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.