What an amazing book! It tells the struggles of 4 female Nigerian friends of diverse backgrounds and distinctive personalities.
It's a book that requires complete immersion in the story for so much is woven in the pages. It's not only about their friendships but more about the place women hold in society. Of course, so much of the universality of these women's lives, no matter where they are from ring true. Their love lives are minutely explored along with the relationship between mothers and daughters.
There are so many layers of meaning to this book that need scrutiny. Adichie's prose is intense and dazzling.

This is definitely a no plot, just vibes kind of novel—and I mean that in the best way. Dream Count follows four Nigerian friends spread across Nigeria, Guinea, and the U.S. as they reconnect during the COVID era. The story unfolds through conversations and reflections on their past experiences, with no traditional plot to drive the narrative.

What makes this book shine is the beautiful prose and deep character work. Adichie masterfully captures emotional nuance, inner dialogue, and the complexities of friendship, identity, and distance. You don’t read this book for twists—you read it to sit with these characters and really feel with them.

It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, especially if you prefer action-driven plots, but for me, it was thoughtful, immersive, and absolutely worth the time. Adichie remains an auto-buy author for a reason. I’ll definitely revisit this one.

This was my first novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and won't be my last. (I would look up trigger warnings for this novel though as some descriptions can be graphic).

Dream Count was a great read. I loved the interplay of the main characters' stories. Super well done and propulsive writing.

Am a bit conflicted on this one, while Adichie’s writing is very well done , the story is a bit convoluted. Yet I guess it is a big feat when a book spans between continents and classes, between America and Nigeria. I will definitely give this book another read in the future, as I enjoy Adichie’s writing.

I wanted to love this, but I unfortunately couldn't get into it! I've historically loved Adichie, so this was surprising to me. And I did like the prose here, but it was the story itself that didn't capture me.

I will not be posting this on any sites.

Thank you to Knopf publishing and to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review. Dream Count is a sprawling narrative of the lives of 4 interconnected African women. During the pandemic they are recounting their lives, past loves, and their regrets, encapsulated in their "Dream Count".

I wanted to love this book. It starts off strong setting up the main character Chia who is stuck at home during the pandemic and recounting her past loves and her travels and ultimately her regrets. The author does a nice job of initially building the narrative and showing the connections between the four women at the center. However, it just never really felt like the story went anywhere. I appreciated what the author did with Kaditou's story and the parallels to a real life similar case but if the intent of the book was to center that story (as was sort of hinted at in the author's note at the end) then the pacing and set up of the story was very odd. I feel like it could have been a story about using the pandemic for introspection on one's life and travels or about Kadi's story and what happened to her, but the way that the author chose to join both together was disjointed and made the book feel long and dense. I had a hard time finishing it but I am still glad I did.

3.5 stars rounded down to 3

If im being honest, I’m not sure what I was expecting to read. the first few chapters were def closer to what I expected but then we got to Zikora and I was like uh ಠ_ಠ hard pass what have I gotten myself into??

Overall, Adichie is a great author so even though I can’t fully say I enjoyed this book 1000%, there is a certain beauty in her style of writing.

I can appreciate that Adichie took artistic freedom with Kadiatou’s story but it felt so icky to have Kadia be happy when the woman whose life Kadia was based off, was rightfully hurt by the dropping of her case.

I fell in love with this book. The writing and style was more than I hoped for and the story itself hooked me

I just couldn’t get into this book. I tried but decided this must not be the right time for it. I will try again at another point.

I got to 15%….was bored and not enjoying myself and then my friend told me the author is a transphobe and supports RFKjr so not finishing this,

*Dream Count* is a quiet, richly layered novel that weaves together the lives of four African women, exploring the many shapes love and human connection can take in a post-pandemic world. Rather than centering on romantic entanglements, the book gently probes the deeper bonds of friendship, kinship, and compassion that tether us to each other.

Though some of the characters may resonate more than others, Adichie’s authorial presence remains luminous and steady, like a guiding light. Her writing evokes warmth and wisdom, echoing a belief in people’s capacity for good. At its heart, the novel pushes back against the impulse to retreat into ideological camps, urging readers instead to stay open, curious, and humane. It’s a beautiful meditation on the importance of listening, really listening, to more than one narrative before deciding what we think we know.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC which I read in exchange for this honest review.

After waiting a freaking decade for Adichie to release a new book, this was a letdown. While the prose is stunning, this could have been MUCH shorter in my opinion and I found myself just hoping it would end.

Dream Count started off really good. It is full of raw experiences of four African Women somehow connected to each other. The writing is beautiful but the story not so much. It was very male centered for all four women. Chia’s and Omelogor’s story got exhausting in the end. The only character that I liked was Kadiatou. The other characters I couldn’t connect with. Another thing I didn’t like was that the stories were all over the place.

Although Dream Count wasn’t my favorite but Adichie is an amazing author and I loook forward to reading more books by her. Thank you Net Gallery for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Here we are. Reading books that reference the pandemic. It feels like we were just in the midst of it, but now it's just in the past! It seems strange when you pick up a book like this and realize that though.

Dream Count is about four Nigerian women - Chiamaka, Zikora, Omelagor, and Kaditou. Their stories take place in various locations in the US as well as in Nigeria. I do love reading about this culture because it's so different from my own, yet I relate to a lot of the issues these women face. My favorite character was Omelagor - she's an unmarried professional making TONS of money, yet she gets all the same pressure as every other girl - she needs to focus on finding a man who will have her before she gets too old. She needs to have kids and run a traditional household. It doesn't matter that she's been successful in a whole other way - she's expected to conform in this regard.

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. I felt the beginning was too slow and the stories were too long and wandering at times. I will definitely continue to read this author!

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf for the ARC!

I really wanted to love this one, but I wasn’t a fan of the main character. That didn’t help the slow burn of this novel. However, I think it was a good book that was well-written.

I requested this after seeing a lot of hype around it on instagram, but it just wasn't for me. I ended up DNF because i couldnt get into it. Thanks so much for the gifted copy.

From the very beginning, I was drawn in by the vivid writing and smooth flow of this novel, which beautifully explores themes like friendship, identity, family, and love. The narrative digs deeper with powerful reflections on social class, beauty ideals, and misogyny, all of which added depth to the journeys of the four main characters and left a lasting impression on me. Listening to the audiobook was a rich experience as well—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, along with Sandra Okuboyejo, A’rese Emokpae, and Janina Edwards, brought each character to life with heartfelt performances and authentic accents.

“Our close friends are small glimpses into us.”

The story follows Chiamaka, a wealthy Nigerian writer with a romantic soul, who reflects on her past relationships and life choices during the stillness of the COVID-19 lockdown. Her best friend, Zikora, is a driven woman dealing with personal heartache and forming an unexpected connection. Kadiatou, the housekeeper in Chiamaka’s home, faces a series of emotional and practical challenges that made her story especially moving. My favorite, though, was Omelogor—Chiamaka’s bold, career-focused cousin—whose narrative touches on big questions about fulfillment, identity, and societal pressure.

“If our daughters do not know how beautiful they are, just as they are, then surely we have failed.”

Each of the women felt honest and complex, each flawed in her own way and shaped by her circumstances. The different perspectives added richness to the book, though I did feel that the story could have been tighter. One less point of view might have made the narrative feel more cohesive, and I found myself wanting a clearer connection between all four storylines.

Overall, this was a powerful, thought-provoking novel with unforgettable characters and meaningful commentary on the world they live in.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie can’t write a bad book, I think we all know that. But DREAM COUNT was beautiful in a way I wasn’t expecting. It’s a sweeping tale of relationships, identities, histories, intertwined dependencies and interdependence, fierce INdependence, and, ultimately, the many kinds of love we experience in this world. Adichie is an expert at not only crafting rich, complex characters but also at bringing the reader into those characters’ inner and outer worlds. The way she explores the human condition and capacity for love, emotion, kinship is unparalleled. I’m so grateful to have read this book!

This book made me feel sick every step of the way, and I hated it. This was horrible, and I do not recommend it at all.
Please accept an incomplete list of trigger warnings in lieu of my usual review (I stopped keeping track around the 60% mark):
Infidelity
Detailed child labor (also breastfeeding struggles, hysterectomy, endometriosis)
Multiple, various, detailed SAs
Abandonment
Abortion
Faked pregnancy
Detailed miscarriage
Circumcision (both male and female)
Polygamy
Incest
Death of parent, spouse, child of various ages
Alcoholism
Police Brutality