The Most truly punches above its weight - a slim 140 pages, but the portraits of our two main characters are incredibly detailed. The novel volleys between Kathleen (Kathy) and Virgil, a married couple with two kids who recently moved to Delaware in the 1950s. Kathy skips church on a hot Sunday in November and spends the whole day in the pool while Virgil golfs with his work buddies. While the premise may sound banal, The Most is anything but.  We are treated to intimate portraits of both Kathy and Virgil and how they've come to this juncture in their life. As the story unfolds, we learn that they could not be more different people - Kathy was a driven, competitive tennis player, while Virgil floated along in life and only snapped out of it after his impending marriage. 

They both have fucked around, but will they find out? 

The writing in The Most is incredible, you get such a good sense of the struggles of the times and the societal pressures put on Kathy...and how they are not really put on Virgil. I also love a good open-ended ending and will be pondering how these two will live their lives after confronting all of their many questionable decisions. The only thing I didn't quite jive with was the references to Sputnik, but I'm hoping that will mesh more on a re-read. 

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the copy.