Local Woman Missing

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue - Part 1

Part 2, Chapters 2-15

Part 2, Chapters 16-32

Part 2, Chapters 33-46

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Book Club Questions

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Discussion Questions

Themes

Freedom Versus Captivity

Throughout the novel, Kubica highlights multiple instances of the struggle to escape from or avoid captivity and gain freedom.

The characters’ physical captivity extends to mental and emotional captivity, even after the characters are free. Carly and Delilah’s experiences reveal that the way that their identities have become fluid, lost, and seemingly interchangeable. For them, freedom consists of reclaiming a sense of personal identity. As Carly puts it: “Now that I got a little taste of freedom, I don’t want to die” (37). Both Carly and Delilah struggle to let go of the identities foisted upon them in captivity, with Carly still preferring to sleep in the basement and Delilah holding on to a fondness for Bea’s company.

Other characters face more subtle forms of subjugation. Kubica draws particular attention to some of the ways that women are undervalued, mistreated, or disregarded. As a doula, Meredith is particularly aware of the dilemma faced by women in labor:

Laboring women don’t want to piss anyone off. Because they need them. Which means that sometimes unnecessary things are done to a woman’s body during labor, for the sake of convenience or efficiency. Sometimes I’m as much of a bodyguard as anything else (207).

Instead of being trapped in a physical space, women giving birth are trapped in a situation (labor) where they surrender bodily autonomy.

Meredith also fights for her own freedom. She conceals certain aspects of her life and career from Josh who, with his well-meaning but stereotypical, gender-inflected views, would prefer to see Meredith stay home with their children. Meredith seeks to avoid the captivity that abandoning her career would entail. Kubica presents the fight for autonomy as valid and meaningful.

Through Bea, Kubica highlights the dangers of rampant individualism. By placing her own freedom at a premium above others’, Bea ends up robbing others of their freedom: She kills Meredith, and confines Delilah to the attic of her garage. Kubica shows how Bea’s freedom is not authentic; in addition to the burden of guilt, Bea is caught and loses the very thing she tried so hard to protect.

The Lingering Effects of Trauma

Kubica shows that inflicting harm on others causes ripple effects that compound, rather than fade over time. Kate’s last words to Bea are: “You hurt everyone” (350). Beginning with the moment after she runs over Shelby, Bea tries to minimize damage to herself. She sets off a chain reaction of multi-generational trauma that devastates her friends and neighbors, and even some people that she doesn’t know.

The Tebows are the first victims of Bea’s selfishness. Bea kills Shelby, and frames Jason for her murder. Their baby, Grace, is presumably left up for adoption. Though Jason is eventually released following Bea’s conviction, his extended jail term no doubt leaves a lasting impression on him and his family.

The Byrd family are also victims. As a result of her captivity, Carly’s physical, mental, emotional, and social development is severely stunted, and she struggles to adjust to post-Cutter life. Though Carly eventually returns to her family, they are unlikely ever to be the same.

By presenting snapshots from the characters’ lives along two timelines, Kubica tests the proverbial hypothesis that time heals all wounds and finds it insufficient: the passage of time, itself, does not erase trauma. For Leo, experiencing multiple traumas over time compounds the degree of their impact. Leo’s experience of bullying as well as losing his mother and sister, shows that time and experience can reinforce the effects of trauma. Josh also demonstrates that the pain of shocking and violent loss does not simply pass over time; Carly’s appearance as Delilah only reopens old wounds.

Kate is also a victim of Bea’s actions. Her trauma manifests as betrayal; the person she’s closest to turns out to have done incomprehensible things. Kate’s trauma is also intensified by the fact she feels betrayed by her own instincts: She was oblivious to Delilah being held captive in her own home and had no suspicions that the woman she loved was a murderer.

Kubica closes on a hopeful note. Though trauma may not fade entirely, the Dickey home once again becomes “a joyful one” as Josh, Leo, and Delilah reconnect (350). Dickey suggests that connection is the key to healing. Connection, then, is the key to healing, and Kate looks forward, “hopeful that my time will come soon” (350).

The Oppressive Suburban Environment

Kubica presents her characters as a cross-section of suburbia to draw attention to some of the oppressive cultural factors that get in the way of living a happy, meaningful life.

Kubica identifies the suburban pressure to keep up appearances regardless of what is going on behind the scenes. The Hanakas are initially presented as the quintessential all-American family. Tensions rise when Marty tries to keep his long-ago relationship with Meredith a secret. Cassandra’s decision to harass Meredith via anonymous text messages highlights her duplicity; she believes that it’s okay to be mean and vindictive so long as you aren’t caught.

The Tebows similarly find their relationship to be in a rocky place. In this case, there is more substance to accusations of infidelity. While Kubica doesn’t directly disavow the nuclear family as the ideal social unit, since the Dickeys constitute a more successful proof of concept, the Tebows call into question the wisdom of a system that sometimes saddles teenage lovers together for life. Kubica’s ominous tone regarding Jason is a red herring, but it is also part of a larger feeling of dread that permeates the work. Sometimes mundane things like construction workers and power outages are the focus of this dread, heightening the impression that the suburban environment itself, rather than distinct elements within it, are the problem. Even Josh, who seems to benefit from the suburban lifestyle prior to Meredith’s death, falls prey to its excesses as he becomes, as Leo puts it, a “workaholic.”

For a while, Kate and Bea also appear to be immune to suburbia’s deadening effects. Bea agrees to move into a relatively progressive neighborhood under the condition that she can create her own music studio. For a while, the experiment seems to work; Kate and Bea even consider having a child. However, Bea ends up losing her personal freedom after kidnapping Delilah. Kate, for her part, falls into the trap of being too trusting and naïve when it comes to Bea; she ignores warning signs, such as Bea’s diminished interest in music after Meredith’s death.

Though the suburban environment is not directly or fully responsible for how the characters feel or what they do, it serves as a menacing and revealing backdrop.