The Most

By: Jessica Anthony

Narrated by: Abigail Reno

From “one of our most thrilling and singular innovators on the page” (Laura Van Den Berg), a tightly wound, consuming tale about a 1950s American housewife who decides to get into the pool in her family’s apartment complex one morning and won’t come out.

It is an unseasonably warm Sunday in November 1957. Katheen, a college tennis champion turned Delaware housewife, decides not to join her flagrantly handsome life insurance salesman husband, Virgil, or their two young boys, at church. Instead, she takes a dip in the kidney-shaped swimming pool of their apartment complex. And then she won’t come out.

A riveting, single-sitting read set over the course of eight hours, THE MOST breaches the shimmering surface of a seemingly idyllic mid-century marriage, immersing us in the unspoken truth beneath. As Sputnik 2 orbits the earth carrying Laika, the doomed Soviet dog, Kathleen and Virgil hurtle towards each other until they arrive at a reckoning that will either shatter their marriage, or transform it, at last, into something real.

Critic reviews

“Jessica Anthony’s The Most is a brilliant and startling domestic fable of longing. The novel captures a haunting unrest at the core of midcentury American life, treating its aimlessly striving characters with a stern caress of grace. The Most is a novel of ruthless beauty. I read it in one perfect sitting.”—ISLE MCELROY, author of PEOPLE COLLIDE

“With Enter the Aardvark Jessica Anthony proved herself to be one of the most inventive writers working today. That book should have prepared me for her ingenious new novella, The Most, but somehow it didn’t. Trust me, though. The Most is a must.”—RICHARD RUSSO, author of EMPIRE FALLS and the NORTH BATH Trilogy

Not so ordinary lives

When I started listening, I imagined the period when my parents were young. They were almost 10 years younger than Kathleen and Virgil. But I imagined them growing up into adulthood in the 40’s and finding each other sometime in the late 50’s. The author adequately created the era with its cohort of cultural ills and the innovations that changed people’s lives. Nothing seems straightforward in these people’s lives. So many things left unsaid. So many secrets, maybe left unsaid. Who knows. It was like being a fly perched on some piece of furniture in a family’s home, privy to their most intimate lives.

Great!

The author transports you inside a flawed relationship/marriage. In a relatively short listen, Ms. Anthony creates well-developed characters and an interesting, well-written story. I'm looking forward to reading more from this writer!

disappointing ending

I loved Enter the Aardvark, this was nothing like it. Not the worst way to spend 3 hours, but also a bit blah with a nothing ending.

Two people who are cheaters in

This was listened to on audible and it’s a quick story that involves two, can I say selfish, people who both are cheaters. Infidelity runs rampant by each of them. Virgil is an extremely handsome man Kathleen is a tall nice looking woman. He is obsessed with jazz and has the nickname Charlie for Charlie Parker. Kathleen was a tennis champion in college who gave up a career in the sport after graduating.

I can’t not recommend The Most but at the same time, I think you have to read it and decide for yourself how you feel about the book. I gave it three stars.

This is a short read so you might want to give Jessica Anthony’s The Most a read.

Love This Book!

I read this book in one sitting. it's so well written, and the characters are wonderfully engaging. I love the dark humor and poignant story. Five stars. Highly recommend!