Now Super Official Award Nominated: The Most by Jessica Anthony

Color me thrilled when the National Book Foundation released their 2024 long list this morning and I had actually already read something on it!

Even more so, it was “The Most,” by Jessica Anthony. It’s more than deserving of the attention.

Anthony takes readers into the lives of Kathleen and Virgil Beckett, a married couple with two young sons living in Newark, Delaware in 1957. We are with them for nothing more than a single, but very important Sunday in late November, when sunny skies and oddly warm-ish temperatures turn their predictable routine on its head.

Instead of attending church as a family, Kathleen chooses to stay back, leaving Virgil to take Nathaniel and Nicholas to church on his own, where he contemplates how quickly he can get back to drop them off so he can hit the golf course.

Kathleen has other plans.

The two main characters take alternating turns as the protagonist, each narrating their lives as they are both contemplating just how the hell they ended up at Acropolis Place, an apartment complex on the outskirts of town. Kathleen is a former collegiate tennis player turned housewife, and Virgil is the guy who got by on his charm and good luck until he actually had to be good at something. Anything. Maybe you should have learned how to play that sax, Virgil.

In “The Most,” Anthony deftly creates two compelling, wholly flawed people that test your capacity for empathy at varying points along their respective journeys It would be easy to say one or both of them could be horrible people. Or, you could argue they are a product of their parents. I mean, Virgil’s dad Coke is about as big an asshole as they come. Or, a product of their environments. Maybe they do deserve each other. This is one of those reads that will spark insanely interesting book club discussions.

And the best part? At 135 pages, you literally can knock this off in a day — whether it’s to be able to say, “Look I read something on the NBF long list!” or to go to book club and actually be able to contribute. This is an engaging, easily accessible read that you won’t regret. If you love a little marital drama, I absolutely recommend this.