Saturday Review: “Her side of the story,” a review by Becca Hannigan of Sayantani Dasgupta’s Brown Women Have Everything: Essays on (Dis)comfort and Delight and Women Who Misbehave in NCLR Online Spring 2025
Becca Hannigan assesses the sharp, insightful, and humorous portrayals of identity, agency, and diaspora in Sayantani Dasgupta’s new essay collection Brown Women Have Everything and her previous short story collection Women Who Misbehave. Hannigan notes that the two books “make excellent companions.” Brown Women Have Everything showcases Dasgupta’s personal experiences while Women Who Misbehave intertwines imaginative narratives of rebellion.
In Brown Women Have Everything, Dasgupta “examines the discomforts and delights of moving through multiple identities, languages, and histories.” Her essays explore life in India and America, offering insights that connect with readers everywhere. In Women Who Misbehave, Dasgupta’s characters challenge societal expectations with humor and boldness, allowing women to act with anger, or defiance without feeling the need to follow traditional feminine ideals.
Hannigan highlights how both books focus on systemic inequality, racial and gender expectations, and the fight for belonging, while also celebrating the complexity of human life. Dasgupta’s work doesn’t simplify women’s stories into heroes or villains, but as Hannigan says, she makes us explore the full range of experiences, where discomfort and delight often exist together.
Read the entire review here and order a copy of Brown Women Have Everything from the University of North Carolina Press and Women Who Misbehave from Penguin Random House India or find them at your local independent bookstore.
