Adichie has written a rich, evocative character-driven novel about four unmarried African women, exploring their lives, their loves, their dreams. But please be aware that explicit sexual attacks are part of the story.

The main character is Chiamaka, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy Nigerian family, living in suburban Maryland at the start of the pandemic lockdown, communicating with her family and friends through Zoom meetings. The isolation is driving her crazy and she begins to examine her life choices, especially her many failed love affairs. The first line of the book grabbed me right away as she says, "I have always longed to be known, truly known, by another human being." And later: "More than marriage, I was looking for what I then did not know as the resplendence of being truly known." How poignant! The knots she ties herself in in the past, being pliant and docile or whatever needed, to be the woman she thinks she must be in order to be loved. So many women will recognize themselves in that.

Her best friend is Zikora, a successful lawyer at a prestigious law firm where she hopes to become a partner. She has tried to do everything required of her in her life, hoping all the right pieces will fall into place, but fate seems oblivious and she finds herself a single mother.

Chiamaka's cousin, Omelogor, has become wealthy by being a financial powerhouse. She has enjoyed her single life with her many friends until one day her aunt says to her, "Don't pretend that you like the life you are living." And those words worm their way into her consciousness, making her truly examine her life for perhaps the first time.

I love how she uses the not-totally-legal things she's learned through watching men in high finance to increase her own wealth and then helps other women start their own businesses, calling herself Robyn Hood. While helping to raise own young girl, she observes, "If our daughters do not know how beautiful they are, just as they are, then surely we have failed."

The fourth women we meet is Kadiatou, a Guinean immigrant who works as Chiamaka's housekeeper and cook. She is raising her daughter Binta on her own and wants to start her own restaurant so the three friends help her get a job as a maid at a prestigious Washington DC hotel. Unfortunately there something happens that turns her life into a nightmare. In the Author's Note, she tells how she based that character on a real life news story.

This is writing at its finest. We do come to really know these women fully, fulfilling Chiamaka's wish to be known.

Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an arc of this new novel via NetGalley.
My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count tells the stories of 4 women - Chiamaka, Zikora, Kadiatou, Omelogor - Each story reads like a a self-contained novella, but we see updates and other perspectives of them through each other's scenes.

Chiamaka’s story starts and ends the book; the book’s opening paragraph is so beautiful, saying that she has always longed to be truly known by someone and that it was the isolation of the pandemic that really caused her to start looking back at all of her relationships. Chiamaka is the string that initially ties all of these women together

The story that spoke to me the most was that of Zikora. Zikora’s section starts while she is in labor, struggling with the pain of childbirth, which is not made any easier by the presence of her own mother. The story then follows Zikora over this next phase in her life, as she becomes a mother, loses touch with herself, and learns more about her own mother. In the author’s note, Adichie says she wrote this novel after the loss of her own mother, which definitely weighs heavily on Zikora’s story.

Chiamaka’s cousin Omelogor is a Nigerian banker whose story follows her from Nigeria to America and back On the outside, Omelogor is the strongest of these women; on the inside, prompted by the concerns of a nosy aunt, she is starting to question whether or not she is truly happy with her life.

The story that haunted me the most was that was Kadiatou, which Adichie say was inspired by the true story of Nafissatou Diallo. We begin Kadiatou’s story when she is a child in Guinea and follow her journey to America. While Kadiatou suffered a lot of loss and trial in her life, something unimaginable happens to her that leaves her feeling more alone and broken than ever in her life. Her story is where we really see all of the other characters come together, as different as they all are, they all align in their support for Kadiatou.

This was one of those books that completely enveloped me; the characters, the dialogue, the big things, the little details, were all so beautifully written.

Thank you #NetGalley and Knof for an ARC of this book!

This was tricky for me to get into and get through. I loved the writing, the descriptions are truly incredible. There were too many story lines and I found myself craving more from the ones that ended. Thank you, NetGalley

This is my first book by acclaimed author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and I was enthralled. Her writing is luminous and generous. Every sentence seems more descriptive, and more perfect, than the last. DREAM COUNT relates the lives of four somewhat-friends; the relationships between the women vary somewhat in intimacy. Readers meet each woman on her own terms; the issues that animate and propel these characters forward have more to do with age, and hoped-for milestones of adulthood, than they do with their respective relationships. They are all in pursuit of love and the implicit belief that true love allows the woman to be fully seen. The Pandemic is used as a backdrop to the primary character’s sense of invisibility, of not being understood and seen. This is a wonderful book and well worth reading. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Thanks to NetGalley and and Knopf, Pantheon, and Vintage Catalog for the early copy of this book. I have loved all of Ngozi’s books, particularly Purple Hibiscus. This one, however, did not land for me. This is a mostly character driven book- not a ton of plot and it really moved slowly for me.

Divided into 5 sections, Dream Count tells the story of 4 Nigerian women. Chiamaka is a travel author living in America amidst the early days of the pandemic. Zikora, also living in America, is a new single mother. Kadiatou, a housekeeper in a large hotel, is happily living her American Dream until she is assaulted by a guest. Omelogor, a self-made wealthy banker, has moved back to Nigeria after quitting an American graduate school where she was studying the effects of pornography. While their lives are connected in meaningful ways, each woman has their own distinct experiences with America, Africa, love, work, and duty.

Adichie’s writing is beautiful, and she makes these women and the daily minutiae of their lives come alive. Unfortunately, there just was not enough plot here to justify 416 pages. It was more of a (very long) snapshot of four womens’ lives. This is very similar to how I feel when I read something by Sally Rooney - impressed by the writing, immersed in it while I am reading, but once I set the book aside I have no compelling desire to go back to it. It also does not help that I read about how this is a “publishing event 10 years in the making” over and over, which probably set my expectations a bit too high. While this one was not a hit for me, I expect it to be popular and would still recommend it for readers who like long, character-driven novels.

Read this if: literary fiction is your favorite genre and/or you enjoyed Intermezzo.

Skip this if: you prefer a book with a fast-moving plot.

I’ll happily devour any word Adichie writes, and this is no exception. I love the cadence and richness of Adichie’s language, and the deft way she weaves together the complex stories of these complex women makes them as real to the reader as a dear IRL friend. I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time.

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 of 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.

My Take:
With themes of friendship, family, individual fulfillment, and romantic relationships, this book reminds me of an updated "Waiting to Exhale." Instead of these themes being told strictly from a Black American point of view, this offering is more global, incorporating life and culture from Nigerians (Igbo) and Guinea. However, set aside any notions that this is a sharp critique of life after Pandemic 19 or a new feminist prose. What "Dream Count" offers is a voyeuristic look at people one might encounter if interested in taking a deeper look. This is where I struggle a bit—while I initially was interested in taking a deeper look, my interest waxed and waned with each character. I had hoped to sustain interest in each of them, but only maintained interest in one character who was loosely based on a real person. This saddens me because of the violence she encounters. Looking back at what Terry McMillan achieved with her foursome in "Waiting to Exhale," I felt that she liked each of the characters she created, and in doing so, imbued them with traits that made them easy for me to like, even when they were imperfect. Here, I felt Adichie did not really like the characters she created—they were written as annoyances that one should not seek to emulate, even if they have cultural reasons for it. They are punished for bringing their cultural beliefs to America, and Americans are punished for not providing a safe space for their cultural practices and beliefs. In the end, I wondered who this book is for and how I might engage with it better. This question makes me reluctant to suggest this as a good book club selection—I think individual reflection is needed if one is interested. One thing that is not in question is how well-written the book is. It flows well with its interconnected nature; it just didn't leave me better than it found me.

This is my first time reading this author’s work. The writing is stellar, and it caused a significant emotional response within me.

With that said, I had to put the book down due to anxiety and emotional triggers. I thought I was ready for this book, but I fear it’s just not something that I can read at this time.

Oh how lucky we are to have a new Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie book! Dream Count tells the interlinked stories of four Nigerian women, each from their own perspective. The story centers around Chiamaka, who lives in the United States - she comes from a wealthy family and has the financial freedom to be a travel writer. Chia's cousin, Omelogor and best friend, Zikora, have similar backgrounds - one is a banker and one is a lawyer. The fourth woman is Kadiatou, Chia's housekeeper, who comes from a very different background and is now raising her daughter in America. The magic of this book is not so much what happens to each character, but how Adichie is so adept at observing life - all its desires and disappointments, its loves and its losses, its messiness, its hope - and coalescing those observations into a beautiful story that is gripping and oh, so moving.

There’s no denying that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an incredible writer—I’ve known this for years, having read Americanah, Half of a Yellow Sun, We Should All Be Feminists, and Purple Hibiscus. So when I saw she was releasing new work after almost a decade, I was over the moon—and even more grateful to NetGalley and Knopf for the advanced copy.

That said, I wish I could add this one to my list of favorites. While parts of the book had me fully engaged—especially Kadiatou’s story and, to some extent, Zikor’s—I struggled to stay invested in Chia and Omelogor’s narratives.

Still, as a longtime fan of Adichie’s work, I’m grateful to have had the chance to read it.

I started Dream Count with the ebook alone but later incorporated the audiobook, and I absolutely loved the immersive experience. Combining the two formats made the stories come alive in a way that felt deeply engaging and enriched my reading journey exploring POV of the three women Chiamaka, Kadi, and Ome and their individual lives.

Kadi’s story was by far the most compelling for me, with its depth and personal touch, based on a real-life experience. Her narrative stood out and left a lasting impression. However, the structure of the book sometimes fell short, with timeline jumps that made it challenging to follow, especially in the girls’ stories. Chia’s chapters, while interesting, felt frustrating at times with how she allowed people to tamp her voice down becoming unheard.

That said, the Author’s Note at the end was a highlight and it highlighted Kadi’s story even more. It provided valuable context and helped ease my earlier frustrations, tying together loose ends in a satisfying way. While the book wasn’t without flaws, its moments of depth and insight, paired with the immersive experience of reading and listening, made it an overall enjoyable journey.

This is my fourth book by Chimamada Ngozi Adicihie.
After reading and loving Americanah, Purple Hibiscus, and Half of a Yellow Sun - all of which I rated 4-5 stars - I jumped at the chance to read an early copy of her latest from NetGalley.

Dream Count is a bit of a departure from her previous works and I have mixed feelings about it - but the writing is just as stellar as always. The story centers around Chiamoka (“Chia”), a Nigerian travel writer living and working in the Washington D.C. area. It opens up during Covid where she finds herself alone, and she starts reminiscing about men from her past. Three women from her life are introduced throughout the book - her friend Zikora, her cousin Omelogor, and her housekeeper Kadiatou.

Kadiatou’s story was the most compelling - she immigrated from Nigeria to be with her former boyfriend, and while working as a hotel maid she is taken advantage of and is terrified of being deported. (I found out from the author’s note that her storyline is based on a horrifying true event). This happens at about the halfway point of the book, just when I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue, but I kept reading to find out the rest of her story. Unfortunately it doesn’t get resolved until the very end, and before that there were more stories of Chia’s previous boyfriends.

Chia’s character drove me a bit crazy sometimes but in the end I appreciated how generous she was with all of the other women in her life.

Thank you very much to Netgalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Dream Count publishes on March 4th.

I feel terrible leaving this review because I've long admired this author's writing although not always her complicated public persona. This may be the case of being disappointed after 10 years of waiting. I am clearly the odd one out given all these wonderful reviews, this is just a me issue and a personal preference thing.

This book was well written, emotional and complicated, and I was drawn to it because I am intrigued by women's fiction about complicated relationships and I love Nigerian fiction. The prose was clearly beautiful.

My struggle was with the characters. This is an interconnected character study of four women, Chia the dreamy travel writer, Zikora the lawyer whose partner abandons her when she becomes pregnant, Omelogor the brash and perpetually single corrupt banker who also gives grants to small businesses, and Kadi, Chia's maid. The stories are interconnected by Kadi's sexual assault in the hotel where she worked and how it affected all their lives, as well as the onset of the pandemic, which made Chia reflect on her regrets, namely her body count of her ex lovers, which the hopeless romantic in her renames a dream count.

My main issue with this story was that I really hated all four women and this made it a struggle to care about what happened to them because the story was so character-driven without much plot. I found the three rich women to be boring and insipid rich people who were self-absorbed and codependent on boring men who treated them poorly. Kadi's story was more interesting but even her life revolved around men. I thought this author was a feminist and this book's theme was basically all men are bad and centering men. I wanted these women to have more agency in their own lives. Omelogor was the most independent but even her life was defined by the absence of men.

I'm sure this book will appeal to a wide audience but it was a real struggle for me to get through and to care about any of the characters. I fear it may send me into a reading slump. I think I had way too high of expectations for the story I got and I very much was not the right audience for this. The author has also taken a rightward turn in her personal life and I saw that bleed through in the characters' motivations and belief systems. I am okay with unlikable characters with different political beliefs than me but I just found these characters so boring that I found this a sluggish read and it took me forever to get through.

I think this is very much a me problem though and this will nevertheless appeal to a lot of readers.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Adichie is a wonderful writer and I really wanted to enjoy this book, maybe I haven't made it far enough in but I struggled throughout the first 25% (Chiamaka's chapter). I initially was understanding of Chiamaka and kept waiting for something more, but the entire chapter is her complaining about one man or another treating her terribly. I may continue but for now I have dnf'd the book.

Dream Count opens with Chiamaka’s story. She is a very wealthy travel writer and spends a lot of time reminiscing about the terrible men she’s dated. I initially found her charming but I grew tired of reading about her “boyfriend” Darrell. I know this novel is about so much more than that but it often felt like the women were reduced to their romantic yearnings and perceived failures. I think many readers will love this.

Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

A literary novel of person and place. This book is a wonderful example of the parts of ourselves that tether us to one another even if we have differences.

A character driven novel that moves back and forth in time and between the US and Africa to tell the stories of Chiamaka, Zikora, Kadiatou, and Omelogor who are linked to one another through Chiamaka. This is divided into four sections, each of which focuses on one of the women but has the others woven through. Know that this focuses in large part on their relationships with men, most of which are, to put it mildly, bad. Most dramatically, Kadiatou (who is based on a real person), is assaulted by a VIP hotel guest while working as a maid and sees her carefully constructed American life fall apart. She's the most sympathetic of the group. Chiamaka is a dilettante child of immense privilege, best friend to Zikora, and cousin to Omelogor. Zikora, a lawyer, becomes a single mom. Omelogor, a banker, is interested in porn and writes an advice column for men. It's her story that ends the novel and which is the weakest as she is unlikable throughout the book but her chapters are almost ponderous (and the reason I docked this a star). This is a big and sometimes dense novel that takes patience. Know that not all is revealed at once about anyone-that bits and pieces will pop up in individual stories. The back and forth in time can also be challenging- only Kadi has a clear time line. Her story is the one that carries this. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

This is a well crafted book that features 4 female friends. For the most part, they lament that their boyfriends won't marry them. I found that tedious. They stick to each other's sides like sisters but get annoyed with each other. I am not the target audience for this book. I read 80% and while I was curious to see how the storyline would end, I didn't care enough to stick with it.

I was disappointed.

Parts of this book thoroughly enthralled me and I wish they had taken up more of the space. By the time the reader gets to them, I was annoyed with all of the women bending over backwards for the men in their lives. For such accomplished women, this seemed so ridiculous. This wasn't romance. I liked how Covid played a secondary role in the story, but what I really liked was the part about Kadiatou. It was brought forth and then shuffled to the back again only to be quickly reprised to close out the story. In the way was an odd section that had numbered random stories from one of the other main characters. Did I miss something here? As a white woman born and raised in the US, I accept that there are things that escape me. I am glad to see others finding much more in this book. Maybe I am not the right audience?

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for a copy of the book. This review is my own opinion.