Wow. I’m a little late to the party on this one but thanks to my friend Jenni for sending me a birthday gift off my wishlist. I devoured it quickly, as this really was fantastic.
Jen and Riley have been best friends since childhood, so long that Jen remembers when Riley went by her given name, Leroya. Even though one is Black and one white, and their lives have taken different paths, their bond is as close as sisters in many ways. Jen is married and has finally gotten pregnant after years of trying, and Riley is on her way to becoming a news anchor—one of only a few Black female anchors in Philadelphia history.
One night it all changes. Jen’s husband, a policeman, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. Much to Jen’s dismay, Riley is the network’s choice to cover the aftermath of the shooting and the investigation. While the difference in their races hasn’t always been an issue in Jen and Riley’s friendship, the shooting may prove too big to overcome.
As Jen struggles both with her pregnancy and the public outrage against her husband, she has to examine her own feelings and biases. At the same time, Riley has to try and separate her feelings for her friend from her feelings not only about the shooting and the inequities of race, but also her ambitions and whether she’s being used as a pawn for the very reason her star is rising.
We Are Not Like Them is a tremendously thought-provoking book, one that would be great for a book club. The characters are not perfect—I often felt like the friendship was a little one-sided and that Jen was a bit of a brat—but thinking of how you’d react in a situation like this is eye-opening.
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