On its surface, Something We Said is a family memoir written by Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor, the daughter of the comedian Richard Pryor. But it is probably better described as a book about who can and can’t say the n-word ... Trim and at times courageous ... What struck me as the most telling part of Something We Said was not an exchange that Pryor had with her father or her peers, but one she had with her mother. During an argument, her mother called her the n-word, a moment that Pryor writes would 'stay with me forever.' And yet, she doesn’t dwell on it in the book ... Failing to closely examine the word being wielded like a dagger by one’s own white mother is a shame and a disappointment. Perhaps Pryor was looking in all the wrong places on her quest to self-discovery and the ultimate understanding of all things n-word.
[A] remarkable hybrid memoir and linguistic history ... Pryor expertly combines intimate insights into her father’s legacy and a holistic view of the power of language, in particular the power behind the most infamous racial slur in the English language.
Wrapped around the life of Richard Pryor is the life of a word that straddles a line between danger and provocation, a word that author Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor refuses to say or even print ... It’s a push-pull balance that holds readers fast and keeps them there. It’s perfect for fans of this genre, or Richard Pryor, or of language – and it’s going to make you think. If you want a good memoir this week, one that may send you to your old album collection, Something We Said is rock-solid.
Pryor, a Smith College history professor, builds this perceptive memoir around a very tough question: 'Why is it so hard to talk about the n-word?' ... A moving reflection on family, belonging, and language’s power to wound and heal.
Smith College history professor Pryor (Colored Travelers) wrestles in this moving blend of memoir and cultural history with the legacy of the n-word in American life and her father Richard Pryor’s usage of it ... It adds up to a one-of-a-kind reckoning only a Pryor could provide.
