WE ARE NOT LIKE THEM

Shayna Small and Marin Ireland provide a nuanced and deeply emotional narration of this audio page-turner, ably assisted by brief but well-crafted performances by Kevin R. Free and Chanté McCormick. The narrators splendidly illuminate this timely exploration of race and the enduring importance of friendship. In alternating chapters, Small portrays Riley, a Black television reporter, and Ireland depicts Jen, her white childhood friend, who is expecting her first child and who is married to a police officer involved in the fatal shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. Both narrators provide exceptionally rich characterizations of an enormous number of people, including Riley's and Jen's relations, friends, co-workers, and neighbors, as well as representatives from the media and community members in Philadelphia and Alabama. M.J. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2021]