"Jean Hanff Korelitz is an ambidextrous writer: not only can she write a tight and absorbing literary thriller like The Plot, but with The Latecomer she draws us in again, this time with her ease, grace and wit, in a satisfying novel that spans generations, lives, and fates."
—Meg Wolitzer, The New York Times bestselling author of The Female Persuasion
“If this novel is funny, it is also cutting, a nearly forensic study of family conflict. Husband and wife are at odds; children pull away not only from their parents but from one another. Nimbly, Korelitz juggles the stories of each parent and child, weaving a tapestry of secrets, antipathies and private quests. ... It’s testament to Korelitz’s achievement that her novel leaves us wanting more.”
—New York Times Book Review
"The novel unfolds at a thriller’s pace, with Korelitz leaving no loose threads in her complex tapestry of generational wealth and woes across the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries."
—The New Yorker, "Best Books of 2022"
"By the time we’re done with these siblings, their lives have been turned inside out, and all their stored-up junk and secret treasures have been sorted, culled and curated for this immensely enjoyable sojourn with a truly memorable family."
—Ron Charles, The Washington Post, "Jean Hanff Korelitz’s ‘The Latecomer’ offers wit in triplicate"
"It’s a marvelous story full of plot twists, intricacies, and depth in events that the reader will not see coming. Perfect for fans of character-based novels such as those by Sally Rooney or Lauren Groff."
—Library Journal
"Korelitz (The Plot) returns with an irresistible dramedy of errors about a singularly unhappy family. This is a sizzler."
—Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review
"It's a slow burn, but this complex and layered story of the Oppenheimer family is worth hanging on...."
—Good Housekeeping, "The 30 Best and Most-Anticipated Books of 2022 (So Far)"
"An ingenious family epic."
—Oprah Daily
"[A] dazzling work of literary excellence from master of the written word Jean Hanff Korelitz."
—Good Morning America, "15 new reads to add to your reading list this month"
"Korelitz (The Plot) enthralls once again with this delicious family saga."
—PEOPLE
"The author of “The Plot” returns with a novel that skewers privilege and offers delights on every page."
—Oprah Daily
"There’s a jigsaw-puzzle thrill to Korelitz’s tale of a wealthy New York City family. Part farce, part revenge fantasy, the book reads like a latter-day Edith Wharton novel, as Korelitz (“The Plot”) simultaneously mocks and embraces these upper-class combatants."
—The Washington Post, "50 notable works of fiction"
03/01/2022
This saga of the New York City-based Oppenheimer family begins with the meeting of Salo and Johanna Oppenheimer under less-than-ideal circumstances, leading to a strange marriage more of convenience than of love. Johanna struggles with infertility but later manages to have triplets—Lewyn, Sally, and Harrison—through in vitro fertilization. The triplets are not close, and the siblings work progressively harder to get away from the family. Johanna's longing for a happy family leads her to conceive a fourth child, Phoebe. But does the arrival of the latecomer yield the results Johanna hoped for? Korelitz (The Plot) touches on the themes of religion, the infidelity of Salo, wealth, and deceptions over the years, as well as, eventually, the grown Phoebe's hopes to reunite all of them into a real family. VERDICT Readers expecting a mystery might want to look elsewhere, as this is more of a literary tale defining what it means to be a family. It's a marvelous story full of plot twists, intricacies, and depth in events that the reader will not see coming. Perfect for fans of character-based novels such as those by Sally Rooney or Lauren Groff.—Bill Anderson
2022-01-26
A fatal car crash sets the stage for a fraught marriage and family life.
Drifting through his privileged existence, 20-year-old Salo Oppenheimer is further unmoored after a Jeep he’s driving flips and kills two passengers. On a subsequent trip to Europe, a rapturous encounter with a Cy Twombly painting launches his passionate engagement with cutting-edge art. He’s less engaged with Johanna Hirsch, even though he marries her (it’s expected) and, after three childless years, agrees to IVF, which results in four embryos and the birth of triplets Harrison, Lewyn, and Sally. Salo’s real life is in the Brooklyn warehouse where he keeps his art collection—and with Stella, a fellow survivor of the crash whom he meets again some years later; soon they are lovers and have a son. Korelitz deftly limns this tension-riddled setup and the resulting Oppenheimer family dysfunction. Harrison, supersmart and arrogant, looks down on his siblings. Shut-off Lewyn seems to have imbibed his brother’s dismissive assessment of him. Sally keeps secrets from herself and others. Johanna, wracked by a longing for connection neither her children nor husband care to fulfill, learns of Salo’s other family on the eve of the triplets’ departure for college and decides to have the fourth embryo thawed and gestated by a surrogate; Phoebe is born in June 2000, shortly before Lewyn and Sally depart for determinedly separate lives at Cornell and Harrison for an ultra-alternative school that, somewhat paradoxically, nurtures his aggressively conservative views. Part 2, which chronicles the triplets’ college years, is long and at times alienating; Korelitz makes no attempt to soften the siblings’ often mean behavior, which climaxes in an ugly scene at their 19th birthday party in September 2001. It pays off in Part 3, narrated by latecomer Phoebe, now 17 and charged with healing her family’s gaping wounds. The resolution, complete with a wedding, persuasively and touchingly affirms that even the most damaged people can grow and change.
A bit slow in the middle section but on balance, a satisfyingly twisty tale rooted in complex characterizations.