Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Latecomer.

I enjoyed the author's previous novel, The Plot, so I was excited when my request was approved.

I wished I had read an excerpt before I requested it because this was definitely not for me.

This is one of those novels that break down each character's past and present in detail, starting from the accident caused by the father figure that killed two innocent people and how this accident defines his life, marriage and actions.

There's also the matter of the triplets, who dislike each other from gestation, their lives and interactions, and how The Latecomer, a sibling born 19 years later, upends everyone's life.

The writing is good, the tone kind of snarky and humorous, which I liked, but I didn't like the characters. And I didn't care what happened to anyone, which was too bad.

I hope the author's next book is a thriller.

I loved The Plot and wished for The Latecomer. My wish was granted and I am overwhelmed with the riveting and complex story line and how thoroughly magnificent were the expression of ideas woven with the intricate character development. Jean Hanff Korelitz is a master of the written word. The development of this multi generational, complex family, was interlaced expertly. There were so much sadness, angst, misunderstanding and anger among the siblings. Much because they were not apprised of important details. I will not reiterate any of the plot, as one can read a synopsis on the jacket cover. This space is solely for my opinion and review of the book. Do not miss the opportunity to read this enchanting novel. #TheLatecomerBook, #CeledonReads, #netgalley, @jeanhaff.

I've heard life referred to as a hunt, a game, a dance, and a journey. But even "journey," the most forgiving and all-encompassing of those labels, doesn't describe how life can tumble out of control on the heels of one unforeseen circumstance, mishap, or accident.

Long before I learned from personal experience, I heard that there are no do-overs in this life, certainly not when we need them the most. The best we can get is a second chance, and even those are often few and far between. But sometimes, there is an opportunity to set right what went amiss, what left us bloody and battered, begging for an alternative. Sometimes there is a chance, and sometimes it's ours for the taking.

I know you can hear me when I say that the Oppenheimers' desire for and pursuit of redemption wholly resonated with me. I've heard that you know all about that too. After all, who among us know anything about a blemish-free life? Who among us can legitimately say there is nothing we want to take back, do-over, erase? Each of us has something (or many somethings) we would like the chance to set right, and maybe we'd go to extreme lengths for that chance. Johanna, Salo, Harrison, Lewyn, Sally, and Phoebe Oppenheimer were no different.

The Latecomer showed me that it only takes a second for a life to change, that the marathon toward redemption and absolution can be lifelong with repercussions that are decidedly indiscriminate in how they touch who and when.

So here's all I've heard and all I know: life is indeed a hunt, a game, a dance, a journey. Some things finish before they've even started, and sometimes there is no alternative, no other chance; but when there is, it's never too late to take it, no matter how late it comes.

Many sincere thanks to @celadonbooks for this ARC!

Very appreciative of Celadon Books for providing me a copy of this book to read in exchange for a review through NetGalley and their Celadon Readers program.

Jean Hanff Korelitz is a lovely writer, that much is clear from this book. I definitely see it as inspiration from a writing point-of-view of how to write immersive characters.

But as a reader, it just wasn't my cup of tea--it's an in depth character drama that you have to be in the mood for, and the cast was a tad unlikeable for my taste. Which makes the length of the book that much harder. But that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the beauty of the prose, and that makes this novel really difficult to review.

This was more of a subjective miss than anything I could point out as problematic for me. But I did appreciate the look, as always.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Bookish First, and Celadon Books for gifting me both a physical and digital ARC of the latest book by Jean Hanff Korelitz. If you loved The Plot, you must read this one too! 4 stars!

This book revolves around the Oppenheimer's, a wealthy Jewish family in NYC. We learn about the parents, Johanna and Salo, how they met and their beginning relationship. Johanna is desperate to be a mother and has a fantasy of how that will look. However, they struggle with infertility and eventually require the new in vitro fertilization to get pregnant - and with triplets! Johanna has the fantasy that these three babies will be extremely close and cause their family to become close. But fantasy and reality never quite mesh. We follow this family through the decades as the triplets grow old and eventually leave and through Johanna's decision to try her fantasy family again by using the last frozen embryo and a surrogate. It's this latecomer, Phoebe, who tries to pull the family together.

Told through multiple points of view, this was a slow burn of a character study but intriguing enough that I couldn't put it down. While not many of these characters are endearing, it was so interesting to see how these family dynamics played out. This would be a good book club pick with so many topics - infidelity, secrets, grief, racism, sexual identity - the list goes on! In the vein of The Plot, this requires some time to settle in with these characters and the wonderful writing but it's well worth it!

The Latecomer follows the Oppenheimer family in a very character-driven story through the family's history. The story is broken up into three parts: the parents' story, Johanna and Salo, the second is the story of the triplets, Harrison, Lewyn, and Sally, and the third part is about their last child, Phoebe. The story was fascinating since Johanna and Salo had their triplets during the early stages of IVF and freezing the last embryo. The triplets and the parents are not close, and since Johanna dreams of having a large, close-knit family, she uses the last embryo to have Phoebe 19 years later. This book is an extended character study of a dysfunctional family that is detailed (almost to a fault). I felt bogged down with the details at different points throughout the story. The book also covers identity, self-worth, family, racism, and privilege. 
 
Thanks to Celedon Books and Jean Hanff Korelitz for an advanced copy of this book.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

Not at all what I was expected and definitely not a thriller, but something much better. Very well written take on family and history, I devoured it and tore through the 400+ pages as fast as I could. Definitely the literary novel of the summer. Easy five.

Sometimes we go into a book with preconceived expectations that don’t hold up and that can create problems. When I started 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐑 by Jean Hanff Korelitz, I was expecting the same sort of psychological thriller as 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘭𝘰𝘵. Instead, I got a deeply character-driven novel about a fabulously wealthy family, the Oppenheimers. The overarching story was about a tragedy that Salo Oppenheimer experienced in college and how, unbeknownst to any of his children, that tragedy affected the trajectory of their lives. He and his wife had four children conceived via IVF, three born in the early 80’s and the fourth 18 years later (the latecomer). No one, but this last child, was particularly likable. In fact, dysfunction is too light a word for this family.⁣
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This is a long book and the first half I struggled through. Korelitz really wanted you to know these characters and understand why they were all so messed up, but it got repetitive, and honestly, a little tiresome. She could have achieved her goal in far fewer pages. I did some skimming, and I considered DNFing more than once, but something kept drawing me back. And then, just before the midway point in the book, the story took off for me. As the triplets went to college and built lives of their own, as the youngest child began to have a voice, the story became really interesting and I was all in, even shedding a tear or two at the end.⁣
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𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 has the same sort of slightly mocking narration that I think many love from the author, but it’s a hard book to rate. If I was to divide the book in half, I couldn’t give the first half more than 2.5 stars, but the second half would be a solid 4 stars, so take from that what you will! People who love deep character studies will be its best audience, those needing speed in a book will falter. I’m looking forward to chatting with other readers about this one. There is much to talk about. (DM me when you get there!)⁣ 3.25 stars
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Thanks to #CeledonBooks for an ARC of #TheLatecomer.

Most readers probably know Ms. Korelitz from her last novel, The Plot, which was just about as successful as any novel can be in this era (Ms. Korelitz was even a guest on The Tonight Show). The Plot was an incredibly fun, page-turning thriller. Completely plot driven with little literary ambition, which is not a slight against it at all, The Plot was pop-fiction. Here, with The Latecomer, Ms. Korelitz is much more ambitious, writing a character-driven literary novel. The book is about triplets, two boys and a girl, each disgruntled with their life and their parents and their childhood. The book is definitely character driven, not plot driven which is going to require a little more patience on the part of the reader. Ms. Korelitz really delves into the full experiences of these characters' lives and histories, and it is a full-blown family/social drama, not too dissimilar from a Franzen novel. Obviously Franzen is the master at this stuff but Ms. Korelitz holds her own and there are some rich rewards for a reader who doesn't need a plot driven page turner. Yes, some parts are slow and the book is longer than her other works, but overall this is a good book, heartfelt, interesting, and worth a read.

A rock in the road flips a Jeep Cherokee, killing two passengers.

A doctor performing in vitro fertilization chooses three of four embryos and triplets are born.

A man boards a plane that crashes into the World Trade Center.

Lives are changed because of chance meetings, or through unexpected encounters that speaks to them at the deepest level.

But chance is not the only thing that determines lives. Deliberate choices are made.

A young woman determines to save a man consumed by guilt and to build a close and loving family.

The triplet’s need to be rid of each other tears apart the family.

And nineteen years later, the fourth embryo is taken from the deep freeze, and is born, and grows up and endeavors to mend what has been broken.

The Latercomer arrives late in the story, after we read about Salo Oppenheimer’s accident and his marriage to Johanna; after we watch Harrison, Lewyn, and Sally grow up and make their mistakes and find what they love. It is Phoebe who unravels the family’s twisted history and she tells us the story.

These complex, amazing characters are deeply portrayed. Salo, unable to love anything but the abstract art he collects, only finding love late in his life. The delusional Johanna, whose determination to create the perfect family blinds her to the truth. The intellectual, sarcastic and driven Harrison, conned into radical politics. The gentle, ambivalent Lewyn, who finds a love of art and for Rochelle, who he can’t be honest with, and who is drawn to the certainties of a cultish religion. Sally, who early learns her father’s secret, and as Rochelle’s roommate, dissembles her truth, and who finds satisfaction rummaging through chaotic houses as an antiques ‘picker’.

From the first accident, this family is haunted by an inability to connect and love each other. To fill the gap, they turn to art or antiques or religion. Or affairs, or to family traditions that ape closeness.

The novel is rich in humor and psychological insight and political commentary. Harrison’s friend and political guide Eli Absalom Stone is a brilliant character.

It’s a slow burn of a book and I loved every page. These characters will be with me for a long while.

I received an ARC through BookishFirst in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Such an addictive read! I was completely consumed in this story!
The tension and suspense is phenomenal and intriguing.
Not kidding when I say I opened my Kindle at 10am yesterday and didn't stop reading till around 2am this morning!
A delicious, wild, unputdownable, perfectly sustained suspense book.
I thought this was incredibly atmospheric, and I could clearly picture the settings.
I was hooked onto this one from the get-go. It’s compelling and riveting, with fully fleshed-out characters who arevery intriguing.
The characters were well drawn and amazing!
It’s got a good plot with some nice twists and is very well-written.
The amazing twist was definitely a shocker.
A fascinating, unputdownable read I highly recommend.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Celadon Books,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review to my platforms, blog, B&N and Waterstone closer to pub date.

Delightful story about a family in the precipice or change. The family dynamic shifts and we basically get a character study on hell every character handled the situation. I really enjoyed this book I thought it was a detailed lyrical account the heart of a family.

Thank you too celadon books for an arc

I wanted to like this book. But I honestly didn’t like the writing style. It seemed overly descriptive almost to a point to where it was confusing. I did dnf this book.

This was a DNF for me. I'm fine with 1 or 2 unlikeable characters in a book...but an entire family of them was too much for me. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance ecopy.

The Latecomer tells the story of the wealthy Oppenheimer family across multiple generations and decades. The parents Salo and Johanna were brought together because of a horrific accident and eventually married and had triplets thanks to IVF.

The first part of the story focuses on the parents, the second part is told from the triplets perspective (Harrison, Lewyn and Sally) and walks us through their adolescent and college age years, and the third part is told from the perspective of "The Latecomer" or the 4th sibling born many years after her triplet siblings.

I was instantly intrigued by the first part even though it was VERY detailed and some descriptions got a little monotonous. The second part more or less irritated me as it was told from the perspective of bratty rich college kids. The third and final part tied it all together from me as Phoebe (The Latecomer) was the only character that I actually cared about.

I do wish the characters could have been a little more likable, but they we're all portrayed in such a negative light that I wasn't rooting for anyone. Usually family dramas make me feel al the emotions and this one was pretty emotionless for me.

If you read and enjoyed the plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz like I did, please be aware that this is MUCH different than that in genre, length, etc. I still find her writing to be so incredible and will continue to read whatever she puts out in the future.

Thank you so much to Celadon Books for the ARC of this book, It will be available for purchase on May 31st.

Rating: 3.5/5

A brilliantly written family saga that I wanted to last forever. It was a slow start for me because it was hard to relate to the parents. And triplets that don't get along seemed odd. But as their lives unwinded it all started to make sense, and I think this book has something that any reader would be able to relate to or with.
I appreciated the inclusion of the religious and cultural backgrounds of all of the characters and I was struck by how some of the characters were struck by art or furniture and had life-changing moments. It really shines a spotlight on the impact an object can have. This would be an excellent choice for a book group.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. I enjoyed it greatly.

I really loved this complex, engrossing book. It took me longer than usual to get through it, but that was because I wanted to absorb all of the details, and I enjoyed the time I spent with these characters. This book will stay with me, and it will be a little difficult to move on to the next book in my TBR stack! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The first book I read by Jean Hanff Korelitz, “You Should Have Known”, was in 2014…. a mystery thriller. I liked it and gave it 5 stars.
“You Should Have Known” was later given a ‘title change’….
….it’s now called “The Undoing”.…
I have no idea why the title was changed — a fact I only learned today. I also learned that there is a TV series based on the book. I’m guessing the TV series had some influence in changing the novel’s title. . . but I really have no idea.

I then read “The Plot”….a clever thriller … I gave it 4 stars.

Next….I read one of Korelitz’s earlier books called “The White Rose”. Unfortunately, I gave it 2 stars…

So….that brings me to “The Latecomer”….. 4. 5 stars
“Privilege and tragedy. A perfect storm for any adolescent”….

I’ll begin with a personal share ….
When my husband, Paul, was seven years of age, his parents, younger brother, aunts, uncles, and cousins took a camping getaway weekend to celebrate the PhD in engineering degree that Paul’s father had just received from UCLA.
Paul and his dad went off on a hike. From nowhere, a boulder came rolling down the hill and killed his father.
The tragedy was devastating - an unbelievable shocking loss for everyone in Paul’s family.
For Paul, a seven year old boy—who was soon told he was “the man of the house now”….it was a life changing
defining moment.

At the start of this novel two people were killed by a boulder.
Mandy Bernstein— a nice Jewish girl— was killed by a boulder in this story. Salo Oppenheimer was driving the car that killed her. One other person in the car also died.
Salo was only eighteen years old at the time. Nobody blamed Salo ….but how might you feel if you were the driver of two people who died? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know it was a defining moment in Salo’s life……
which shows up more after marriage and triplets…...
ha….as if ‘having’ triplets isn’t a defining moment, itself.

A few years later Salo married Mandy’s Little Sister, Johanna Hirsch, (not literally her biological sister), but her ‘Little Sister’from the local Jewish chapel of the B’nai Brith Girls.

As we continue reading….the tales about Salo and Johanna Oppenheimer and their triplets: Harrison, Lewyn, and Sally …(who aren’t happy camper siblings)…..picks up some speed.
The storytelling is divided into three parts….with the tension, surprises, secrets, building steadily.

The writing at the beginning was a little awkwardly written….but the main story itself, was fascinating….looking to be an ambitious complex undertaking….which it sure had to be.

I recognized the Jewish speaking intonations….
Jewish family cultural ideologies…
along with an emphasis preference on wealth and education.

The prose was a little wordy…..editing needs were noticeable—
having ‘too many’ stones blocking an easy pathway to the heart of the story…
requiring strides of patience to plough through parts … yet there were also gems-of-emotional and cerebral interest, secrets, twists, and turns, under those stones.

The themes were as dense as stone too: religion, race, (race/religion combined-complexities), privileged, family, marriage, sexuality, identity, fertility, infidelity, gender, mental health, loss, grief, etc……with flawed and unlikable characters …..
…..as well as love and forgiveness!

Not a traditional thriller/family saga…
Rather….
It’s a
Be Here Now On This Page *savior me* please…..
In exchange……
Readers will find their seat…..
Eat the treats….
Be rewarded.
But…..only if you have the patience to dine, not scarf down a meal.

One teaser/symbolic excerpt….
“The gist of it all, and this was a primary importance to students and parents alike, was that you couldn’t just walk into the Ivy League today, no matter who you were, or where your parents went to college, or how many AP classes you’d taken (a moot issue at Walden, where AP classes weren’t offered because every class was considered AP-equivalent). It was different now”.

Thank you Celadon Books, Netgalley, and Jean Haniff.
I enjoyed it.

This is exemplary and extraordinary masterpiece! Layered, well developed character analysis captures your attention! Even though the story might be dragging at some chapters, that long and slow burn road still keep attracting your entire focus. There’s no mystery and twist but you are still hooked up to this dysfunctional family tale and you can not dare to put it up! I may honestly read another 500 pages if the author decides to write a sequel because the writing style mesmerizes you. Once you start, you don’t want to stop.

Normally I don’t prefer reading slow burn stories with dislikable, privileged, hypocrite people and their ordinary lives but this book something unique, unconventional, intriguing, mystical that changed my entire reading choice and made me rethink them.

The story begins on 70’s the era that Johanna and Salo meets under different circumstances, a synagogue that Salo attends his girlfriend’s funeral: after the tragic car accident he lost both the girlfriend and his best friend and he was the one driving the car. But luckily nobody blamed him for the deaths including the families who lost loved ones.

Salo’s tumbling starts at that moment, dragging him into art world, marrying with Johanna and their new life starts at Brooklyn apartment till Johanna insists to see a doctor because during three years of their marriage Johanna wasn’t able to get pregnant. ( interestingly Salo had no idea she tried to have a baby) After several attempts, long visits to infertility doctor, Johanna finally expects triplets.

But having babies don’t fulfill her life as she dreamed of. Harrison the smart one, Lewny the weird one and Sally the girl one have only three things in common: they shared the same womb, same house, same last name!

They hate each other’s guts and they hide the fact they’re siblings from their close circle of friends. And at the age of 18, they are so encouraged to live their house and never see each other.

Johanna decides to have another child to reunite their family: but late comer Phoebe’s arrival and tragic event that shakes them to the core change the entire family’s focus and learn them a quiet life changing lesson about the real meaning of the family.

This book is so different and unequalled from the previous works of the author. The dramatic, tense moments kept me on my toes. I didn’t want it end. The writing was so impressive, magnifying. This might be my favorite work the author has written so far.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

Thanks to Celadon Books for an advanced copy of The Latecomer.

I read this with my bookclub and it was the first time I DNFd a Book Club book. I couldn't get past about page 75, the little details about everything were too much for me. They all enjoyed it but said it could have been about 100 pages shorter.