First, I listened to the audiobook and am a big fan of anything Julia Whelan narrates! She is so talented and engaging. Also, I have read all of Jean Hanff Koerlitz's works and have enjoyed each of them. Her latest novel follows the Oppenheimer Family over several decades. The book begins with the patriarch of the family Sol. We follow his journey as a young man gong through a tragic accident and his journey to finding his wife, his lover, and building a family comprised of triplets and a singleton 17 years after the triplets were born. The story switches between all the characters in first person narration. We see the disconnect between the children, their parents, and each other. The ending brings us full circle, and I really enjoyed the way the author tied everything together and wrapped up the Oppenheimer story. I would recommend this read and audiobook! Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the ARC!

I really liked this book! I found it to be a great thriller that kept me guessing the whole time. I never really thought I knew the ending, and I was definitely surprised! You won’t be disappointed!

This was a very ambitious story of a wealthy family that has triplets who can’t wait to escape home amd each other. When they finally leave for school, their parents have another child-the latecomer. The dynamics change and we follow a family as the deal with grief and trauma. I enjoyed this.

I had heard such high praise for this author, so despite not having read The Plot, I decided to go ahead with this one. I was very disappointed. I also wonder if it is personal and I was just not in the right head space for this book. It is very involved, multilayered and complicated. The first part of the story, in the view of the triplets was exhausting. They are very unlikable characters and I did not want to listen to them any more. This book is dense, and too wordy. It is well written, and I do want to give this author another chance.

3 1/2 stars rounded up to 4.

There's a lot that I liked about The Latecomer, though I do feel like it dragged in some spots for me. The Goodreads description actually says that the book "builds slowly and deliberately," so keep that in mind if you don't like slow books. I generally love slow books and there were some spots that were a little bit too slow for me. But overall, I really enjoyed The Latecomer and found it to be an enjoyable listening experience!

The Oppenheimer triplets were born via IVF to an overbearing (with good intentions) mother, Joanna and a disconnected uninterested father Salo. Despite their mother's best efforts, the triplets, Harrison, Sally, and Lewyn, do not get along with each other and want nothing more than to separate from each other. To the point that when Sally and Lewyn end up attending the same university, they pretend the other doesn't exist. For the most part, the characters are incredibly unlikable and are all insufferable in their own ways. There's a lot of family dysfunction that's revealed throughout, not the least being the birth of the "latecomer," the 4th embryo that Joanna and Salo decide to implant once the triplets are in college.

The book is basically an exploration of the Oppenheimer family and their disfunction and how it carries through life for each of the family members. Some of it I found really interesting (the relationship between Lewyn and Rochelle and Sally) and some felt a bit dry and seemed to drag (Harrison's college experience). The novel gave off major Meg Wolitzer vibes for me (which is a compliment to the author!).

Overall, though The Latecomer won't end up on my favorites list for the year, I enjoyed the book and I'd certainly read another from Jean Hanff Korelitz!

I loved this book.

This is a superb example of a character study. The dysfunctional Oppenheimer family brings drama to a new level. They are a family of six, including triplets, and each member has their own unique storyline. I devoured them all. The underlying satire, at times, gave me The Royal Tenenbaums and Arrested Development vibes. I combined print and audio here, which is definitely my new favorite way to consume books 🙌

Bonus- I always enjoy a book that makes me feel better about my own crazy life 😉

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Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the gifted audiobook and to my husband for running around and finding me a LFL copy 🤗

Pub date: 5/31/22 Available Now!

Overall I liked the idea of this book. Unfortunately, it was hard for me to follow with the amount of characters and storylines. It was also a slow burner in my opinion. Loved the idea but wish it was more concise and quicker to the point.

I was grateful to receive from Netgalley a free advanced copy of the audio version of this book as I had recently thoroughly enjoyed the author's previous novel, The Plot, and was excited to see she had a new novel out so soon. (Imagine how excited I am to now discover she has a backlog of books, nearly all of which have been made into films or TV movies, for me to explore.)

This is a complicated, multi-layered family story that starts with our protagonist, a wealthy, pampered young man, having a car accident as a teenager that kills his girlfriend and best friend and seriously wounds another passenger. This tragedy colors the rest of his life and makes him feel deeply unworthy of love or human connection.

Alas, a young woman who saw him at the funeral feels compelled to emotionally rescue him, and they wind up married, a situation that is clear to the reader can never result in happiness for either of them. The man, who has enormous family wealth, becomes obsessed with abstract art and begins acquiring it to please himself. The wife, who has no understanding of what her husband sees in abstract art, tries to have a baby -- and tries, and tries, and tries, until finally turning to IVF results in her giving birth to triplets. The mom lives in a fantasy world of sorts, a world in which her loving care will help her husband heal from the tragedy of his youth and a world in which her three babies grow up to be heartwarmingly close siblings, though in reality they seem as repelled by one another as oil and water, and her husband remains insular and isolated.

The narrator of the story is a mystery until the last third of the novel, and the many events that shape the triplets as they grow into adulthood are part of the fascinating narrative that the author skillfully weaves together. I don't want to spoil any of the discoveries you will make as you see how all these strings are eventually braided together, but I highly recommend you read this novel and make these discoveries for yourself

This was the original first paragraph of this review, but Goodreads labeled it *spoiler alert* so I'm putting it at the end now. Don't read it if you don't want the spoiler: If four embryos were created on the same day but only three were implanted and brought to life until 20 years later, when the fourth gets implanted and birthed, what does that make the fourth embryo-turned-baby? The latecomer, apparently.

The Oppenheimer Family is the true definition of dysfunctional. The Oppenheimer triplets are born and finally take off once they are of age. They truly don't like each other and have no bond at all. Its a shame they have to live with themselves throughout life with the horrible character they each possess. They go off to college and the parents, Johanna decides to have another baby and the "Latecomer" is born many years after the triplets. Now little Phoebe is immersed in the drama. How it plays out takes a while to get to but once we get there it is entertaining.

Good book overall but the characters are most frustrating although I know they are supposed be so the author got her point across as far as their horrible character. I am looking forward to the next book by Jean Hanff Korelitz.

I will be recommending this to my followers who are obsessed with Jean Hand Korelitz books. Amazing writing amazing story

Well-layered with developed characters. I didn't particularly enjoy the author's previous book, but this one is in my top ten of the year! The narrator - Julia Whelan - as always, delivers a great performance! Thank you to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an advanced copy of the audiobook.

The Latecomer is an extremely descriptive family drama that I would only recommend to dedicated readers. While Korelitz is a truly wonderful writer, readers may get bogged down in the details and lose sit of the story. I didn’t mind this character driven novel about Jewish triplets however it took a bit of preserving to reach the grand finally.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 stars for this slow burn.

I was not expecting to love this audiobook. I wasn’t. I actually started putting it off because the audiobook was long. And now I am so sad I waited so long. The beginning, which lays the groundwork, is a little long but so incredibly necessary. Told from multiple povs throughout the whole book. It’s a moving beautiful story of family, art and forgiveness.

The Latecomer follows a wealthy Jewish family in NY and spans a few decades as we delve into every part of their struggles and triumphs. We watch Johanna's fertility struggles which led to IVF treatments. She had triplets but there was an extra embryo that was saved and later completed the original quadruplets that could have been.
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The story held my interest in the beginning. I empathized with the characters, especially seeing the trauma that created a void they tried to fill. But, as time goes on and as we watch the triplets grow and see their clear dislike of each other you start to wonder what's missing.
Not gonna lie, This one was just not my speed😩. The characters were mainly unlikeable and even though it was about family, the "ties that bind" were unfortunately just not there.
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There was a disconnect and selfishness that felt more like a psychological assessment, so maybe more of a character study than a dysfunctional family drama. It was meandering and could have been 150 pages shorter for me. There may be a message here that I missed, and that's OK🤷‍♀️.
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If you're looking for dysfunction and drama with characters that are both complex and, yea, a bit privileged, then this one is for you.

I love nothing more than an epic, character driven family saga and The Latecomer delivered! It’s about the a very flawed New York family. Johanna has wanted nothing more than to be a mother, while her husband Salo, is indifferent and loves his art collection more than anything. Through IVF, they have triplets Sally, Harrison and Lewn who all grow up together. Many years later Phoebe comes along via surrogate.
I listened to the audiobook (@justjuliawhelan narrated) and enjoyed the bonkers family dynamics and plot twists in this novel, and there were parts that had me scratching my head.

I don't know how I feel about this book. I enjoyed the story. The concept of triplets not talking to each other and the last embryo that became the "latecomer". The father Salo's emotional struggles with guilt was palpable. The mother Johanna dealing with Salo and trying to make a relationship work and trying to "fix" him. These are great concepts for the book but I felt the book jumped from one theme to another and felt choppy. The end left me wanting. There are these million dollar paintings and yet they were not the focus of the novel. Why mention them and make the reader so interested but then take our focus elsewhere? Great concept. I feel the novel could have been shorter and tighter.

Story is captivating to say the least. There is not any other way I feel like I could describe this.. The latecomer is a story of a family with three triplets with a younger sibling, a much younger sibling. The three triplets seem to really hate each other as grown adults much of their hatred for each other stems from the childhood and upbringing they had especially from the opinions and the political stance of their father.

The author takes you on a ride through family dynamics that you find yourself in in someway or another But you won’t ever admit it because as you read through the journey of these characters you dislike each of them. You’ll think they’re awful, vain, opinionated, arrogant, and broken. But they’re really just human. The author weaves in themes of wealth, faith, love, mental illness, loyalty, and distain.

The big culminating event that sets such opinions of the siblings into motion is cleverly crafted to bring the humanity of the characters, actually of us all to our knees.

Praise for the depth and complexity in which Korelitz has written and woven in this Novel. Hands down a must read of 2022.

I was really hoping to love the audiobook The Latecomer, by Jean Hanff Korelitz, based on the description, but I just did not love it. This story is about three triplets, that are not close at all and were born by IVF. Their world is turned upside down with the late arrival of their fourth sibling. I just found it very boring and very lengthy. I almost didn't finish it. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This is a family drama that slowly unravels all the issues that can keep a family connected or tear them apart. I started on audio and then switched back and fourth to the physical book. The beginning was a little slower and it took me to about 50% to get hooked. Overall, the book was beautifully written and had good character development. As always the narrator (Julia) was amazing!

3.5 ⭐️

Fantastic audiobook. Loved the narrator. Thank you for the op to hear this one. Story is solid and entertaining.