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A review by julieannasbooks
The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz
4.0
⭐⭐⭐.75
Thank you to Celadon Books and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Latecomer caught my eye with the family dynamic of four kids, one being born 17 years after the others. Which is exactly where I fit in my family, but my family is nothing like this one.
The Latecomer is a heavily layered book following how parents Johanna and Salo met in times of tragedy, and how, despite these circumstances, were not enough to hold their family together. We primarily follow the lives of the triplets and the conflict that develops further when another is on the way.
Character-driven stories featuring flawed characters all around very much fits what I’m looking for in a book, so I’m not surprised I enjoyed this one. There’s an incredible amount of work done to set the stage for this book, and I found myself thoroughly invested through all of it.
I do wish that the last third of the book had the same amount of depth. There’s a lot that’s left to the end to be revealed, and while it didn’t feel totally abrupt, I really liked the slower pace at the beginning. There were also some really good discussions around identity (especially in terms of race and religion) that were also discussed in a greater frequency at the end that I wish would have been spread out differently.
But aside from a few things here and there, this was a solid read. I know that the author also wrote The Plot, which seems like a jump in genres – but I’m definitely curious about her other works considering said change.
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