We Are Not Like Them

We Are Not Like Them is a contemporary realist novel about friendship, race, and justice, written by Christine Pride, a Black author, and Jo Piazza, a white author. This novel follows childhood friends Riley Wilson and Jenny Murphy. Their relationship is tested by the death of 14-year-old Justin Dwyer, an unarmed Black boy shot by Officer Kevin Murphy, Jenny’s husband. The story uses an alternating first-person perspective to explore Riley and Jenny’s experience with race. Riley and Jenny’s first-person narrative is bookended by a Prologue recounting the moment Justin was shot and an Epilogue from the point of view of Tamara, Justin’s mother. Pride and Piazza’s use of characters and experience help to humanize the complicated and lasting implications race has on everyone.

Published in 2021 in a time of racial protests, particularly after the murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, the novel uses its characters to help humanize the complicated and lasting implications of race. This study guide refers to the hardcover version published by Atria, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Plot Summary

Jenny Murphy is in the last months of pregnancy when her husband, a police officer, is involved in the murder of an unarmed Black boy. As Jenny struggles with her husband’s actions, the potential indictment, online harassment, and death threats, she wishes her best friend, Riley, could be there for her. Jenny knows Kevin, knows he couldn’t be a racist monster and would never shoot that boy on purpose. For Jenny, much is riding on this pregnancy, as she and her husband are in debt from trying to conceive through in vitro fertilization. Riley loaned them the money to try one last round, which was successful. Jenny and Riley have been constants throughout each other’s lives. Now, as they navigate adulthood, careers, family responsibilities, and relationships, they must face their racial differences and how those differences have shaped each of them.

Riley, who has dedicated herself to working hard and becoming a successful news anchor, has a complicated relationship with race, especially when communicating her experience with her white friends. She is aware of how her experience as a Black woman has shaped her—having to work harder than her white counterparts, dealing with online comments and harassment, and the recent arrest of her brother Shaun, which has been a financial burden for her family, leaving her parents with legal and medical bills for which they will soon have to sell Riley and Shaun’s childhood home to pay for the debt he incurred. Riley, embarrassed about her family’s trouble, often keeps this to herself and doesn’t open up. This secrecy leads to the end of her serious relationship with her white boyfriend and the problems in her and Jenny’s relationship.

After Justin’s death, Riley feels the loss personally, and Jenny is desperate for support from her best friend. For Riley, this is a racial issue highlighting the struggles and continuous violence against the Black community. She doesn’t know how to give Jenny the benefit of the doubt that she will understand that.

As Kevin’s sentencing looms near, and District Attorney Sabrina Cowell threatens with an indictment, he has a choice to make: to testify against his partner, who shot first, or to stick with the force and potentially face jail time as Sabrina, who is outspoken about police reform, is hoping to make an example out of him. Due to the release of a video that shows Kevin’s partner Cameron did shoot first, he has a deal on the table. Jenny asks him to take the offer, begging him to choose his family and do the right thing. Ultimately, he does and explains in a letter written to Justin’s mother, Tamara, that he will have to answer to his son one day, and he hopes to use what has happened to teach his son about the power he has to hurt someone, even if unintentional.

Jenny and Riley make up, promising they will discuss race more: Riley promises to share more and does by explaining the real reasons she left Birmingham and broke up with Corey. Jenny promises to ask more questions and not let Riley’s racial experience go unacknowledged. Due to the trial, Jenny and Kevin will be moving to Florida for a new start and a chance to find work. From her brother’s experience with a felony charge, Riley knows that finding work with a conviction is difficult. Jenny also realizes she has a newfound understanding of how Shaun’s legal troubles impacted Riley’s family.

While it seems that Riley and Jenny have found a way to move forward, the Epilogue is a reminder that a boy is still lost, and a mother’s grief is still there. Now, another boy has been shot, and Tamara will go and be with his mother. The violence has not stopped, and the threat of unarmed Black boys being killed is still a reality.