In this fascinating, immersive, and vivid narrative essay collection, Sayantani Dasgupta brings readers into her life of adventure from New Delhi to Idaho and North Carolina. Drawing on her memories and experiences, she captures the same spirit of wonder which has driven her since childhood in each essay as she explores the bigotry, bias, Othering, wonder, excitement, and connections fostered in this increasingly global community. Following her through the lenses of education, language, and academia, Dasgupta’s essays explore a host of topics relevant to all readers but specifically touching upon the experiences of brown women as she understands and witnesses it. Her narrative voice is strong, passionate, and emotional, and she really brings her incredible prose skills to bear in every single essay in this book. Roughly chronological and autobiographical, the organization of the book is perfect and really brings readers along on Dasgupta’s narrative journey. With its fantastic figures, beautiful narrative arc, and lyrical, engaging prose, this is a brilliant essay collection that spotlights both global citizenship and the life of this brilliant and capable woman. A must-read for those interested in global experiences or first-generation Indian American life or working in academia, Dasgupta’s real and honest narrative is incredibly powerful and complex.

A brilliant set of essays. I could relate to a lot of what the author talks about. The writing is powerful yet sensitive. A rare combination indeed.

The tongue-in-cheek title of this essay collection gives you a clue: it’s something someone said to the author, a brown woman immigrant in the US. (The sheer audacity, really.) Dasgupta collects here her thoughts on and experiences of her family of origin, her hair, her predilection for visiting cemeteries (a cultural experience for her, being Hindu), how she got her green card because of a chocolate-marmalade wedding cake, formative childhood experiences with boys, and a work trip to Italy. These are essays on womanhood, being a wife, Living While Brown and Travelling While Brown, being othered and being a stranger, migration and life in the US, food and cooking, heritage and inheritance, books and reading, faith, religion, secularity, language, and more. With breadth and depth, it’s a wonderful, affecting, compulsively readable and often humorous collection of thoughts on a life.

Thank you to University of North Carolina Press and NetGalley for early access.

Brown Women Have Everything by Sayantani Dasgupta is a thought-provoking collection of essays that explore the intersections of identity, race, and belonging. Dasgupta writes with both humor and sharp insight as she reflects on her experiences as an Indian woman living in America. The essays move from moments of personal introspection to social critique, addressing issues like racism, sexism, and cultural displacement, but also celebrating the joy and pride of navigating a complex identity. Her reflections on her family's legacy and her own journey from India to the U.S. are particularly poignant, as she balances the weight of tradition with the pursuit of personal freedom. The mix of humor, wit, and deep emotional resonance make this book both engaging and profound. It’s a powerful read for anyone interested in the nuances of cultural identity and the immigrant experience.

Brown Women Have Everything by Sayantani Dasgupta is a vibrant collection of essays that intertwines personal narrative with global exploration. Dasgupta's writing is infused with a sense of adventure and curiosity, whether she's navigating the streets of Colombia or reflecting on her Bengali heritage. With humor and incisive commentary, she tackles themes of belonging, identity, and the complexities of life as a brown woman in a world that often seeks to other her. As a brown woman, whose own experiences mirrors those of the author, this book is a powerful celebration of resilience and the diverse experiences that connect us all.

From the technical perspective, Brown Women Have Everything by Sayantani Dasgupta demonstrates the right techniques and skills that make writing quite effective. The flow of narrative and interconnectedness between the 18 essays is fluid to keep a reader engaged.
But what I didn't find engaging was the actual content of the book. I attribute this mostly to the blurb of the book that led me to believe that the essays would provide deeper insights into race and gender from the perspective of brown women. However, it is only when I started reading, I discovered that the essays are mostly an autobiographical look at the author's own experience as a brown woman teaching academia in a western country. While her experience is significant, I could not find much sense of universalism in them, like I had expected. The only exception to this was her essays on hair and appearance, which I found quite impactful. I think, it's fair enough to say, I am not the target reader for this book.
On a positive note, the cover of the book is quite well done and does justice to the overall content of the book.
Thanks to Netgalley and University of North Carolina Press for sending across a copy of the book.

As the child of an immigrant family, I always look for books written by people like myself to read about their experiences here in the States. This book sounded like one one of those types of books .It wasn't. Ms. Dasgupta's life experience was not comparable to what so many of us encountered with our families growing up. It wasn't a bad book, just that she had far more priviledges than any of the immigrant and first born to immigrant children did, or do. She's offended by American's claiming to cook her food, when she couldn't cook?! I've eaten food my ethnic group eats at home in so called ethnic restaurants of my people. No it's never as good as what we make at home, but so what! At least they are trying. When friends attempt our cooking or claim to reproduce it, I'm happy to see them trying and know they enjoyed the foods enough to try and make it themselves. Just because I'm not Italian, I shouldn't make spaghetti? She is also priviledged to have come from a reasonably educated family. Too many of our families are peasant or refugees and haven't had the means to being with educated family members. Our dreams, goals,accomplishments aren't always understood or appreciated by our foreign families who think keeping a low profile is the way to go.; to not standout, be grateful for every scrape you are given, is more to their liking. Especially if you are a girl. We generally do not have our families support. .Ms. Dasgupta's book is a interesting read of her adventures and experiences, but I have no idea of the pitfalls or hindrences she's had. Oh, a couple people spoke too loud and slowly to her thinking she didn't speak English. If that's the worst things she's experienced.....wow. Their tax person offends them when he inquires what her husband 's people call themselves these days. Was he mistaking him for a Black man? Americans vary from place to place on subject of race. I have experienced Black people who call themselves Black, African -American, and Negro depending on area of the country, the state, the city., the generation. Folks from the Caribbean, and any country south of the US have the same issue. Race is a complicated. issue in the Western world. Ms. Dasgupta's book is well written - and it should be given her credentials and educational back ground. , family support, ,she's privedged compared to so many who aren't asfortunate. . Not sure who the book is for, but it was a stark contrast to the usual immigrant tale.

Honestly, I think Sayantani Dasgupta is a very good writer, and why wouldn't she be? An advanced degree in creative writing, 8 years as a beloved professor - she lives upto the Bengali stereotype of a nerdy, middle-class English speaker with an upbringing that infused her with 'culture'.

I really enjoyed her essays where food plays a central role like the one where she reconnects with Bengali cooking years after disappointing herself with her amateur attempts. Her account of her American hosts and what they think is Indian cooking is very amusing, and universally relatable because we've all seen them butcher Indian recipes.

A few like the one where she gets an active shooter alert are poignant, and also an interesting experiment in second-person narrative. She also strikes chords in many an immigrant heart by writing about never being fully accepted into the American workforce.

Issues like body image are clearly something Dasgupta has given a lot of thought. Time and again, she seamlessly brings up not only her own struggle with body image but how it's a global issue women struggle with, given the pervasiveness of unattainable beauty standards.

I'd highly recommend this book to people from the diaspora.

However, there are a few reasons I'll have reservations recommending it to Indians from the subcontinent. Although they're personal essays, the synopsis leads you to think that there is a deep deliberation about the themes mentioned, with wider stories to illustrate Dasgupta's theses. That's not the case. At times, they read like real problems are being co-opted by someone with first world problems, someone who can very well return to where she came from, and be none the worse for it.

This is not to discount her experiences. A better synopsis would have set the reader expectations straight.

You'll enjoy this book if you go into it fully aware that you're reading her memoirs, rather than a moving account on race or gender.