The Most by Jessica Anthony

 

Summary (from the publisher): It’s November 3, 1957. As Sputnik 2 launches into space, carrying Laika, the doomed Soviet dog, a couple begin their day. Virgil Beckett, an insurance salesman, isn’t particularly happy in his job but he fulfills the role. Kathleen Beckett, once a promising tennis champion with a key shot up her sleeve, is now a mother and homemaker. On this unseasonably warm Sunday, Kathleen decides not to join her family at church. Instead, she unearths her old, red bathing suit and descends into the deserted swimming pool of their apartment complex in Newark, Delaware. And then she won’t come out.

A riveting, single-sitting read set over the course of eight hours, The Most is an epic story in one single day, masterly breaching the shimmering surface of a seemingly idyllic mid-century marriage, immersing us in the unspoken truth beneath.

Review: It's 1957 and Kathleen Beckett, once an aspiring tennis star, is now a stay-at-home mom with an insurance salesman husband. One Sunday, instead of going with her family to church as usual, Kathleen digs out her college bathing suit, gets in the apartment complex pool, and then refuses to come out. Under what seems like an idyllic marriage are two disillusioned individuals who probably should not have ended up together. When Kathleen's swim is over, the spell of serenity will be broken, and both will have to acknowledge some ugly truths about their life together. In short, both are unfaithful and not honest with the other. 

There were some intriguing elements to this book and its setting. It's an insightful look at a stifling marriage, which is clearly a product of its restrictive time period in the 1950s. Kathleen is used to winning and finds herself married to a beautiful but unambitious man. Virgil does not seem to really understand or see his wife and is instead consumed with his golf game. No one is paying attention to the children. Kathleen's swim, and more accurately her refuse to end it, represents a precipice in their marriage. By the end of the book, when both characters reveal the hidden drama that has preceded this day and this swim, it's unclear whether the marriage will survive after this day, after Kathleen finally emerges from the pool to level with her husband. 

I ultimately felt like this novel is really just a brief story about a day in a crumbling marriage that tries to present itself as more profound than it really is. It just felt like two people who had married the wrong people and were unsatisfied with their choices. By the end of the book, I did not care for either Kathleen or Virgil, nor was I sure whether or not I wanted their marriage to survive. 

Stars: 3