Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for an ARC in exchange for an honest review! Definitely CHECK THE TRIGGER WARNINGS before reading if triggers are a concern for you.

This was the first fiction novel I've read from Adichie. I read We Should All Be Feminists several years ago and liked it, but I don't think Dream Count is for me. I'm unsure what Adichie's main purpose or focus was meant to be for this story. It feels like it's tackling too much: motherhood, sexual assault, missed connections, American liberalism, romantic relationships, misogyny across cultures, and what it means to be content with one's life. Yet somehow, none of these threads felt conclusive or fully explored.

I enjoyed Chia's chapters well enough, even though her romantic misadventures had me yelling at her to stand UP. Zikora irritated me because she was so judgmental of others, despite complaining about the judgment cast on her. Zikora lost me entirely when she said she didn't view her mother as a whole person until after she gave birth at 39! She's about 20 years late for that revelation. Her pregnancy sequences were also akin to body horror to me, and I made it through those parts just to be taken out even more by Kadiatou's female genital mutilation and multiple assaults. Omelogor's section was just not that interesting. She had a fine life despite her stint as a corrupt bigwig, but allowed her aunt to make her doubt herself, she hates Americans, and that's about it.

In the end, Chia's dream count amounts to nothing, and it seems like Zikora is the only one who gains anything (<spoiler>a baby and a better relationship with her mother</spoiler>). A lot of topics were brought up, chief among them the cultural expectation for women to aspire only to being a wife and mother regardless of their success or happiness outside these fields, and yet none were thoroughly examined or challenged. These women, despite not following the cultural norms their families are pressuring them into, aren't doing so to challenge the status quo or take a stand for their own satisfaction. Instead, they happen into their alternative lifestyles by accident, making for a much less interesting read and a much more aimless story.

In the past I have found Adichie’s books compelling and hard to put down, so I very much looked forward to reading Dream Count, only to find it my least favorite of her books. Dream Count tells the separate but somewhat interconnected tales of four women, immigrants to the USA. At times I struggled to understand the connections or the significance of the their struggles.

The women are strong characters. They are seeking love and acceptance and unsure of how to achieve that goal. The plight of the immigrant and the juxtaposition of two conflicting cultural traditions muddies the waters. The America found is not the America of an immigrant’s dreams. Chiamaka Chia, is the central figure, though not the most compelling. She brings the four stories together in a package that is loosely bound .

Kadiatou, a single mom, working as a hotel maid tugged at my heartstrings. The author borrowed from troubling real life drama to create a fictional character whose innocence and vulnerability even when facing an unimaginable transgression of trust, finally had me glued to the pages. If only the entire book were as important as this small piece. I wanted to know more. I wanted the other characters to become deeply involved but that wasn’t to be.

Three adequate stars for a book I liked that might have been so much more. My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for an advance reader’s copy in exchange for my review. Dream. Lung was published on March 4, 2025 and is available for fans of Adichie

This ended up being a soft DNF for me. I love the author's other work but I wasn't in the right headspace to want to read about a woman who is so desperate for male validation and attention. I'm sure the author would turn it around at the end but it just wasn't something I was in the right headspace for at the time.

Dream Count is the story of four women; Chiamaka a Nigerian writer working in America, her cousin Omelogor working in finance in Nigeria, Zikora, Chia's best friend and her housekeeper Kadiatou. Each character was beautifully developed, authentic and very easy to care about. The book focused on their loves and loses, relationships good and bad. I found myself connecting with some of Chia's relationships with men. We think we can change them with love and end up with alone with our regrets. The Nigerian setting was so immersive I found myself researching the history, geography and recipes of the country and culture. I know I am in the hands of an excellent writer when I want to learn and understand more. The journey doesn't end with the last page of the book. There is no better complement than that. Thank you Netgalley, publishers and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for the opportunity to experience Dream Count in exchange for my honest review.

Ended up purchasing a physical copy so I'm going to read in that format instead! Recording this for posterity. Seems like Adichie has written an excellent follow up to Americanah with a range of lively characters, vivid and effective sentence-level writing, and her classic interweaving of narratives and timelines.

I really loved Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's previous book, Americanah, when I read it, so I was really excited for her new one. I had a harder time connecting with this book, I think in part because it felt at times more like related stories than a novel.

I love Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's writing and the writing in this was lovely -- I enjoyed all the descriptions and the character development. The parts that take place during the early parts of the pandemic were stressful to read -- a time I am not eager to revisit!

Zikora was my favorite of the stories to read and I would enjoy reading more about her and her life. I also really loved the ending and how it all came together. I'm excited to see what she writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

Her writing is so beautiful in this book but it was lacking much of a plot. Then men in this book were intentionally so infuriating and that came through really well.

DREAM COUNT
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie




In DREAM COUNT, we are following four Nigerian women.

Each of them is as different as the days that pass, as similar as the sun that shines on all of them.

It is set during the pandemic.

We follow along as each of them experiences the confines of the pandemic, while being Nigerian and a woman.

Adichie walks us through the pandemic, giving words to feelings, sentences to moods, and paragraphs to days gone by.

Some would ask if we need a pandemic novel? We are still living it.

We do.

A written existence is the opposite of erasure of self.

When we write about our experiences, we affirm them.

I am thankful that there are troves of great writers who will articulate for me what I felt during those dark days.

Days of uncertainty and worry, of not knowing.

The loneliness, the suffocation I felt.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of those great writers.

I gave DREAM COUNT five stars.

Thanks to Netgalley, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Knopf for the advanced copies!

DREAM COUNT…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks very much to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC of this brilliant new novel from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I first became familiar with the author through "We Should All Be Feminists," and now I realize I should read more of her brilliant, heart-wrenching fiction.

Having read other books by Ms. Adichie, I expected to find myself enjoying this book. Unfortunately, I did not find this book interesting. I understand that the author was presenting a tale of four women who have some relationship to each other, but the premise of the book did nothing for me. I would not recommend this book.

The story of 4 African women, all of whom have lived in the US at some point in time and their intersecting stories. One is a travel writer, one is a single mom, one is a hotel maid and house keeper, one gave up her high flying (and quite sus) career to go to grad school and found herself disillusioned by it.

I love the way this story unfolds

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of my favorite contemporary authors, which may be due to how she brings her heart to her work, and DREAM COUNT is another emotional example. My copy is heavily marked up as I was struck over and over again with how Adichie drops insight after insight, ones that would make me pause at their truths.

DREAM COUNT is the immersive story of four Nigerian women navigating the world, love, belonging, success, and family. Omelogor, Chia, Kadiatou, and Zikora share the narrative, and there is such depth in these pages. Adichie captures the nuance of longing to be unconditionally loved, but also the ways we may project ourselves, fearing others’ disappointments or judgments.

How heartbreaking for Adichie to have lost her father (detailed in the slim memoir NOTES ON GRIEF) and then, so shortly after, to also have lost her mother. She reveals in the author’s note that, in essence, this is a book about her mother, about grieving her mother, and that one of the storylines in the book was inspired by the Guinean maid assaulted by the head of the IMF and the fallout afterwards.

DREAM COUNT is a rich, complex story deserving the honor of being a tribute to her mother.

(Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.)

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count is a captivating exploration of identity, ambition, and the power of dreams. With her signature lyrical prose and keen insight into the human experience, Adichie weaves a tale that is both deeply personal and universally resonant. The characters come alive with complexity and authenticity, making every moment of this novel feel raw, real, and unforgettable. A brilliant and thought-provoking work from one of the world’s most celebrated voices.

Loved this story very much. I’m very glad I get to add this author to my list of autobuy. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this arc.

An easy five stars—and I genuinely refuse any criticism of this book. I absolutely loved Dream Count. From the very first page, I was immersed in Adichie’s gorgeous, lyrical writing. Her ability to put words to feeling, to capture the nuance of memory, love, regret, and identity—especially during a time as strange and surreal as the pandemic—is breathtaking.

Set during COVID, the novel unfolds like a dream—drifting between thoughts, flashbacks, and conversations with the past and present. It perfectly mirrors the introspection of lockdown, when time felt elastic and life turned inward. This structure, which may feel lacking in plot to some, is exactly what made it feel so intimate and powerful to me.

We follow Chiamaka, a Nigerian travel writer in America, who reflects on past lovers and life choices while living in isolation. Her best friend Zikora, once seemingly invincible, must suddenly confront heartbreak and vulnerability. In Nigeria, Chiamaka’s bold cousin Omelogor begins to unravel what she thought she knew about herself, and Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is dealt an unimaginable blow while trying to raise her daughter in America.

These women, all so vividly drawn, explore what it means to be a woman, to be Nigerian, to be an immigrant, to be Black in America. Their stories are woven with cultural expectations, intergenerational tension, personal ambition, and questions about motherhood, identity, and the very nature of love.

This is not a book built on plot twists or high drama, but one that pulses with emotional depth and truth. I know it won’t be for everyone, but for those who connect with it—it’s a book that speaks directly to the heart. Dream Count left me profoundly grateful to be a reader in Adichie’s world

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. This author is a great writer. the storytelling was a little patchy during this read.

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, however I opted to listen to the audiobook when it cam available from my local library. As always all of my opinions are my own.

The audiobook is narrated by the author, as well as 3 other ladies for each of the characters. I love when audiobooks have a different narrator for different points of view so I know who is speaking. This was especially useful in a book like this when the chapters focus on a specific character.

This follows 4 women centering around the time of the pandemic and follows them in the past and afterward. We really get to know each character and how they are all interconnected. Chia is a travel writer struggling to live up to the expectations of her parents and community. Zikora is, Chia's best friend and a successful lawyer who's life is turned upside down when her beloved ghosts her and breaks her heart. Omelegor is Chia's cousin and a successful banker, who decides she wants to get her master's degree in the US in a completely different field. the we have Kadiatou once an employee for Chia's family and now a friend, who's story is heartbreaking. She is raising her daughter in the US, doing all of the right things, not making waves, working hard when something terrible happens to upend her entire life. We learn about each of these women, their struggles with love, relationships, their families, their careers, where they came from and more.

This was a tough read. It has quite a few triggers, so make sure you check trigger warnings before picking this up. I felt like this was focused more on the terrible men in their lives and the bad choices these ladies made than the their lives. I was disappointed that this was more about poor choices in partners and staying in bad relationships than it was about 4 strong independent women overcoming their poor choices and being awesome in a world that doesn't always love and respect women. They were each strong, intelligent women with strong opinions of their own, but were often overshadowed and overpowered by the men in their lives. I believe that is a way to get to the underlying social issues in the book, but the women didn't feel like main characters in their own stories in my opinion.

As with many reviewers I really loved the author's note at the end, it was heartfelt and gave insight into the characters an why she chose certain aspects of the story to tell. That helped me understand a bit more about the way she choose to tell the story.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie writes the kind of crystalline prose that draws your attention to every word. "Dream Count," her long-awaited new novel, follows a group of Nigerian and Nigerian American friends through the pandemic lockdown. It's a very interior story that puts a lot of energy into past romantic messes and the difficulty of gifted women finding a worthy mate. The book was a struggle for me--Adichie is a fine writer but her sparkless plotting in this novel did not keep me engaged. If she were able to link writing and plotting this novel would be unforgettable.

Many thanks to Knopf for the digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Dream Count is a beautifully written (seriously, the prose is stunning) ode to feminism and racial relations told in parts through the eyes of four African women in a modern day politically charged international world.

I found myself fully immersed in Kadiatou’s story which is inspired by the story of Nafissatou Diallo. It’s an awful and enraging story of sexual assault and the attack on a migrant woman’s character who was brave enough to report her assaulter. It’s grim and disturbing and sadly it’s an all too familiar rendition of how racism and mysogony dominate most sexual assault legal cases.

While I enjoyed some aspects of the other three perspectives, they fell flat in comparison. There’s a heavy emphasis on too many horrible men that flitted in and out of these women’s lives adding no value to them or their storylines. Chiamaka, Zikora, and Omelogor are super intelligent, strong willed women navigating life as successful Black women, yet are consistently falling prey to the whims of arrogant men. Their stories, though they touch upon issues such as race and gender inequality just felt disjointed from Kadiatou’s storyline.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and appreciated it even more after reading the Author’s Note. It is evident how much research and time went into creating this story and I would definitely recommend it if you liked Americanah.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for my copy of the book; all opinions are my own.

Dream Count is a must read.

I’m not going to lie. There were times it was difficult for me to read these stories. I really related to Kadiatou due to similar experiences. I cried…more than once. Sometimes realistic fiction is uncomfortable and there were many times reading Kadiatou’s voice that I felt her pain and her strength. I don’t think she would call it strength, but just surviving. She’s as real to me as who I see in the mirror.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s writing is impactful. They laid bare our worries, hopes, dreams, and failures. Love that continues to fail due to our own self-esteem issues and choices. It doesn’t change the dream of a family or partner. The separateness we feel of our own identity to others and sometimes to ourselves. The pressures of society, community, and family dictates our choices too. All of these emotions are on the pages in Dream Count.

It’s an exploration of self-identity, friendship, and survival. Whether it be survival from the physical or the mental attacks that occur. How income can affect our decisions. How pain changes everything.

There are times that Dream Count is just relatable when talking about the search for love and self and it’s not as painful to read. Then there are the gut-punches. It’s all worth it. Dream Count is a must read.