We Are Not Like Them is a thought-provoking novel that explores race in America today. The story hits hard and has a shooting of an unarmed Black boy at the center of the plot. What happens when a white woman's husband is involved in the shooting and her best friend is one of the first Black female anchors in Philadelphia? This truly is a novel that will make readers think and sit with those thoughts. The writing is outstanding! Highly recommended!!

This book had a lot of potential and I was excited to read this one, but it wasn't my favorite! I really appreciated the two perspectives and it was really interesting to see the same situation from two different viewpoints. I think this book was certainly written with a particular reader in mind. I wanted this book to work so badly, but ti just felt a little underwhelming. Jen was highly unlikeable and she didn't deserve a friend like Riley. I realize that is the point, to make the reader uncomfortable but I just... couldn't with Jen!

I did really like this book, although it was heavy. Told from alternating perspectives, we hear from Riley, a black TV journalist and Jen, a white woman. The pair has been best friends since they were kids, but never discussed race. Jen represents what many white people say and do and this is done really well: "I'm not racist; my best friend is black!" Or when she says she doesn't even notice that Riley is black - she's just Riley. And Riley says that's the problem. Because when Jen's husband is involved in a police shooting of a young black boy, Jen thinks she's a victim and doesn't understand why Riley is taking it personally.

Riley, meanwhile, knows that could be her brother or father and is deeply affected by the tragedy. This drives a rift between the two friends until they finally hash it out. Their friendship is strong, but there are certainly flaws.

This books brings about many real-life issues regarding race, class, and justice. As a reader, you find yourself seeing both sides, but also recognizing yourself in some of the thoughts - from either one side or another. Jen does come across as ignorant, but I think this was intentional. Riley is a strong character and I really enjoyed her chapters the most.

This was one of my favorite books I read in 2021. I was so invested in the story. I would read anything this duo writes.

This was a very thought-provoking book about difficult topics. It was well written and cohesive given that there were two authors. The only issue was that I felt that there was a lack of depth to Riley and Jen's friendship, and the book didn't go far beyond the surface in discussing the important issues.

So many issues are tackled her especially those surrounding race making for a powerful read. There was a poignancy to the writing and it always impressed by a writing duo who manages to sound like one fluid author

Thank you to the authors, NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada and Atria Books for an e-ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

When you read a review of We Are Not Like Them that tells by oh this is a thousand but provoking book - believe it.

I would like to place this book in the hands of everyone I know. It's important, I think.

Past time for us ALL to hold ourselves accountable. And especially important for us to hold those in a position of power accountable.

This book definitely hit on a lot of serious topics. I appreciate what the authors were trying to do, but found it hard to balance the story of friendship with the shooting of an innocent black boy as the backdrop. We had great discussions as a result of reading this book for my book club at the library, so definitely appreciated that! And I know the rest of the group loved it!

I highly recommend We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza. I first heard about this book through social media. I immediately hopped on NetGalley to request it. It did not disappoint at all. Honestly, this book reminded me a lot of a book that Jodi Picoult would write.

Best friends from the time they were children, Jenny and Riley, are living their best lives until one fateful night. Told from alternating perspectives of both women, one white and one Black. Jen, married young, struggled to get pregnant for years and finally gets pregnant with the help of her best friend. Riley, chose her dream of becoming a television news anchor and is on track to become one of the first Black female anchors in her hometown of Philadelphia. One fateful night will test their friendship and love for each other after Jen's husband, a white police officer, is involved in a shooting of an unarmed teenaged Black boy. Riley is assigned to cover the story. This is the story that can make her career, but she struggles with her own emotions, her lifelong friendship, relationships, and internal turmoil. Jen struggles with finally becoming a mother, but knowing that her husband was responsible of taking a child from his mother, losing her best friend, the loneliness of being considered a pariah, and potentially losing the only "real" family she has ever known.

The topic of We Are Not Like Them is trivial and can be a hot button. However, I feel that both authors portrayed each sides very eloquently, thought provokingly, and compassionately. I felt empathetic towards both characters as I read this book. I continuously thought, "What would I do if I was in this position"? The sad answer is that you do not know until it happens to you. I also thought that the book was very well researched and deep dove into a question that we hope to not have to ask. This book is definitely worth all of the buzz that it has generated. Grab it today! You will not be disappointed.

Two best friends, one horrible and complicated occurrence. Two authors.

I have been trying to read this book, off and on, for four months. I just can't seem to handle it or truly connect with the characters. From all the rave reviews it got, I think that it's me and not the book.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

First and foremost, I like that this book was well-edited. That shows the authors were serious and had means to get the best editors. As I writer, I know how hard this is to come by.
The story was immediately engaging, with well-drawn characters. The book will prompt lots of discussion. My book club members had a lot to say about the direction the author took with the friendship of the two women.
The thing we all agreed upon was that it seemed like there was more story to add. The ending didn't sit well with most of us. It felt like there could be a part two.

What a powerful read about the complications of friendship, particularly a bi-racial friendship. This story of Riley and Jen navigating the life choices that have made their friendship already fragile before they wind up on opposite sides of an all-too common police shooting death of an innocent black boy is one of the best fictional reads on this social justice topic.

This was highly recommended by influencers and book reviewers, and it did not disappoint. The premise of a ripped-from-the-headlines story, especially when focusing on yet another unarmed Black teen boy, is a risky topic to channel. There are such heated feelings and it feels crass to amplify white voices at this time. Yet the authors (one who is African American and one who is White), put the focus squarely on two women (one Black, one White) who have been friends all their lives. The White woman, Jen, is married to a police officer who ultimately shoots an unarmed Black teen. The fallout is immense, and the implications of which side each woman falls on lead to deep fissures that crack within them. Ultimately they have to decide which side they stand on.

I worried that this would fall into a cliche or end up overly preachy. However, the writing is so nuanced and the characters are so multi-dimensional, that it allows the reader to sit with these heavy thoughts and these flawed characters, and find oneself pulled to both points of view. I was amazed at the grief I felt for all the characters at different points. I also loved the way the authors described motherhood and the newfound feelings. This book does a great job looking at the full spectrum of human emotion and what it is to be a deeply feeling, and deeply flawed person in today's world.

Jenny and Riley have been best friends since they were in kindergarten and Jenny's mother, Lou, was desperate for childcare. The girls remain best friends throughout their childhood, high school, college, and well into adulthood. Now Riley has moved home to Philadelphia to be one of the first Black female anchors in Philly. Jen is pregnant with her first child, married to a local police officer.

Their relationship is put to the test when Jenny's husband, Kevin, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teen boy. A very pregnant Jenny is worried about their future. Will Kevin lose his job? Will he go to jail? Will she have to raise their baby by herself? Meanwhile, Riley is reporting on the tragedy of yet another innocent Black child being murdered. Will Riley and Jenny be able to navigate these waters with their friendship intact?

We Are Not Like Them is a book for the ages, told from the alternate perspectives of Jenny and Riley, you get to see both sides of a story that was ripped from the headlines. Jenny was so wrapped up in her world that she failed to see the greater implications of what happened with her husband. And as a reader, I could understand that. That doesn't mean I think it was right, but I understand it. Riley was trying to remain objective about the situation but also was frustrated because of Jenny's shortsightedness about the situation. It really made for an interesting dynamic for the reader. I also think that the authors did a great job of wrapping things up. It was hopeful. CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS.

Bottom Line - We Are Not Like Them was the perfect last book to read of 2021. I thought it provoking and an important book to read in today's climate.




Details:
We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza
Pages: 336
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: 10/5/2021
Buy it Here!
Thank you to NetGalley for the book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book!
THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS BOOK WITH ME!
I got behind in the COVID DRAMA and missed posting about this important book when it came out.
Thank you!

Written by two acclaimed authors, Christine Pride and Jo Piazza, and told from the alternating perspectives of two women, one Black and one white, WE ARE NOT LIKE THEM is a powerful and timely exploration of race relations in America.

Jen and Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. Jen, the white daughter of a conniving woman addicted to drugs, has long admired Riley’s tight-knit family and ambition. Riley, meanwhile, is a proud Black woman who has worked twice as hard to secure the things that come easily to Jen, namely her career as an anchorwoman. With the various tides working against them, Jen and Riley have somehow managed to maintain their friendship and essentially become colorblind when it comes to one another --- minus a few missteps here and there. That said, their friendship has fallen toward the back burner as Jen has begun focusing on starting a family with her police officer husband, Kevin, one of the “good cops” who, while never doing or saying anything racist, is deemed only “okay” by Riley.

When we meet Jen and Riley, they are getting together for drinks --- or at least one of them is. Jen is finally pregnant after multiple rounds of fertility treatments and a life-saving donation from Riley that made her pregnancy possible. While the two joke about the old times and one another’s preferences and flaws in a sisterly way, Jen’s phone starts to erupt in text messages from her husband. After she flees the bar without an explanation, Riley’s phone does the same. A 14-year-old unarmed Black child named Justin Dwyer has been shot by a police officer. Suddenly, Riley knows why Jen left the bar so abruptly.

The story takes off from there, with Jen navigating the sudden harsh reality of becoming (wife to) public enemy number one, and Riley reporting on a story with nationwide appeal. Pride and Piazza never shy away from the gritty subjects: the horrifying, painful last moments of a child’s life, the sickening act of taking a life, or the way the media can blame one person’s actions on an entire family, community or race. Initially, Kevin and Jen point the finger at Kevin’s new partner, a young man who never confirmed that they were indeed following a dangerous suspect and who pulled the trigger far too soon. But even Jen can see that these are all excuses they have heard before in various police shootings of unarmed Black adults and children. More to the point, she understands that she and Kevin don’t stand a chance in the court of public opinion. With the media swarming her door and Kevin’s “Back the Blue” family hounding her, Jen can think of only one way forward.

Enter Jen’s friendship with Riley. Like Jen, Riley knows that she and her husband are not racist; after all, she’s the future godmother of Jen’s child. Hoping to leverage Riley’s position as an anchorwoman, Jen implores Riley to help her and Kevin maintain his innocence. But what of Riley, a Black woman who has just watched a young, potential-filled member of her community gunned down? Who has heard the cries of his mother? And whose own community is depending on her to vilify and bring justice to Kevin and his partner? For the first time, Jen and Riley will have to have deep, painful conversations about race. But with their friendship already on rocky ground and years of avoided discussions simmering beneath the surface --- not to mention the nationwide cries for justice and retribution --- each exchange comes at a heavy price.

In a market full of searingly current titles featuring similar themes, WE ARE NOT LIKE THEM stands out for its careful, deeply vulnerable and introspective examinations of race relations, microaggressions and police brutality. Whether they are writing about Jen’s hesitance to accept the usual lines (“he looked older, like a thug,” “I thought he was reaching for a gun,” etc.) or Riley’s worries about rocking the boat on her friendship and community, Pride and Piazza hold nothing back, filling each and every page with poignant, evocative discussions.

But even more powerfully, the authors start their narrative a step further than most, in a world where a Black woman and a white woman are already friends, have stepped into one another’s worlds and come out stronger for it. This is not your average contemporary novel about a white character befriending a Black one and learning that they are racist, all wrapped up in a cozy, “transcends race” bow. The book is much more about the ways that our society is inherently racist and how even underprivileged white folks benefit from that inherent racism. But that’s just Jen’s side of things. Riley’s is even more powerful.

It is easy as a white person to say that you “understand” what it is like to be Black, but in WE ARE NOT LIKE THEM, more than in any other book I’ve ever read, the reader gets the full sense of what it means to be Black, live Black and, more importantly, survive Black. No undertones, nuances or assumptions are left unexplored, and the tightrope that many Black men and women --- especially those working in predominantly white industries --- walk is unpacked with laser-sharp focus. One profound takeaway was how frequently Riley thought about race because she had to, and how infrequently Jen did the same, because she never had to.

WE ARE NOT LIKE THEM will no doubt be an uncomfortable read for many white people, but that just means it’s working. Incisive, intensely compelling and, above all, necessary, it is a riveting work from a tremendous duo who are not afraid to peel back the curtain on the world, their characters and their readers.

Jen and Riley have been friends since childhood, but for the first time in years, the two grown women are both living in the same city — their hometown of Philly. Riley is working her way up at the local news station and hoping to be among the first Black female anchors, and Jen is excited to welcome her first baby with her husband Kevin. However, the duo's lifelong friendship is put to the test when Kevin, who is a local cop, is involved in the shooting of a 14-year-old Black boy and Riley is tasked with covering the tragedy.

I think of course just by reading the description you realize how heavy and devastatingly familiar this scene feels. The book is told in alternating perspectives of Riley and Jen, and it makes for some absolutely heart-wrenching chunky chapters of insight into these women. I think the authors approached this subject really well and was super impressed with the novel overall. I can't imagine how hard tackling this topic was and how much pressure to do the families who have handled this IRL justice.

This is a very powerful book that presents a lot of issues dealing with racism. The writing was excellent as we experience the love as well as the turmoil brought into their lives after Jen’s husband, a white police officer is arrested along with his partner for the shooting of a 14 year old black student. Throughout life Jen has been best friends with Riley who is a black journalist and now covering this story. Will their friendship survive? Many race issues are highlighted, both past and present. There is so much to discuss in this book which makes it perfect for discussions groups. I am sure it will get mixed reviews in our current environment but it gives the reader lots to think about. Well written and highly recommended! #WeAreNotLikeThem #ChristinePride #JoPiazza #NetGalley

Having recently finished “We Are Not Like Them” by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza, I am happy to have had the chance for the preview; thank you NetGalley and Atria Books!

This collaboration was a thought provoking story to begin the new year. Although race division and justice/injustice were the primary focus throughout this book, I found myself pausing often while reading the more personal, vivid details. The mural of a Black mother and newborn baby on a crumbling brick wall, the riddles at the graveside, the motherly bond of biscuits and a blue silk shirt, Jen’s trip to Target, and the heartfelt letter in the back of a drawer. There was a lot to experience in this story, and MANY moments to be remembered.

A great reading start to the 2022 new year, this book is moving, impactful and important. Tackling the issues of race, from both perspectives of a White and Black author, as well as the two main characters was unique. Riley is an aspiring reporter, hoping to make the anchor chair in her home town of Philadelphia. Her best friend from childhood, Jen, is a White woman married to a police officer. When Jen’s husband is involved in a police shooting of a young Black boy, a story Riley is reporting on, what will happen to their relationship? On a deeper level, why did they never talk about race, about the many obstacles and roadblocks Riley faced? This is a must read! Highly recommended.