I liked a lot about this book but it didn't feel complete. I think the most interesting parts were when we saw each of the women through the others' eyes. But this was a small portion of each character's story/portion of the book. There's not a lot of plot, much more character study, but if the main storyline about Kadi that starts midway thru the book was the focus, that probably would have made for a better book overall. The ending also felt abrupt and unresolved.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “Dream Count” is a beautifully crafted novel that seamlessly weaves together the lives of four women—Chiamaka, Zikora, Omelogor, and Kadiatou—as they navigate love, loss, and the uncertainties of the pandemic. Each novella stands strong on its own while contributing to the novel’s overarching themes of longing, resilience, and self-discovery.

Chiamaka’s story, in particular, is both poignant and deeply relatable. As a Nigerian travel writer stranded in the U.S., she reflects on past relationships and her “dream count,” a moving metaphor for her search for true love. Adichie’s signature prose is as lyrical and evocative as ever, immersing readers in the inner lives of these women with honesty and emotional depth.

What makes “Dream Count” exceptional is Adichie’s ability to capture the intricacies of human connection, the weight of nostalgia, and the way personal dreams evolve in times of crisis. This book is not just about love in the romantic sense—it’s about the love of home, self, and the dreams we chase despite life’s unpredictability. A deeply moving, thought-provoking read that lingers long after the last page.

Adichie is one of my favorite writers and I was very excited to say the least when it was announced that she would be writing another book. This did not disappoint and comes highly recommended!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Despite this being a super long book, I couldn't put it down! This is only my second full length novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, but her writing is always so beautiful and so well crafted.While this book didn't leave me with the 5 star feeling, I was super invested and interested in the plot the entire story. I loved all the social commentary on class, race, and the politics of America through the lense of a Nigerian immigrant. While I could never fully understand what it's like to be in that possition, I left this book with a great appreciation for the main characters and their resilience. I wish I had more to say, but this was just a really good book! Adichie is an incredible author and I keep meaning to read more from her so I'm happy that I read this and really enjoyed it.

This story follows 4 Nigerian women- and each women gets a long section of the book. It follows the women during the pandemic and as they reminisce on their life pre-pandemic and discover the disconnect between their expectation in life and their reality. A story of these women as they navigate love and identity across different life stages.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and netgalley for an ARC in exchange for review.

When I saw Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie had a new novel coming out, I rushed to NetGalley to request it. I had read and loved several of her earlier works, so I was really looking forward to this one. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations.

In Dream Count, we follow the lives of four Nigerian women in what feels like four separate stories. The stories intersect occasionally, but the long chapters focusing on each character made the stories feel disconnected. The long chapters also made this book feel much longer than it is. It took me over a month to read, and I found myself going days without picking it up.

Ultimately, I did not feel invested in the characters and struggled to get through this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

After receiving access to this novel, I ultimately decided not to read and fully review Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's newest novel so cannot add to the feedback about this book.

I looked forward to Adichie’s return to the literary world. She gave us such gifts in the past.

I’m sad to say this fell short of my hopes for her return. So much of the novel focused on the men rather than the women it followed. I did not love that I always felt like I had missed something along the way describing the importance of a character dropped into the story with no explanation.

Dream Count was a slow read for me, but I still found things to enjoy. The concept was intriguing, and there were some really well-written moments, even if the pacing made it hard to stay hooked. It took me longer than expected to finish, but I’m glad I stuck with it. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

adichie's trademark writing — the astonishing humanity of her characters, the complex layered nature of her themes, searing emotion — are on display here. it's a treat to read her words again after so long.

dream count is a perfect title for this book, which follows four women and the paths they do and do not take. i wish it followed each of them more fully. it skips through each in chronological order, leaving the stories of two of them feeling unfinished. i grew attached to them in the long chapters from their perspectives, and i wanted more.

this book doesn't directly take on the tide of public opinion adichie has faced in the last decade, but it feels very present. it's unfortunate that it feels adichie, who i have always found to be able to write about everyone, has seemed to grow embittered by that. i want the wide range of accepted opinions she advocates for, but this book suffers from a limited number of them.

This was my first experience with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's writing, but it will certainly not be my last. She created 4 distinct and engaging women in this book, and I was completely drawn in to each character's unique perspective. It was fascinating to read how 4 middle-aged African women dealt with very different experiences of life in the USA. I found Kadiatou and Omelogor's stories to be particularly powerful. I also really enjoyed reading Zikora's journey. And finally, Chiamaka was a wonderful link of friendship and support throughout all these women's lives. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in women's stories. One warning I would offer, is that it does take place partially during the Pandemic. It felt like a good balance of evoking the experience of that time, without any subsequent difficulty.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for providing an eARC in return for my honest thoughts.

The stories of four women, their heartbreak, pain, and relationships between mothers and daughters. Don’t miss the author’s note!

Parts of this book were really interesting, but the way that it was told out of order often made the story seem less than urgent. As the reader, we are told many events well before they happen. The characterizations were compelling, but the story was quite slow and felt like work to get through, and after two hundred page---and learning about some of the author's public statements---I've put it aside indefinitely.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Honest. Moving. The interconnected stories of these four Nigerian women are beautifully told, as each looks back with reminiscence and yearning. Adichie writes in such a way as to make you truly feel as though you’ve stepped into her characters’ shoes. Highly recommend.

Synopsis:
Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. Alone in the midst of the pandemic, she recalls her past lovers and grapples with her choices and regrets. Zikora, her best friend, is a lawyer who has been successful at everything until — betrayed and brokenhearted — she must turn to the person she thought she needed least. Omelogor, Chiamaka’s bold, outspoken cousin, is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question how well she knows herself. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is proudly raising her daughter in America – but faces an unthinkable hardship that threatens all she has worked to achieve.

In Dream Count, Adichie trains her fierce eye on these women in a sparkling, transcendent novel that takes up the very nature of love itself. Is true happiness ever attainable or is it just a fleeting state? And how honest must we be with ourselves in order to love, and to be loved? A trenchant reflection on the choices we make and those made for us, on daughters and mothers, on our interconnected world, Dream Count pulses with emotional urgency and poignant, unflinching observations on the human heart, in language that soars with beauty and power. It confirms Adichie’s status as one of the most exciting and dynamic writers on the literary landscape.

I was very excited when I found out that Chimamanda Ngoza Adichie had a new book out! I have loved her other books and she has been a favorite author of mine. Unfortunately this book did not have the same impact for me. This book felt like a compilation of short stories that were connected, but somehow still felt too long.

I will definitely look forward to Adichie's next novel and hope that it won't take ten years to be published.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the advanced digital copy of the book.

I loved this book. I read it in February while on vacation and could not put it down. I've read a few books based on "lockdown" times, and this one has a very different premise to it. Since it intertwines the lives of four women, you get their lives, their feelings, their relationships all wrapped up individually and together. It's a meditation on loss and friendship and justice. I highly recommend, especially if you've ever read any of her other books.

I have some mixed feelings about A Dream Count. I rated 4 stars because of Adichie's beautiful style of writing. She is a master at the art of prose. Following four Nigerian women, we glide through they past and present lives, uncovering their wants, desires, choices, or their response to situations when choices are taken away from them. Told in alternating points of views, which I'm normally a fan of, hindered this story, in my opinion. As a reader, I felt I was kept at a distance from these characters. The story just floated without much of a plot to keep the story on point. For that, my interest in the book was lost frequently.

I was provided an advanced reader copy, opinions are my own.

Dream Count is a fascinating story about the lives of four African women. It touches on topics of race, class, and cultural differences between Americans, Europeans, and Africans. Their pursuits and life goals differ between each character, but their lives are connected and intertwined. The women are all complex and there's is a lot of observation and commentary about women and society. This would be a great book group book, lots to discuss.

Dream Count is an interesting one to review because I loved parts of it and was completely bored and disengaged by other parts.

Dream Count is about 4 women and told in different chapters about each woman. At first it was hard for me to tell how they were connected and I think I would have liked it more if I had gotten to know the women as a group that was connected before splitting in to their chapters.

The first chapter I found fairly boring. It was fine but I didn’t really care about the plot. The writing is very good and that is what kept me going. However, I was much more engaged in the other chapters with the second being my favorite.

I would have liked a bit more at the end as far as follow up with some of the women. But overall, I think this one is worth reading for the writing alone. This is between and 3.5-4 for me so I rounded up to a 4.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for arc.

I had to sit with the stories of these women for a bit. The narrative is broken up into POV chapters, so you get a glimpse of each character’s life. As I was reading Chiamaka’s story, I felt all kinds of anger, sadness, and joy too but it was layered. Like when your friend is making these choices, and you know they may not be the best choices but she needs to make them. It felt really familiar and at the same time distant. With each character, it was a similar experience. Then we get to Kadiatou's story and the way I just wanted scream at the people around her. Her story is based on Nafissatou Diallo’s, and I think it aptly reveals the hypocrisy of patriarchy and racism and reminds readers of the unfairness expected of victims of sexual assault. This is one of those stories that will just stay with you.

The prose is just so artfully done, and I think something that folks in creative writing classes should absolutely read and discuss. I think this book is one that provokes meaningful discussions and if you can find a reading buddy, then absolutely buddy read this one. Each one of the women in this novel makes choices that feel real, and as I mentioned above Kadiatou’s story in particular hit emotional nerves that I wasn’t prepared for. That being said, this is an important read. I’m happy to have been able to read an arc of this book. It’s a necessary read that stays with you.

Like many, I have been a longtime fan of Adichie's writing and I was excited to see that she was, at long last, publishing another novel. Unfortunately, this one didn't really work for me. First, the good--her prose is as beautiful and assured as ever, and that was almost enough to carry me through the novel. However, Dream Count's plot left a lot to be desired. I kept waiting for some kind of resolution or arc for the characters, and never really felt like there was one. Things happen to the women in this novel, but I am not sure the women themselves really grow or change all that much. When I finished the final pages, I was left wondering, "Was that it?" and hoping for a little more payoff.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an early copy of this book.