Issue #44: Should I Stay Or Should I Go Now?

An app (!) for deciding when to flake.

Morning Person is a weekly newsletter packed with obsessively-curated recommendations and ideas—let’s get to it!

📚 The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz: The Oppenheimer family was falling apart a long time ago—even the triplets have barely spoken to each other since birth. When they leave for college, their mother Johanna decides to have another child by IVF, throwing the family into an entirely new dynamic that’s unveiled in chapters that read like short stories that include the parents’ unconventional meeting, the hopes the triplets were meant to fill, and the beauty in a piece of art (Korelitz also wrote my favorite book of 2021). Set in New York, it’s easy to see why so many reviews (here and here) have compared her to a modern-day Edith Wharton.

📺 “Loot” on Apple TV+: Molly Novak (played by Maya Rudolph) would be insufferable, if she weren’t so naïvely charming. In a ripped-from-the-headlines plot, Molly finds herself with $87 billion after a divorce, and proceeds on a soul-searching journey that leads to her discovery of a foundation she didn’t even know she had. The show is formulaic and more amusing than it is funny, but also exactly the summer escape I was looking for.