4.5 How to describe this, 4 women who's lives are loosely woven together tell the stories of men in their lives. Let's just say the men do not come off well. The majority leave the women in a worse place than before they met them. I really enjoyed the different views of each women. It's a hard read but worth it for the one characters viewpoint on the left's policing of words more than actions and for the views of assault by powerful men.

I know this is going to be one of the buzziest books of the spring and it is well-deserved. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is such a powerful writer and I can't wait for everyone to be able to read this!

Dream Count is a hard book. I imagine people will love it and hate it. I am somewhere in the middle. The writing is stunning. I was struck time and again by how Chimamanda Adichie describes things. The content was a roller coaster for me.

The story is told from four perspectives: Chiamaka (Chia), Zikora, Katiadou, and Omelogor. The first two, Chia and Zikora, were so unlikable. Chia chases man after man that demeans and demoralizes her. The men are terrible. And Chia keeps trying to nail them down. It made me hate the men and dislike Chia. Then, Zikora isn’t much better. And neither are the men she likes. The word that came to mind as I read was “insipid.” Why did these women not have any self-respect? Would that ever come? And yet, the writing kept me hooked.

The third section is told from Katiadou’s perspective. Kati is an entirely different character. Poorer than the uber-wealthy Chia; in fact, Kati works for her. And when she’s not working for Chia, Kati is a hotel maid. Kati’s story is sad in an entirely different way. To my total surprise, Kati’s is the story that inspired this book. It feels saddles in the middle and not nearly as prominent. (Read the author’s note to hear more about Kati & the inspiration.) I don’t want to say much here because I don’t want to spoil things, but Kati’s story is deeply sad.

And then the last character we dive into is Omelogor. She’s the only story and character I enjoyed. Omelogor has confidence and moxie. No one walks over her. Omelogor commands power and influence and uses it to elevate other women. She’s flawed, but admirable. And her “dear men” letters crack me up.

The book has a backdrop of the pandemic. It’s there and not. But enough to make you recall that strange time where we heard it was coming, but didn’t understand how bad things were going to get.

There’s some points on politics, a lot on race, wealth, and more. Overall, I liked this book, but it was a slog and hard to get through, especially in the beginning when I was so dismayed with the characters. The last time I remember reading a book I liked with characters I sorely disliked was The Namesake, another blockbuster. Ultimately, recommended. And grateful to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Quotes:

“Omelogor once said she was happy Nigeria wasn’t a tourist country because “people become props, and countries become performances instead of places.””

“Underneath her faultless ability to find faults lay a deep apprehension. She wanted the world to be perfect for the deserving, and the deserving were those she loved.”

“…the clarity of hindsight is bewildering. If only we could see our failings while we are still failing.”

“You don’t stop at longing; you use the force of your longing to bring into being the life that you want, or you try to, at least.”

"Dream Count" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an absolute masterpiece that manages to live up to the high expectations set for it as one of the most anticipated books of 2025. This beautifully written novel delves deep into the complexities of human emotions and relationships, particularly those between mothers and daughters, and offers a powerful reflection on love, happiness, and the choices we make.

Adichie's talent for storytelling is on full display in this book, as she weaves together vivid descriptions, compelling characters, and a plot that will keep readers engaged from start to finish. Her writing is both poignant and unflinching, offering a window into the heart of what it means to be human.

"Dream Count" is a must-read for anyone who appreciates great literature, and it's sure to leave a lasting impression on all who read it. This is a book that will stay with you long after the final page, and it's one that you'll want to add to the top of your TBR pile as soon as possible.

It took a long time to read this book and I have mixed feelings about it. there were parts that were moving, a satisfying end, lots of interesting info and observations about different cultures, both Nigerian and others. Philisophical at times, but also at times filled with many unnecessary details, like what one of the characters ate for breakfast one day and breakfast another day. The length of the book was hard for me, made it feel like work at times and I kept thinking at times what is the point, and at other times, the point was clear. so for me a good third could have been left out and made it more powerful.

Four beautiful African women feature in this book. All are looking for peace and love. Each has her own story to tell, with all the ups and downs that life, especially love life, can bring.

One of them, Kadiatou, is the victim of a hideous act, and her story, which harks back to a real-life incident that took place in New York City in 2011, is the most harrowing. In her Author’s Note, Adichie is at pains to explain her reactions to this incident. All I can say is, she has luminously portrayed Kadiatou’s actions and reactions, especially her emotional state, and I’m wondering why Kadiatou’s story isn’t the major plot, especially since Adichie writes that the victim’s accusation “represented a significant cultural moment in America.”

There are many themes worked in these women’s stories: betrayal, motherhood, friendship and its costs, the effect of the Covid pandemic on people’s lives, all of them most interestingly portrayed.

Additionally, in the Author’s Note Adichie tells us this book was written as a kind of catharsis after the deeply-felt loss of her mother. She has written a very engaging tribute, and I’m sure her mother would be very proud.

It seems I waited a long time for Chimananda Ngozi Adichie's latest book, Dream Count. It was definitely worth waiting for. I am a big fan of her writing, and especially her characters. This novel is about female friends, their daily lives and adventures, and I became friends with all of them. I thought of Chiamaka (Chia) as the author personified! I had a love/hate relationship with Omelogor and her Robin Hood project. My heart went out to Kadiatou and the injustice she suffered. Ms Adichie's writing evokes such emotions in me that I miss her characters after I finish the book. I hope her next novel isnt so many years off!!!

The world has changed significantly since 2013, when Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wrote Americanah, her breathtaking mosaic on all-things-racial. And we, who are now mired in false outrage and dissatisfaction, have changed with it.

In her afterward, the author says that “stories die and recede from collective memory mostly for not being told.” We must clearly and consistently see, interpret, and question the world. We must also look back on how we lived and identify what endures.

Some things will always remain: the hunger for enduring friendship and family connections, the mentality of scarcity even if we have enough, the struggle to reinvent ourselves, better understand our values and culture, and define ourselves as women (particularly Black women without that all-important MAN to give us societal respect.

Here we have four women: Chiamaka, a Nigerian travel writer who lives in America. She constantly adds to her body count – she calls them her dream count – of men who ultimately fall short of what she’s looking for. Her best friend Zikora, a lawyer, is similarly unlucky in the men she trusts. Omegolor, Chiamaka’s cousin, plays by man’s rules, and as a result, is wildly successful, and emotionally shut off. And then there is Kadiatou, who keeps house for Chiamaka and whose life is, in many ways, the emotional foundation of this novel.

It is tempting to try to surmise which of these characters is the pivot for all that happens. Does Adichie intend it to be the one whose tale opens and closes the book (the only character who is given two sections)? Is it the one who is the apparent spokeswoman for the current culture in Nigeria (not unlike Ifemelu in Americanah, who blogged articles such as “To My Fellow Non-American Blacks: In America, You Are Black, Baby, Omegolor pens a blog that begins “Dear Men” and tutors men on how to better understand their role). Is it the one who Adichie reveals, in her afterword, translates her own grief? Or is it Kadiatou, who grips the reader with the unfairness of life? I have my opinion, and I’ll leave it to others to decide. But I believe all four narratives are dependent on each other for the full scope to emerge.

The novel asks why we remember what we remember, and which reels from our past truly assert their vivid selves. As in her past works, Dream Count tackles what matters: our cultural, gender, socioeconomic, and racial divides, and the difficulty of maintaining our power when men set the rules. This novel – Adichie’s first in a decade – was well worth waiting for, and I thank Knopf and NetGalley for the privilege of being an early reviewer in exchange for an honest review.

The author has made some comments about trans women that are absolutely atrocious and I will not be supporting this book or the author.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s writing is incredible. To have a new novel from her is a gift. In her latest, she once again sculpts fascinating, complicated, human characters and spins stories that will keep you turning the pages to read more.

The four African women (living in the US and Africa) in the book receive their own sections. They're all interesting, and the story speaks very much to the current state of the word. Ultimately, the threads of these four characters don’t weave together into a single profound moment, and for that, it lacks the punch of Americanah, an all-time favorite novel of mine. It seems here that the writer has a number of different ideas she wants to discuss, but the book is left more fragmented than I would like.

The tone is dark, with a tiny sliver of light at the very end of the tunnel. For those concerned about triggers, much of the book references the COVID pandemic, and there are also multiple sexual assaults, female genital mutilation, and other topics that may be sensitive to some.

This was an excellent book!! I enjoyed the character development as well as how the plot was developed throughout the story. The author was able to to do a good job with all aspects of the story. I would recommend to others.

DREAM COUNT is centered around five women who are interconnected through one of them. It focuses on the experiences and challenges these women go through that involve complexities of relationships and the female experience. I really liked the premise but found myself not as engaged with it as I was when reading the author's Americanah (highly recommend!), but if you like the slower paced, dense fiction that doesn't feel like fiction, this may be suited for you.

3.5 stars rounded to 4.

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this novel. I just had a hard time staying interested. More of a character study with little plot to speak of, which made it hard to get through.

Talk about anticlimactic. This book started so strong — the writing, the interwoven stories, the inner dialogues, the friendships — and then completely petered out. What started as a story about relationships (both platonic and romantic) that centered a bold cast of women characters petered out into a catalogue (a “dream count”) of unfulfilling exploits and what-ifs that centered men.

At first, it reminded me of the elegant way Adichie elucidates cultural nuance that I loved so much in Americanah: “I felt tight with discomfort. This conversation would be normal at a dinner in Lagos or Abuja, and everyone would talk like Omelogor, bold and baroque declarations topping one another. But here her words bruised the air. She didn’t know how to wear different selves like I did… American English was spoken at a higher pitch than normal, and she wondered if she would ever perfect that pitch, even if she managed to get the words right.”

And her way of artfully capturing inner monologues, self truths and relationships:

“Finally, as she opened the door, she tripped and nearly fell, catching herself, stumbling. The room had spit her out. She was now so worthless as to repel even a storage room. She felt hemmed in by shame, shame forced upon the innocent, glowing in unfairness.”

This colorful writing continues, but the story arc doesn’t keep pace. Ultimately, Chia, Zikora and Kadi’s narratives peaked to a crescendo, and then all the threads seemed to get lost, flap in the breeze.

This is a very long book so a lot of my students will be put off by that, but for the ones that are willing to read it, I think they will get a lot out of it. The story of 4 Nigerian woman, their struggles, their relationships with men, often painful and their relationships with each other.. It is very well written and a glimpse into a different world for most of my students. the characters are relatable, despite the different cultures, ages and financial situations.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for this advance readers copy, in exchange for an honest review. This was my first read from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and it won’t be my last! This book was a unique character study on five women, all interconnected in some way and with stories overlapping throughout each of their individual sections.

Each women is given her own section of text, a rather lengthy chapter, and within each, complex topics and relationships are thoroughly evaluated; many questions are raised, sometimes with no answers provided, which left me deep in thought and interested in reading on. For instance, the complex, confusing emotions related to the concept of home, the immigrant experience, privilege was a undercurrent that I felt ran through most stories and I think this is where we see the author’s writing shine (along with her commentary on the female experience, motherhood, etc.— so much here to unpack!). I enjoyed the way that events sometimes overlapped between sections and appreciated the different perspectives that we got to see from the individual women in this way.

I do think that my reading experience would have benefitted from shorter chapters; there were times when it felt like work to read through each woman’s chapter, with no break in sight. However, I think there is a lot in this book to appreciate and am sure that it will resonate with many. Overall, I would recommend this book to literary and women’s fiction fans!

I found this book quite interesting. The subject matter was different and I was pulled in from the beginning. The author’s writing is beautiful. Very descriptive and thoughtful and provoking. I highlighted heavily.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review****

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy of this title in exchange for honest feedback

Beautiful writing,
fascinating characters,
powerful stories.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


I write haiku reviews but am happy to provide more feedback.

This was my first read by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. One of the most wonderful storytellers I have come across. Learning more about her characters was incredible. I will definitely be looking into the author’s other works. Best read of the year by far.