The Unknown Errors of Our Lives, the story collection in which Divakaruni included "Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter," has received mixed reviews since it was published in 2001. Some, like Frederick Luis Aldama, praise the collection in its entirety. In his review of the collection for World Literature Today, Aldama says that the stories "lyrically describe and breathe life into the lives of South Asian characters." Aldama also notes that these characters "struggle to discover freedom" in a male-dominated world that seeks to oppress them. Likewise in her Booklist review, Donna Seaman says that Divakaruni has "narrative elegance" and notes that each story "revolves around a reflective and strong-willed heroine." Seaman thinks that the "hauntingly beautiful stories of epiphany and catharsis" have universal appeal and places Divakaruni "in the vanguard of fine literary writers."

Not everybody liked the collection, however. "Divakaruni's stories can verge on melodrama," says...