters I could easily have forgotten the names of my own family and submerged myself in this one. . Loved it! Another masterpiece.

I was really excited for this book because I loved Korelitz's last book, THE PLOT. Unfortunately, this book was nothing like that one. While THE PLOT had more literary thriller vibes, this was much quieter. I would classify it as a family drama. I do tend to enjoy family dramas so I stuck with it for awhile, but I never found myself wanting to pick it back up. I still enjoyed the writing and because I liked THE PLOT, I would probably be interested in reading Korelitz's next book.

I really enjoy a good "slice of life" domestic drama and this novel delivers. Engaging, interesting, follows the Oppenheimer family, their struggles and their demons. This book is primarily character driven and includes some heavy themes. Overall a thought provoking, beautifully written read.

The weathly Salo Oppenheimer first meets Johanna under tragic circumstances. Some years later they meet again and eventually marry. Having difficulty conceiving Johanna and Salo resort to the newly developed IVF treatments. Success finally comes in the form of triplets. Harrison, Lewyn and Sally never develop a close sibling bond despite the fact they are triplets. Johanna is hugely disappointed by the lack of closeness so continually tries to establish a bond that won’t stick. All three siblings are eager to start college and go their separate ways. With the triplets gone Johanna becomes even more aware of the distance that has formed between her and Salo. Desperate to hold on to her family Johanna considers having a fourth child.
THE LATECOMER is a story about family and the complex relationships that develop.
I thought the story was well told and a high level of interest was maintained throughout the whole novel. The characters were well developed and realistic. I could easily see the potential for THE LATECOMER to be developed into a television series.
Thank you to Celadon Books and NetGalley for allowing me access to an advanced digital edition of this book.

This was my first book by Jean Hanff Korelitz and I am officially obsessed. I just loved her writing style! It was descriptive, deadpan funny at times, and oh so enjoyable. The Plot has been on my TBR list forever ever since Elin Hilderbrand (my fave) recommended it, but I just never got around to reading it so The Latecomer (which I got to read before it was released thanks to NetGalley) was my first from her and definitely won’t be my last! The book essentially is split into 3 different sections that follow three different parts of the Oppenheimer family and I loved each and every one. You really get to know six different characters throughout the novel and each one of them draws you into their story and you become extremely invested in their lives, struggles and ambitions. The book is decently long and covers some heavy topics on grief, race, religion, sexuality and privilege but even with some heavy subject matter I still enjoyed it and looked forward to picking it up every time. I look forward to reading more of her writing!

Thank you for the opportunity to read this Netgalley ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow!!! I devoured this book in one sitting. Just read it....you will love it.

I am exhausted and spent. This read took dedication. It is long and it is wordy. Now that may sound as if I didn't enjoy it, and that's not the case. The story as perfectly fine. The writing was masterful. So why only three stars? Well, I'm kind of conflicted. While the writing was well done, this was overly verbose and used all them smart people words that I had to constantly look up. Where one word or a simpler sentence would suffice, there would be paragraphs and pages to get a point across. And perhaps that was the author keeping true to the characters and building their world around them. You find yourself 150+ pages in and all that you've learned thus far is that these people don't seem to like each other very much, they don't interact more than on a surface level and they aren't the kind who would be on your Who's Who of people to invite to party. I read plenty of character driven stories. I enjoy them. It's kind of a guilty pleasure to observe and silently judge. This just wasn't going anywhere and it was becoming a chore to keep my attention engaged. But, I made it through, and Phoebe, the fourth sibling and latecomer pulled it all together and gave this story some direction and closure for me.

Thank you so much to #Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

I went into this book blindly. Sometimes thats the best way to go into one! The book is very slow paced, but that is really so the reader can fully get into each character and also the family dynamic. Its interesting to hear philips side of the family drama, considering he is not a triplet and is the youngest of the four kids. Its a slow moving story but still a good one!