Point of View

We Are Not Like Them is told through first-person narration, alternating from Riley and Jen’s perspectives. This is incredibly useful, as Riley and Jen have frequent miscommunications that cause tensions in their relationship. Getting to see both sides to each scenario helps the reader understand the psychologies behind the characters’ choices. It is important to take both Jen and Riley’s perspectives into account as each possesses their own biases that affect the way they respond to one another.

The exception to this form of narration is the prologue. The prologue is told through third-person limited narration, focusing on Justin’s experience. When Justin is shot, the narrator describes, “When the bullets hit him, first his arm, then his stomach, it doesn’t feel like he’d always imagined it would. Because of course, as a Black boy growing in this neighborhood, he’d...