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Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me
Not yet published
Expected 2 Jun 26Part memoir by the daughter of the iconic comedian Richard Pryor, part exploration of the historical and contemporary use of the N-word, this hybrid book peels back the curtain on the life of Pryor and interrogates the most perplexing word in the American lexicon, a word he helped popularize.
The N-word is one of the most perplexing, controversial and misunderstood words in the American lexicon. It’s a word that Elizabeth Pryor has not only contemplated, it’s one that she has taught and observed up close.
When a white student quoted her father and blurted out the N-word in the middle of a class she was teaching, Professor Pryor’s worlds collided. In that moment, she was forced to confront the history of the notorious slur in the United States, and her complicated relationship with her father Richard Pryor, who made the word a trademark of his comedy in the 1970s.
As she dives into her research, her own memories of the N-word come flooding back in unprocessed memories that she hadn’t thought about for decades. In reckoning with those memories, Elizabeth goes on a more public journey of discovery of the messy and sometimes surprising legacies of racism in the United States.
A braided narrative that seamlessly integrates the history of the N-word with Elizabeth’s own story of growing up the Black Jewish daughter of Richard Pryor, Something We Said follows Elizabeth as she becomes a leading scholar and teacher of the very word her father put on the pop culture map.
The N-word is one of the most perplexing, controversial and misunderstood words in the American lexicon. It’s a word that Elizabeth Pryor has not only contemplated, it’s one that she has taught and observed up close.
When a white student quoted her father and blurted out the N-word in the middle of a class she was teaching, Professor Pryor’s worlds collided. In that moment, she was forced to confront the history of the notorious slur in the United States, and her complicated relationship with her father Richard Pryor, who made the word a trademark of his comedy in the 1970s.
As she dives into her research, her own memories of the N-word come flooding back in unprocessed memories that she hadn’t thought about for decades. In reckoning with those memories, Elizabeth goes on a more public journey of discovery of the messy and sometimes surprising legacies of racism in the United States.
A braided narrative that seamlessly integrates the history of the N-word with Elizabeth’s own story of growing up the Black Jewish daughter of Richard Pryor, Something We Said follows Elizabeth as she becomes a leading scholar and teacher of the very word her father put on the pop culture map.
- GenresMemoirNonfiction
304 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication June 2, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 26, 2026
ARC READER REVIEW GIFTED BY THE AUTHOR:
this book took me on a journey that no other book has, the profound elements of a multifaceted person who was dealing with a lot of complex stipulations while still managing to be there for his children. almost cried multiple times throughout
this book took me on a journey that no other book has, the profound elements of a multifaceted person who was dealing with a lot of complex stipulations while still managing to be there for his children. almost cried multiple times throughout
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I closed this book wanting to go back and watch Richard Pryor all over again but this time through the eyes of his daughter.
Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor writes with such tenderness and intellectual rigor about what it meant to grow up biracial, Black American and Jewish, the child of a man who reshaped comedy and put the n-word into mainstream American conversation. This book isn’t a sensational retelling. It’s intimate. It’s a daughter trying to understand her father’s brilliance and his burden. It’s a woman tracing how a word traveled through her childhood, her home, her classrooms at Smith College, and her own sense of self.
As someone who thinks a lot about language and healing, I was struck by her honesty. She doesn’t pretend the word didn’t impact her relationships with her mother, her students, her community. She doesn’t resolve the tension neatly either. She sits with it. She loves her father openly and she also interrogates the legacy he left behind. That complexity feels real to me and I found myself emotionally invested.
This is a courageous contribution to a conversation that can feel explosive in the Black community. By grounding it in family, memory, and scholarship, she gives us something steadier to hold onto. A daughter’s love. A scholar’s clarity. And an invitation to examine the words that have shaped us.
Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor writes with such tenderness and intellectual rigor about what it meant to grow up biracial, Black American and Jewish, the child of a man who reshaped comedy and put the n-word into mainstream American conversation. This book isn’t a sensational retelling. It’s intimate. It’s a daughter trying to understand her father’s brilliance and his burden. It’s a woman tracing how a word traveled through her childhood, her home, her classrooms at Smith College, and her own sense of self.
As someone who thinks a lot about language and healing, I was struck by her honesty. She doesn’t pretend the word didn’t impact her relationships with her mother, her students, her community. She doesn’t resolve the tension neatly either. She sits with it. She loves her father openly and she also interrogates the legacy he left behind. That complexity feels real to me and I found myself emotionally invested.
This is a courageous contribution to a conversation that can feel explosive in the Black community. By grounding it in family, memory, and scholarship, she gives us something steadier to hold onto. A daughter’s love. A scholar’s clarity. And an invitation to examine the words that have shaped us.
April 24, 2026
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this book.
Part memoir, part history, part sociology, Something We Said is a beautifully written book about an ugly word and the impact the word has had on both communities and the author specifically. Pryor is able to explain the evolution of the n-word through history and in her life while simultaneously telling the story of her relationship with her father, the legendary Richard Pryor, and the ways these intersected. The author’s ability to dig into hard things while respecting her father’s humanity and finding grace for herself is so impressive and the result is a powerful, enlightening, and emotional read.
Part memoir, part history, part sociology, Something We Said is a beautifully written book about an ugly word and the impact the word has had on both communities and the author specifically. Pryor is able to explain the evolution of the n-word through history and in her life while simultaneously telling the story of her relationship with her father, the legendary Richard Pryor, and the ways these intersected. The author’s ability to dig into hard things while respecting her father’s humanity and finding grace for herself is so impressive and the result is a powerful, enlightening, and emotional read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews