Johanna Oppenheimer wanted a child of her own. No matter how many times she tried and failed to get pregnant, she was determined. She had the best doctor in New York City working for her, but still month after month, her body just didn’t cooperate. They talked to her about adoption, but she wouldn’t hear it. She wanted a child of her own. She had four chances left, four fertilized eggs to try. The doctor implanted three of the eggs, and she went home with her husband Salo for what she thinks will be one last disappointment. Instead, she ending up giving birth to three kids.
The Oppenheimer triplets—Harrison, the smart one; Lewyn, the weird one; and Sally, the girl—don’t get along from the start. Through the years, Johanna is the one taking care of the kids. She protects them, cares for them, and spends time with them. Meanwhile, Salo protects, cares for, and spends time with his children—the art that he collects.
Salo first fell in love with art when he was traveling in Europe as a young man. There was one painting in particular that stopped him in his tracks. He actually fell over, and the guards had to put him in a chair until he recovered. He bought that piece and had it transported to the states. It was his first, but there were many more pieces to come. When the babies came along, Salo bought a warehouse in Brooklyn and added all the safeguards he needed to keep his art safe. By day, he worked at his family’s finance business, but he spent his evenings with his art.
When the triplets went off to college, Johanna found out that Salo had been unfaithful to her. So when she got an invoice from the lab that still had her last egg in storage, she took action. They hired a surrogate, and Johanna found herself with an infant all over again. As the older triplets are finding their places in the world, their younger sister Phoebe is getting her feet under her, literally. But once she becomes a teenager and is faced with her future (the constant questions about those college applications), she spends time with her siblings, trying to figure out what she wants, she also finds herself uncovering long-held secrets and learning who the members of the Oppenheimer family truly are.
Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Latecomer is a searing novel of grief and regret, forgiveness and healing that takes one family apart to see just how the pieces all come together. It’s a slow ride through much of the story, but that final third has all the payoffs for the reader, so all that patience pays off deep dividends. Like Korelitz’s novel The Plot, there is a lot going on in this family drama, but it’s worth every word.
I listened to the audio of The Latecomer, narrated by Julia Whelan. Whelan has long been one of my favorite audiobook voices, as her professionalism comes through in every word. She can nail an accent, but more than that, she imbues her reading with such emotion that I couldn’t help getting drawn into the lives of these Oppenheimers, even the ones that were more challenging to like. I would definitely recommend this as an audiobook. I think if I had been trying to read it myself, I would have given up in one of the slower spots.
Overall, I liked The Latecomer a lot. There is a lot of talk of artists and art, but mostly it is a story of humanity. It’s about the mistakes we make and what we put ourselves through to pay for those mistakes. It’s about love and loss, about family and forgiveness, about the choices that define us and what we leave behind in our unfinished relationships. It is moving and heart-warming and makes you want to hug all your relatives, even the ones who may appear at times on Fox News. But seeing how this story comes together at the end can restore your faith in humanity and give you the strength you need to face the next day. At least, it did for me.
An early copy of the audiobook for The Latecomer was provided by Macmillan Audio through NetGalley, with many thanks.
