The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz

 

Salo and Johanna Oppenheimer are living a life of wealth as they start their marriage.  Salo comes from a wealthy family that donates Old Masters to various museum.  Salo doesn't really care; when the two of them meet he doesn't care about much of anything.  His life is overshadowed by a car wreck in which he was the driver and his girlfriend and best friend were killed.  One other girl survived but was hospitalized.  How can he go on after such an event?

But life must go on and Salo's does.  He married Johanna even if he doesn't exactly love her.  She is head over heels for him and devotes her life to him.  The two want children but it isn't happening.  Eventually they go the IVF route and end up with triplets; Sally, Lewyn and Harrison.  One would think the triplets would be close but they grow up sharing almost nothing; each one just wants to be a person on their own instead of part of a group.  Johanna devotes herself to her family while Salo's passion is art and he collects paintings that end up being worth a fortune.

The rest of the novel follows the lives of the Oppenheimers.  The twins grow up and head off to college.  Salo falls in love with  another woman from his past and for years he moves between the two women.  Johanna realizes his affair about the time the triplets are leaving the home and she decides to use the last fertilized egg that remains in storage and thus Phoebe is born.  Phoebe grows up and an only child due to the age difference and before she in turn leaves she is determined to get the entire family together and end all the family secrets.  Will that work?

This novel won much acclaim.  It was a New York Times Notable book, an NPR Best Book Of The Year and a Washington Post Notable Work Of Fiction.  Balancing the lives of all these characters and bringing all the secrets into the open is a difficult feat that Korelitz pulls off with grace.  The reader will cheer for some characters, dislike others and feel sorry for some.  The novel explores what is it that makes a family and why are family secrets left to fester and ruin lives?  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.