A review by alykat_reads
We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride, Jo Piazza
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.5
"It kills me how some people want so badly to believe racism is buried beneath layers and layers of history, “ancient history,” they say. But it’s not. It’s like an umpire brushing the thinnest layer of dirt off home plate: it’s right there."
Published in 2021 and there are still more Tamaras. When will it end? This is another powerful book like The Hate U Give.
The only reason it's 4.5 stars instead of 5 for me, is that it felt like it was catering to white fragility. When Riley and Jen have their car talk and Riley finally opens up about all the microaggressions she's faced over her entire life, there wasn't really much acknowledgment/understanding from Jen about why that would have been difficult for Riley to open up about when they were kids. When Jen unloaded her frustrations onto Riley, Riley acknowledged the hurts and took responsibility; meanwhile it felt like Jen didn't take responsibility when Riley unloaded her frustrations. It just felt that Jen, even being a new mom and having talked to Tamara in the bathroom, still didn't get it and was still more concerned with "I don't want people to think my husband is a racist" than actually being anti-racist. Idk, I just feel there could have been much more development with Jen in that regard and I would have loved to see her character grow more.
Still an excellent book and highly recommend it.
Published in 2021 and there are still more Tamaras. When will it end? This is another powerful book like The Hate U Give.
The only reason it's 4.5 stars instead of 5 for me, is that it felt like it was catering to white fragility. When Riley and Jen have their car talk and Riley finally opens up about all the microaggressions she's faced over her entire life, there wasn't really much acknowledgment/understanding from Jen about why that would have been difficult for Riley to open up about when they were kids. When Jen unloaded her frustrations onto Riley, Riley acknowledged the hurts and took responsibility; meanwhile it felt like Jen didn't take responsibility when Riley unloaded her frustrations. It just felt that Jen, even being a new mom and having talked to Tamara in the bathroom, still didn't get it and was still more concerned with "I don't want people to think my husband is a racist" than actually being anti-racist. Idk, I just feel there could have been much more development with Jen in that regard and I would have loved to see her character grow more.
Still an excellent book and highly recommend it.