{Thank you to Atria Books for my gifted review copy}
We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride & Jo Piazza
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Publication Date:
October 5th, 2021
Book Summary:
Told from alternating perspectives, an evocative and riveting novel about the lifelong bond between two women, one Black and one white, whose friendship is indelibly altered by a tragic event—a powerful and poignant exploration of race in America today and its devastating impact on ordinary lives.
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.
Like Tayari Jones’s An American Marriage and Jodi Picoult’s Small Great Things, We Are Not Like Them explores complex questions of race and how they pervade and shape our most intimate spaces in a deeply divided world. But at its heart, it’s a story of enduring friendship—a love that defies the odds even as it faces its most difficult challenges.
Genre:
Contemporary Fiction / Friendship Fiction
My Rating:
5/5 Stars
Purchase Your Copy:
My Review:
I have been gushing about this book for some time now and this past month, We Are Not Like Them hit bookstore shelves everywhere!
It’s one of those books that engages you from the start, and leaves you thinking about it long after finishing…which really is the best kind of read!
We Are Not Like Them is told through the narratives of two best friends, one Black and one white, that while alike in many ways, also see and experience the world very differently.
Not only does this book have you looking at your own unconscious bias, but it is also an intricately shaped story of struggle, life long friendship and personal growth.
Author Christine Pride and Jo Piazza shine because this book doesn’t tell you want to think, but instead makes YOU THINK and relate these issues to your own life and community around you.
I highly recommend adding this to your fall reading list and think it would make an amazing book club discussion. Have you read this one yet or is it on your reading radar? I would love to hear!
And if you are interested in joining in on the conversation, you can check out my post over on @genthebookworm.
