We Are Not Like Them

This contemporary fiction novel by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza managed to show us the complexity of an issue that is often oversimplified in the media.

Told from alternating perspectives, the novel follows two women, one Black and one white, whose friendship is indelibly altered by a tragic event.

Jen and Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. As adults, they remain as close as sisters, though their lives have taken different directions. Jen married young, and after years of trying, is finally pregnant. Riley pursued her childhood dream of becoming a television journalist and is poised to become one of the first Black female anchors of the top news channel in their hometown of Philadelphia.

But the deep bond they share is severely tested when Jen’s husband, a city police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. Six months pregnant, Jen is in freefall as her future, her husband’s freedom, and her friendship with Riley are thrown into uncertainty. Covering this career-making story, Riley wrestles with the implications of this tragic incident for her Black community, her ambitions, and her relationship with her lifelong friend.

We Are Not Like Them is both a powerful conversation starter and a celebration of the enduring power of friendship.

"Some people want so badly to believe that racism is buried beneath layers and layers of history...but it's not...Too often the trauma, the toll of it, remains unknown generation after generation.

My Verdict

Pride and Piazza explore race and friendship with candor. The authors show, for example, how Jen has the privilege of never seeing “color” in her relationship — whereas for Riley, it’s unavoidable. Some would argue that the book could have gone further with this. It could have shown Riley and Jen sitting down face-to-face, going toe-to-toe, not holding back their thoughts about how race has affected their friendship. I think, though, that this is part of the power of the novel. It is what makes it realistic. We often do not know how to talk to those who are different from us and this has never been truer than in 2023 on the topic of race.

While the driving question of the novel is meant to be what will become of their friendship, the story is most affecting when the women are apart. Jen, simultaneously protective of her husband and horrified at what he’s done, suffers harassment on- and offline. Her pregnancy compounds her vulnerability and terror at what may happen to her family. For Riley, the shooting presents a chance at a big break. She can use her family connections to land an exclusive interview with Justin’s mother, Tamara, advancing her own career and seeking justice for the Dwyers all at once … if she’s willing to turn her back on her oldest friend. As she works on the story, she uncovers devastating truths about her own family history and loses someone she loves.

The book alternates between Riley’s and Jen’s perspectives, and they manage to stay out of each other’s way for the bulk of the novel. They exchange tense texts and emails and spot each other from afar, locked in a “weird, unspoken rift.” Jen agonizes over Riley’s loyalties, and Riley avoids her, unable to make up her mind. At one point, she wonders: “Are we fighting? Not exactly. I’m not mad at Jenny. Or maybe I am. I don’t know.” The characters comprehend and confront little about their own bond, and thus, so does the novel. I enjoyed this novel and found it to be timely and important while not be preachy. I give this book 4.5 stars.

The authors simultaneously humanize both Justin, the black middle schooler who is mistakenly shot by police officers and Kevin, Jen's husband and one of the shooters. This is not something that is easily palatable for either side and not something we generally see in discussion of police shootings of young black men. The authors manage to point out that this is not a simple issue. Like all controversial issues, it is complex. This is further emphasized by the fact that at the end of this novel the two friend have just managed to admit that there is a lot to talk about and that if they are going to move forward, they need to be able to have frank, honest conversations about race.

I’m grateful for books like “We Are Not Like Them” — books with plots that dare us to look into our own hearts, then to challenge one another as we discuss the story lines. Perhaps this books will become a catalyst for deeper discussions between Black and White readers and begin to heal the divide that burdens this country.