The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz: A review



The latecomer in this family saga is Phoebe. She is the younger sister of triplets in the Salo and Johanna Oppenheimer family of New York. When the triplets are ready for college, their mother is feeling alone and she makes the decision to have their embryo sibling implanted in a surrogate and that is how "the latecomer" comes to be in the world.

The triplets are Harrison, Sally, and Lewyn, and they came about because Johanna was concerned that she had not become pregnant after three years of marriage and she consulted a fertility doctor. The treatment exceeded her expectations with the result that she ended up with not one but three babies.

The three had little in common beyond the fact that they had once shared a womb. In fact, they thoroughly disliked each other and would not even acknowledge their relationship to those who did not know about it. As soon as they are able to leave home, each goes his/her own way.

Johanna has hopes that having a new baby will somehow help to bring the family together, but, of course, it doesn't work out that way.  

The first three hundred and fifty pages are narrated in turn by the triplets who come off as completely smug and self-centered. Each is consumed by his/her own feeling of self-importance and, reading their narratives, I often felt quite irritated by them. When their mother decides to have another baby, they can only view that decision in relation to themselves with no sense of the new baby as an individual and they view it as their mother's attempt to focus attention away from them and to get people to pay attention to her. There is no sense that this younger sibling will have anything to do with them or have any place in their lives.

So, we have yet another dysfunctional family story. Not only is it dysfunctional but its members are, for the most part, quite unlikeable. There are character studies of each of the family members through which the author explores themes of race and class, sexuality and belonging. In other words, she explores the roots of individual identity. It makes for compelling reading, and even though the book is quite long at nearly five hundred pages and some readers have complained about the length, it doesn't really feel long to me. The story moves along at a good pace and one is always ready to move on to the next page to find out what happens next. 




Comments

  1. David M. Gascoigne,February 6, 2023 at 5:34 AM

    Family relationships are not always all they are cracked up to be. Your review, however, is as always beyond reproach, Dorothy. What a fine job you do.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lark February 6, 2023 at 4:33 PM

    I'm glad the story moved along despite the length...but the triplets sound awful personality-wise. I don't think I would have stuck this one out until the end.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersFebruary 6, 2023 at 10:41 PM

      The characters were not really likable, but the writing was so good that one couldn't really give up on it. At least I couldn't, and in the end, I found the book quite praiseworthy.

      Delete
  3. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzFebruary 8, 2023 at 5:39 AM

    I feel like, in general, people tend to think it is all about themselves. They are encouraged to do so by the fuel that keeps our society going---money. It is hard to step away from that mindset, but it is that mindset that causes so many of the problems we have getting along with others.

    ReplyDelete
  4. thecuecardFebruary 8, 2023 at 4:16 PM

    Sometimes unlikable characters are hard for me to get past & keep going. The twins sounds pretty bad. I read this author's novel The Plot ... and actually didn't like it much ... but the ending was pretty good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersFebruary 8, 2023 at 6:47 PM

      Dysfunctional characters and families can make for interesting reading and, in this case, did.

      Delete
  5. Captivated ReaderFebruary 10, 2023 at 12:59 AM

    Hmm, not sure what to make of this novel! The characters in the The Latecomer sound unlikable and not my kind of characters... However you did give this novel a 4 star review and I've had great success with novels you've given high star reviews for... So, I may give The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz a go.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersFebruary 10, 2023 at 9:38 AM

      Unlikable characters can sometimes make the book unlikable as well, or sometimes they just make it more interesting. That's sort of what happened here.

      Delete

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