Just the Nicest Couple

“There is a detachment in the way he speaks of his patients because there has to be. He can’t get all emotional about it, otherwise he wouldn’t be a good surgeon. There is a whole psychology about how doctors like him get through the day.”

Nina's justifications for Jake’s emotional detachment explore Appearance Versus Reality in Marriage, one of the novel’s central themes. Nina only sees what she wants from her husband. Only when Jake disappears and Nina learns more about his life outside of their home can she learn the reality of her husband’s life.

“Two days down, just three days until the weekend and then for forty-eight hours, you don’t have to get out of bed. I’m at your beck and call. Anything you need—back rub, foot rub, breakfast in bed—I’m your guy.”

Christian devotes most of his free time and energy to meeting Lily’s needs. He nurtures Lily, sensitive to her pregnancy symptoms. Unlike Jake, who always puts his comforts and desires above Nina’s, Christian views his marriage as a supportive partnership. Here, Kubica presents him as Jake’s foil.

“He didn’t want to talk to me. I messed up, but Jake is notorious for holding grudges. I worry what happens if he doesn’t forgive me.”

Nina takes responsibility for escalating her argument with Jake, demonstrating her willingness to work through their disagreement. Her thoughts exemplify Kubica’s technique of characterizing Jake through the observations of others, making Jake appear as the antagonist, since Nina feels fearful of Jake at the novel’s opening and is willing to compromise on her boundaries to accommodate Jake’s egocentrism.

“Fighting about the time I spend with my mother has become something common between Jake and me. It used to be that he didn’t want me to spend any time with her—he wanted me all to himself, and I’d be lying if I said some part of me didn’t find pleasure in this—but when her health began to fail, I couldn’t exactly neglect her, nor did I want to. She’s my mother.”

Jake’s demands on Nina’s free time reveal his character to be controlling and manipulative. Jake holds patriarchal expectations of Nina as a wife, wanting her to sacrifice all other aspects of her life while catering to all of Jake’s needs. Raised in a home with patriarchal gender roles, Jake feels entitled to Nina’s time, even though she cares for her sick mother.

“He’d seen deer on the path earlier and he wanted to see if they were still there, so he could show me. It was a mother with two spotted fawns, he said. I should have said no. But it’s Jake, you know? I know Jake. It’s not like he’s a stranger.”

The deer in Lily’s story symbolizes innocence, especially when referencing the fawns. Lily invents the deer as a cover story and a way to plead her innocence. While Lily is blameless for Jake’s physical attack, she carries guilt for her affair that she cannot escape. Lily is not innocent of the affair, just as the deer do not exist.

“Jake snapped. That’s one way to put it. We’ve all been there before. We’ve all had those moments where we freak out, where we act aggressively, in a way that feels beyond our control. It’s a rage response.”

Christian empathizes with Jake even after Jake attacks Lily, exploring the theme of Justification for Violence. Christian acknowledges that he is capable of snapping himself. Though he never gives in to violence, Christian feels the urge to hurt people multiple times.

“I’m expecting to see some upscale hotel because Jake would die before sleeping at a Holiday Inn.”

Jake’s character is partially defined by his obsession with extravagant, expensive things. Nina wastes several days before searching for Jake because she expects him to spend copious amounts of money while avoiding her. Nina first suspects that Jake might be hurt when she notices that he hasn’t spent any money on an “upscale hotel” or anything else, demonstrating the value that Jake places on material objects.

“I can’t tell Jake anything when he won’t speak to me.”

Kubica develops Nina’s character as Nina’s anger and resentment toward Jake grows as the novel progresses. She is less willing to make excuses and justifications for his behavior and more honestly confronts her feelings about Jake’s emotional distance. Kubica employs dramatic irony here—the reader knows that Jake was attacked—to heighten the suspense regarding when Nina will go to the police.

“Lily doesn’t know he’s there until he’s directly beside her, and then she falls nervously back, her hand pulling from mine and going to her heart.”

Through Lily, Kubica introduces the theme of Overcoming Loss, Betrayal, and Trauma in the aftermath of Jake’s attack. Lily appears fearful and jumpy often, having difficulty sleeping and calming herself down. Kubica demonstrates the struggles that accompany trauma.

“I’m worried about Jake. But I’m also feeling guilty and ashamed that I waited all this time to come to the police. It never crossed my mind that something might be wrong, that something might have happened to Jake. I only thought that he was upset with me, that he was avoiding me.”

Kubica extends the dramatic irony surrounding Nina’s view of Jake’s disappearance, further heightening the tension. She also positively characterizes Nina, since Nina holds herself accountable for her error, something that Jake would never do.

“When I came home after seven, he stared icily at me from across the room. He didn’t speak. He was drinking a whiskey sour. At first I felt threatened by the lowering look. For whatever reason, I thought of that patient of Jake’s who died after surgery.”

In addition to feeling angry and resentful toward Jake, Nina feels scared of her husband. She recognizes the possibility that Jake would justify being physically violent with Nina. Nina’s desperation to see Jake back at home, even though she feels fearful of him, demonstrates her loyalty to their relationship.

“Jake doesn’t have a romantic bone in his body, he’s far too pragmatic for that—though I’ve told him before that everything dies, it’s just a matter of time.”

The fact that Jake never sends Nina flowers though she loves them demonstrates how little Jake cares for Nina’s desires and needs. Jake has no qualms about spending exorbitant amounts of money on cars but won’t spend on “romantic” gestures. This is a significant moment of indirect characterization of Jake: He expects Nina to prioritize all of his needs while he neglects Nina emotionally.

“When all this is said and done, Lily and Nina’s friendship will be over. It makes me sad for Lily, for how much she will lose before this is through. But you can’t have a relationship built on secrets and lies.”

Ironically, Christian’s prediction about Nina and Lily’s friendship coming to an end foreshadows the end of his marriage. Christian explains the importance of honesty and integrity in a relationship. Lily’s infidelity and her subsequent lies about her relationship with Jake will cause Christian to lose all trust in Lily, ultimately ending their marriage.

“But now, moving around his office, I want to know the side of him I never knew, this other side of him that thought it might be okay to try and come on to my wife, to exploit her trusting nature, to force her to her knees on the dirt and attempt to do things to her that I can’t stand to imagine.”

Christian ponders Appearance Versus Reality in Marriage when he searches Jake’s office. He realizes how little he actually knew about Jake, only paying attention to Jake’s appearance as a successful doctor and happily married man. Christian feels compelled to uncover and expose Jake’s darker nature.

“It upsets me, thinking of Jake running away from the home we share, hiding from me. It’s even worse than if he hadn’t come home at all.”

Despite the horrible way Jake treats Nina, she still believes that they can resolve their issues and live a happy life together. Nina makes several proclamations that she would like to have children with Jake, illustrating how Nina prioritizes fulfilling patriarchal gender roles over living a life free from control and manipulation. Nina would rather Jake be dead than face the reality that he is leaving her and the life they built together.

“Jake and I eloped, which my mother took hard because she’d always imagined walking me down the aisle on my wedding day in lieu of the father I didn’t have.”

Nina’s wedding symbolizes how she feels caught between two controlling forces. Jake makes all the decisions for his and Nina’s wedding, leaving no room for Nina’s wishes. The fact that Nina’s mother wanted to give Nina away on her wedding day demonstrates how Nina’s mother views Nina as a possession she owns.

“I had objected to having a gun in the house at the time. As a rule, I hate them; no good can come of having a gun in the house, I tried telling Jake. But what Jake wants, Jake gets.”

Jake’s gun is a phallic symbol that represents his violent enforcement of patriarchal power. The staccato, monosyllabic final sentence mimics rapid gunfire, underscoring the violence of Jake asserting his “wants” over Nina’s sense of safety.

“The first baby we lost hit the hardest for Lily. She cried for weeks. I think it’s because we went into it with so much hope and optimism that we didn’t consider all the possible outcomes. The only one we considered was that at the end of nine months, we’d have a healthy baby. With each subsequent miscarriage, Lily was less visibly sad, as if somehow accepting of our fate, though she died a little inside every time.”

Lily’s experience with miscarriages develops the theme of Overcoming Loss, Betrayal, and Trauma. Lily demonstrates how repeated experiences with loss and grief can harden a person, leaving them less vulnerable and more susceptible to expecting the worst.

“There is something very premonitory, almost apocalyptic, about this moment. Outside the classroom windows, a cloud moves past the sun, shading its light. It gets darker in the room, as if someone dimmed a light.”

Dreary weather, especially wind, symbolizes significant changes in Just the Nicest Couple. Additionally, the cloudy and stormy weather develops the novel’s dark mood.

“Jake looks so easygoing and affable in the image, and I have a hard time reconciling this face and this wide smile with the furious, unhinged man who attacked Lily that day in the woods.”

Christian recognizes that Jake’s appearance in his picture on the news does not represent the cruel, violent man Christian has come to know. Kubica creates irony here: Even though Christian accepts the duality of Jake’s personality, he never thinks to question his wife and if she could be hiding away parts of herself. Christian only sees what he wants to see in his marriage.

“I find myself staring at her. Lily’s hair parts down the center. She has high cheekbones, a small forehead and big, round, larger-than-life eyes that remind me of those characters from Japanese anime. I love her eyes. They’re a rich, warm brown and always make me think of integrity and goodness. But what if there is something in those eyes I’ve failed to see?”

Christian only suspects Lily of dishonesty when hearing that Jake died from gunshot wounds. His description of her large eyes that remind him of “goodness” infantilize Lily, and the image of him sitting by the bed watching her constructs an image akin to father and child rather than husband and wife. This suggests that their hetero-patriarchal dynamic has obscured the reality of their relationship.

“I wish more than anything that I could go back to five minutes ago, to a state of blissful ignorance, when I believed that what my wife told me was true.”

Christian exhibits how painful and difficult it can be to confront the realities of his and Lily’s life. Given a choice, Christian would gladly live unaware of Lily’s betrayal, happily engrossed in the appearance of a “nice” couple. The novel suggests that Christian must first accept the reality of his situation before working to overcome loss and betrayal.

“Lily is practically the only one who hasn’t called or texted to express her condolences, which is revelatory. The truth sometimes lies in what we don’t say, rather than what we say.”

In the aftermath of Jake’s death, Nina must work to overcome the loss and betrayal of her closest friend. Lily’s betrayal allows Nina to picture Lily as a murderer, even though Lily did not kill Jake. The point that the “truth” lies in the unsaid hints at the final revelations about the murder.