rce59 's review for:

The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz

4.0

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I was really enjoying this book for the first 3/4 of it. I love a dysfunctional familial read and The Latecomer focuses on a set of triplets who all abhor each other with parents that are pretty checked out. Enter a newborn, aka the latecomer, when these triplets turn 18.

So on that premise, I was sold. The triplets Harrison, Sally and Llewyn were all distinct characters, with plenty of faults and distain for each other. I enjoyed each of the chapters that were written from their perspective, while not quite garnering sympathy for them, it made it interesting.

Spoiler

Honestly the whole second part of the book, that was set 17 years later from the dramatic beach birthday (which was fun to read, if stressful for our characters) didn't really work for me. Pheobe was sort of meh compared to the other siblings and I understand it was supposed to all work out, I found it a little unbelievable. Also, the reveal of the Eli's racial identity wasn't too shocking nor the father's death. The second part was fine, but compared to the first early years, was lacking.