One of Our Kind Summary, Characters and Themes

One of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon is a novel that blends psychological suspense with sharp social commentary. 

The story follows Jasmyn and King Williams, a Black couple who relocate to Liberty, California—a seemingly perfect, all-Black gated community designed as a utopia free from systemic racism. But beneath Liberty’s polished surface lies a sinister truth. As Jasmyn unravels the community’s dark secrets, she confronts uncomfortable realities about identity, freedom, and the cost of safety. Yoon masterfully explores themes of conformity, respectability politics, and the illusion of utopia, challenging readers to question what true liberation really means.

Summary

Jasmyn and Kingston “King” Williams move with their six-year-old son, Kamau, to Liberty, California—a meticulously crafted, affluent, all-Black gated community near Los Angeles. 

Marketed as a modern Black utopia, Liberty promises safety, success, and cultural pride, designed as a refuge from the systemic racism that pervades American society. King, a successful venture capitalist, embraces the move wholeheartedly, seeing it as an opportunity to give his family a secure, prosperous life. Jasmyn, a passionate public defender with deep ties to activism, is more skeptical. 

She worries that the community’s wealth and insularity will sever their connection to the broader Black struggle and erase the cultural authenticity she holds dear.

Upon arrival, Liberty seems idyllic. The streets are spotless, the homes are luxurious, and every position of power—from the mayor to the police chief—is held by a Black person. But Jasmyn quickly senses that something is off. 

The residents are overly friendly, almost performatively so, and there’s an eerie uniformity to the community’s aesthetic and behavior. Everyone seems obsessed with perfection, from their homes to their personal appearances. 

The heart of Liberty is the lavish Wellness Center perched atop the hill, where residents flock for spa treatments, therapy sessions, and health programs designed to “align” them with the community’s values.

King, still haunted by the trauma of his brother’s death at the hands of a white police officer, finds comfort in Liberty’s promise of safety. He becomes deeply involved with the Wellness Center, participating in programs that seem to soothe his anxieties but also dull his emotional depth. 

Jasmyn, however, grows increasingly disturbed. She notices bizarre community activities, like synchronized laughter exercises and forced displays of happiness that feel more like rituals than genuine expressions of joy. The Wellness Center, she suspects, isn’t just about health—it’s a mechanism for control.

Jasmyn’s unease turns to alarm after a police shooting in nearby Los Angeles leaves an unarmed Black man dead and his young daughter critically injured. In her old community, such an event would have sparked outrage, protests, and collective mourning. But in Liberty, residents react with apathy, dismissing the tragedy as irrelevant to their insulated lives. 

Even King, once passionate about social justice, urges Jasmyn to focus on their family’s well-being rather than “other people’s problems.” This emotional detachment is the final straw for Jasmyn, who realizes that Liberty isn’t a sanctuary—it’s a prison disguised as paradise.

Determined to uncover the truth, Jasmyn investigates Liberty’s origins and its enigmatic founder, Carlton Way, a billionaire who claims to have created Liberty as a safe haven for Black excellence. But Carlton’s vision of utopia is built on sinister foundations. 

The Wellness Center isn’t just a spa; it’s a psychological conditioning facility. Through a combination of social pressure, experimental therapies, and chemical treatments, it suppresses emotions like anger, fear, and rebellion, ensuring that residents remain docile and compliant. 

Carlton believes he’s protecting the Black community by erasing the very emotions that arise from experiencing systemic oppression. In his mind, emotional detachment equals liberation—but to Jasmyn, it’s a denial of humanity.

The more Jasmyn resists, the more isolated she becomes. King, fully absorbed into Liberty’s culture, views her defiance as a threat to their family’s stability. 

Their marriage strains under the weight of ideological conflict—King values safety above all, while Jasmyn believes that true freedom requires facing discomfort and embracing the full spectrum of human experience, even pain and rage.

The turning point comes when Kamau begins questioning Liberty’s rules and is flagged for “treatment” at the Wellness Center. Faced with the prospect of losing their son to the same emotional sterilization that’s overtaken King, Jasmyn launches a rebellion. 

She exposes Liberty’s dark underbelly, leaking confidential documents and footage of the Wellness Center’s manipulative practices. The community fractures—some residents, horrified by the truth, join her cause; others, too entrenched in the illusion of security, resist change.

In the aftermath, Liberty’s facade crumbles. Carlton faces legal consequences, though his wealth shields him from true accountability. King, finally awakening to the community’s horrors, helps Jasmyn dismantle Liberty’s oppressive systems. Their relationship, scarred but not broken, survives the ordeal. 

They choose to leave Liberty behind, relocating to a diverse, imperfect neighborhood where their children can grow up connected to their culture, history, and emotions—free to feel joy, grief, anger, and love without fear of being “corrected.”

One of Our Kind challenges the notion of utopia, illustrating how the pursuit of perfection can lead to the erosion of individuality and freedom. Through Jasmyn’s journey, Nicola Yoon explores the complexities of identity, the cost of safety, and the power of authenticity in the face of conformity.

One of Our Kind Summary

Characters

Jasmyn Williams

Jasmyn is a public defender who carries the weight of her activism and connection to the broader Black community with her, even after moving to Liberty. She is deeply connected to her roots and is uncomfortable with the wealth and elitism that Liberty represents.

Jasmyn is torn between her desire for safety for her family and her need to stay true to her values of activism and justice. She perceives Liberty as a place of comfort and privilege, but her sense of discomfort grows as she realizes that this utopia demands conformity at the expense of authenticity.

Her internal conflict stems from her recognition that the Black community’s struggles cannot be erased or ignored, and she becomes a catalyst for resistance when she uncovers the darker underpinnings of Liberty. Jasmyn’s journey represents a battle for personal and collective freedom, as she struggles to preserve her identity while challenging the toxic norms of Liberty.

Kingston “King” Williams

King, Jasmyn’s husband, contrasts sharply with her in terms of his response to their new life in Liberty. Coming from a background marked by trauma—particularly the loss of his older brother to police violence—King sees Liberty as a refuge, a safe place where his family can escape the systemic violence and fear of the outside world.

He embraces the promise of Black excellence and the luxury of a well-controlled, affluent life. King’s character is drawn to the idea that success within a controlled, orderly environment would protect his family.

As he becomes more involved with the Wellness Center, King grows increasingly detached from his previous passion for justice and social activism. He is seduced by the idea of emotional detachment, which is framed as a means of self-preservation.

This emotional numbness leads to tension between him and Jasmyn, as he becomes complicit in the growing authoritarianism of Liberty. His arc is one of awakening, where his love for his family ultimately leads him to realize the dangers of the very system he had initially embraced.

Kamau Williams

Kamau, Jasmyn and King’s young son, is caught in the middle of the conflict between his parents. As a six-year-old, Kamau is still adjusting to the new world of Liberty, but his natural curiosity and innocence reflect his untainted view of the world.

Kamau becomes a symbol of the next generation’s innocence and potential, particularly when he is targeted by the Wellness Center for displaying signs of questioning authority. His experience highlights the insidious control mechanisms within Liberty, as even children are not immune to the community’s need for conformity.

Kamau’s treatment in the Wellness Center serves as a catalyst for King’s eventual awakening to the reality of Liberty’s dangerous influence. Through Kamau’s character, the novel underscores the stakes of the fight for authenticity, freedom, and family.

Carlton Way

Carlton Way is the founder and figurehead of Liberty. A billionaire with a traumatic past, he built Liberty as a solution to the systemic violence and poverty he experienced growing up.

Carlton’s vision of a Black utopia is one where Black people thrive within an insulated, controlled environment, free from the external threats of racism and oppression. However, his version of freedom comes at a high cost—emotional suppression, psychological manipulation, and conformity.

Carlton is portrayed as a charismatic leader who genuinely believes in his mission but is blind to the authoritarian nature of his community. His character represents the dangers of power when it is unchecked, and the novel critiques his belief that Black people can only thrive by erasing their emotions and past trauma.

Carlton’s actions reveal the complexity of his character: he is both a savior in his own eyes and a tyrant in reality, unable to see the harm he causes in his pursuit of what he believes is the greater good.

Sherril

Sherril is one of Liberty’s residents who initially befriends Jasmyn. She embodies the sanitized, conformist ideal of Blackness that Liberty enforces.

Sherril’s role in the story is significant because she represents the subtle pressures within Liberty to fit into the community’s narrow standards of success and respectability. Her actions, such as giving Jasmyn a gift box from the Liberty Wellness Center and commenting on her natural hair, reveal a quiet but persistent desire to assimilate and suppress any radical expressions of Black identity.

Sherril is a reflection of the way Liberty creates divisions among its residents—those who fully embrace the community’s ideals and those who remain skeptical. Through her character, the novel explores the tension between personal identity and the pressure to conform to an idealized version of success that caters to the comfort of the powerful.

Angela and Benjamin Sayles

Angela and Benjamin Sayles are prominent figures within the Liberty community, involved in leading the community’s social activities, particularly the wellness and emotional control sessions. They are key enforcers of the community’s ideals and serve as facilitators of the strange and unsettling “therapy” that residents undergo at the Wellness Center.

Their character development is tied to their role in maintaining Liberty’s illusion of perfection, and they are integral to the manipulation of residents. While Angela and Benjamin are portrayed as well-meaning and committed to the idea of a harmonious community, their willingness to enforce the Wellness Center’s methods without questioning them reflects the dangers of blind obedience to authority.

They represent the ways in which communities, even those built with the best of intentions, can become toxic when leadership prioritizes control over freedom.

Themes

The Illusion of Utopia and The Deceptive Nature of a Perfect Society

One of the central themes in One of Our Kind is the illusion of utopia that Liberty presents. On the surface, Liberty seems like the perfect solution for Black people who have faced systemic oppression, a place where Black success, safety, and well-being are prioritized.

However, as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that this idyllic community is anything but a true sanctuary. Liberty, with its promise of a controlled, affluent lifestyle, traps its residents in a psychological prison.

The Wellness Center, positioned as a place of healing and growth, serves as a tool of manipulation rather than empowerment. The community’s ideal of safety and perfection comes at the expense of individuality, emotional authenticity, and engagement with the struggles that real Black people face outside the gated walls.

The false perfection of Liberty blinds its residents to the harsh truths that would disrupt the supposed peace they enjoy. Thus, the utopia is presented as a convenient lie that erases real issues in favor of maintaining control and order.

The Crushing Weight of Respectability Politics and Assimilation into Mainstream White Ideals

A major theme explored in the novel is the impact of respectability politics on Black identity and the pressure to conform to white societal norms. Liberty promotes a version of Black success that aligns closely with mainstream white ideals of respectability: wealth, health, and perfect behavior.

The residents of Liberty are encouraged to maintain a curated, sanitized version of Blackness that is palatable to the broader, predominantly white society. This obsession with appearing respectable and non-threatening denies the complexity and diversity of Black culture and experiences.

Jasmyn, who is deeply connected to activism and the authentic struggles of Black communities, finds herself increasingly alienated by this vision of Blackness that is polished and devoid of the rawness that comes with historical pain, resistance, and survival.

The novel critiques the dangers of assimilating into white societal expectations, where the richness of Black culture is stripped away in favor of convenience and acceptance, ultimately stifling genuine Black identity and expression.

Emotional Suppression and the Tyranny of Mental and Psychological Control in the Pursuit of Peace

Another significant theme is the emotional suppression that takes place within Liberty, driven by the Wellness Center’s pseudo-scientific therapies and psychological manipulation. The community’s obsession with maintaining emotional equilibrium at all costs leads to a society where residents are forced to suppress their natural emotions—anger, grief, and resistance—in order to maintain peace.

The Wellness Center’s treatments, which initially seem like harmless spa therapies, are revealed to be far more sinister. They chemically and psychologically alter residents’ emotions, particularly targeting the trauma and anger that stems from racial injustice.

The community’s focus on emotional suppression becomes a form of control, where people are encouraged to detach from the very realities of racism and inequality that Black people face in the outside world.

This theme highlights the dangers of pretending that true peace can exist without confronting the painful realities of history and the emotional burdens carried by marginalized communities. It asks whether true liberation is possible when individuals are forced to bottle up their trauma to maintain a façade of serenity.

The Intersection of Family, Ideology, and the Tension Between Protecting Loved Ones and Confronting Uncomfortable Truths

At the heart of One of Our Kind is the tension between personal safety, family loyalty, and the need for social justice. Jasmyn and King’s relationship embodies this struggle as their differing values about what constitutes safety and freedom pull them in opposing directions.

King, motivated by the trauma of losing his brother to police violence, views Liberty as a means to protect his family from the systemic racism that haunts the outside world. His desire for security blinds him to the deeper ethical compromises of living in a controlled, emotionally suppressed environment.

On the other hand, Jasmyn’s refusal to ignore the world’s injustices leads her to question Liberty’s entire ethos. She believes that true safety and protection cannot be achieved through submission or isolation from the broader world’s struggles.

The novel intricately examines the conflict between the desire to protect loved ones in an imperfect world and the obligation to confront uncomfortable truths about freedom, identity, and moral responsibility. It shows how love and ideology can become entangled, forcing characters to make heart-wrenching choices that challenge their most deeply held beliefs.

The Cost of Achieving Safety in an Artificial World

The theme of safety versus authenticity is intricately woven throughout the novel as it explores whether true freedom can exist in a society built on artificial rules, conformity, and detachment. The residents of Liberty may enjoy material safety and emotional tranquility, but they do so at the cost of their personal autonomy and emotional depth.

The novel raises an essential question: can freedom truly exist if it is constructed on the basis of repression and isolation? The desire for safety, particularly for Black families who have endured systemic violence and racism, leads King to believe that Liberty’s controlled environment is a refuge.

However, as the novel progresses, it becomes clear that this safety is illusory, for it is only possible through the erasure of personal identity, historical trauma, and the very emotions that make people human. True freedom, as Jasmyn realizes, is not about avoiding discomfort or erasing the past; it is about embracing the complexities of identity and allowing space for pain, joy, and activism.

The novel critiques the notion that safety can come at the expense of authenticity, arguing that real freedom is found in living honestly, even when it is difficult or dangerous.