Is this the close friendship I came for? Seems one-sided at best. And Jen seems to use Riley to borrow money and get a free lunch. From the very first time we meet Riley and Jen, we see the former inwardly cringing as Jen jokes about "CPT", biting her tongue as she recalls how Jen never gets her problem with strangers touching her hair. What happens when two people who are so close become divided by race? Except the authors never really take us there at all. When Jen's husband, a police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed black boy, politics and calls for social justice worm their way into the women's friendship.
The blurb posits that Jen and Riley, who are white and black respectively, are the bestest of friends, and have been for pretty much their whole lives. The premise sounds great, but I don't think the book ever really lived up to it. I just wanted it to be more complex and interesting than it was. In fact, it almost constantly throws up talking points as if the authors were working through a list of topics.
We Are Not Like Them will be a fabulous choice for book clubs, which is likely exactly what it was written for. We Are Not Like Them is both a powerful conversation starter and a celebration of the enduring power of friendship. 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. Six months pregnant, Jen is in freefall as her future, her husband’s freedom, and her friendship with Riley are thrown into uncertainty. 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.īut 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. Jen married young, and after years of trying, is finally pregnant. As adults, they remain as close as sisters, though their lives have taken different directions. Jen and Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. Told from alternating perspectives, this novel follows two women, one Black and one white, whose friendship is indelibly altered by a tragic event.
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