Book Review: ‘It Has No Name’ by Payal Dhar

Book Title: It Has No Name
Author: Payal Dhar
Publisher: Red Panda
Number of Pages: 352
ISBN: 978-9390679362
Date Published: Jul. 19, 2025
Price: INR 598

Book Review

“It Has No Name” by Payal Dhar is a young adult novel that centers on Sami, a 16-year-old navigating gender identity, queerness, and self-acceptance in contemporary India. Sami’s discomfort with traditional femininity is immediate and visceral: she wears gender-neutral clothing, sports short hair, and actively resists the labels and expectations that society—and even peers—impose on her. Relocating to the small hill town of Chandnisarai with her mother only amplifies Sami’s sense of alienation, as she faces persistent misgendering and ignorance from nearly everyone around her. The novel’s title signals its core concern: resisting reductive categorization and exploring what it means to simply exist outside the binaries of gender and sexuality.

Payal Dhar’s prose is vivid and emotionally acute, capturing the anxiety, frustration, and occasional solace that Sami feels as she navigates daily life. The book excels in depicting the pervasive, often subtle gender policing that queer and gender-nonconforming youth endure, from casual slights to outright harassment. While Sami’s parents are notably accepting, the absence of support elsewhere—school, town, peers—casts her isolation in sharp relief. Despite the hardships, there are glimpses of hope: friendships, the comfort of sports, and the discovery of affirming queer media. These moments show how joy and resilience can coexist with alienation and confusion, a balance Dhar handles with sensitivity.

However, the novel does not escape criticism. Some reviewers find that “It Has No Name” falters in fully exploring the complexities of Sami’s identity as a “tomboy” and a gay teenager, arguing that the author tries to address too many themes at once and sometimes loses narrative focus. The internal contradictions of the protagonist—her simultaneous resistance to and search for acceptance—are noted, but these are not always resolved with satisfying depth. The vocabulary and discourse often feel contemporary and internet-influenced, which, while authentic to some teen experiences, can sometimes feel at odds with the lived realities of small-town India, potentially limiting the book’s ability to reflect the full spectrum of LGBTQ+ experiences in the region.

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To sum up, “It Has No Name” is a bold and necessary addition to Indian YA literature, offering a rare, nuanced portrait of a queer teen’s life outside urban centers. Dhar succeeds in highlighting the emotional toll of constant misgendering and the quest for self-definition, even if the narrative occasionally feels overcrowded with issues. While critical of its missed opportunities for deeper exploration, the novel remains an important read for its empathy, relatability, and unflinching honesty about the challenges of growing up queer in a society steeped in tradition.

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