The Latecomer

 By Jean Hanff Korelitz

Celadon Books     2022

448 pages     Literary

What a fascinating book! I read The Plot about a year ago and watched the HBO series The Undoing, which is based on Korelitz’s novel, You Should Have Known. This is an author with great skill and talent. Among her many gifts is character development, which is on full display in her newest novel, The Latecomer.

I really like the summary provided in the Kirkus review, which begins “A fatal car crash sets the stage for a fraught marriage and family life.” In its essence, The Latecomer is the story of the relationship between triplets, who began their life as IVF embryos. It follows their lives as well as the lives of their mother Johanna and their father, Sal Oppenheimer, until the triplets are young adults. The third section of the book tells the story of their sister, Phoebe (the fourth IVF embryo) and how the conflict between the triplets becomes resolved. It’s a complicated story, and Harrison, Lewyn, and Sally play huge roles, both with each other and through the eyes of their much younger sister, Phoebe.

There is a lot of family drama, but there is also some illuminating knowledge. For instance I knew nothing about Outsider Art, of which Salo Oppenheimer became an expert collector. Outsider Art is art made by self-taught or naïve artists who had little or no connections with the conventional art world. The work of several outsider artists are mentioned as being part of Salo’s collection. I had to look it all up. Fascinating information.

The triplets are completely alienated from each other. It isn’t until Phoebe enters their lives when they are young adults that they begin to try to understand and relate to each other. I felt that Korelitz did an outstanding job of creating these characters and the dilemmas of their birth and upbringing. She described so well why they had so little relationship with each other, and why their family was so disheveled. However, she also tied it all together well, without any “goodie two-shoes” ending. As the Kirkus reviewer says, “The resolution, complete with a wedding, persuasively and touchingly affirms that even the most damaged people can grow and change.”

I thought the portrayal of each of the Oppenheimer triplets and the chapters dedicated to each of them was spot on and enlightening. The New York Times reviewer speaks of the old-fashioned plot points such as a tragic accident and an extramarital affair, but also contemporary like the test-tube creation of the triplets, and the birth of their frozen-embryo sister. The reviewer says, that “it’s testament to Korelitz’s achievement that her novel leaves us wanting more…The Latecomer is consistently surprising…It is a Gilded Age novel for the 21^st century.”

All in all, I loved The Latecomer. I think you will too. I just read that it will be a television series, just as You Should Have Known became The Undoing. The Plot is also being developed as a Hulu series.