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.

Always a joy to read work by Adichie. Very engaging and interesting read. Very well developed and ambitious. Will be recommending to library collection and patrons.

Dream Count is unlike any book I’ve ever read. On the surface, the story follows four West African women whose lives intersect. Chia, who opens and closed the book, interacts with the other three: Zikora is her best friend, Omelogor is her cousin, and Kadiatou is her maid.. Adichie sets up the narrative by showing Chia alone in her apartment during the pandemic, reflecting on the many relationships she’s had with men in her life (her “Dream Count”). We hear each of the other women’s stories in subsequent chapters; the book is divided into 5 sections, one for each of the four and a final section where Chia returns and helps the others tie up some loose ends.

The structure of the book was somewhat confusing to me. The time line flowed back and forth through the pandemic, although it was never clear why it was set there. Each section featured one of the women, but did not overlap significantly with the others although they popped up in each other’s stories from time to time. The most compelling story was Kadiatou’s, and I was very happy she reappeared later to wrap up her story. Overarching themes were the role of Nigerian women in society, women’s relationships with their mothers and other women, and their relationships with men.

Despite some frustration with the structure, I was bowled over by Adichie’s language - so rich and evocative I found myself lingering over individual sentences, at times reading them aloud. I also learned a lot about African tribal culture and attitudes toward women and men - noting that each of the women experienced these differently depending on their place in society and their familial relationships.

Many thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Probably a lovely novel. I simply found myself bored only 8% in. I will likely revisit the novel to try to complete it.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Adichie is a well-known writer with an ability to create immersive experience for readers. Her characters feel real and even though we start with a first person narrative, the story never feels suffocating. The patience that she takes in creating the world and weaving together a world is captivating. While the pandemic may not have been the best times for any of us, this story takes us back into what that life was like and the complexities of navigating a multi-cultural experience.

I enjoyed this book overall and rated it four stars. It is broken into four long chapters, each featuring a different woman and her story of love, dreams and desires. If I were to summarize what this book is about, I would say it's about the strength of women and all the ways this world can break your heart and put you back together again. I enjoyed the character development and felt invested in their stories, but I did hope for a little more interconnectedness in their stories. The women are friends and they know and support each other. However, their stories do not come full circle if that is what the reader is hoping for. Nevertheless, this book is well written and well thought out. There were moments of prose that stayed with me long after the scene was over. While reading this book, I felt as if I were sitting next to each of these women, living life along with them. This book felt alive in the truest sense. This book explores themes of happiness and love. Can we ever be truly happy? How do we really find love and be loved in return? Well done, Adichie. You made us wait for another novel, but the wait was worth it!

I continue to be entertained by seeing the different paces at which authors write, as expressed in how long it takes for them to write a Covid novel. (This is barely a Covid novel, as it's got a LOT more things it's interested in talking about, but still.)

I think I may appreciate this novel more than I liked it, per se - Adichie paints some beautiful portraits of the several women whose stories the book rotates between telling, but my enjoyment of the book was more in the sense of an interest in the different points of view and showcases of cultural interplay that I don't often read about, rather than a particular interest in what was happening or going to happen on a plot level. The exception to that was the plot thread that seemed to be the <i>raison d'etre</i> of the book in the first place, based on Adichie's afterword, centered around a fictionalized re-telling of the alleged sexual assault of a Guinean woman, Nafissatou Diallo, by former head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and its legal aftermath. Even those unfamiliar with the details of that particular case will probably see where that's going to go (based on the general history of legal cases involving rich, influential white men on one side, and women, immigrants, or minorities on the other, but also based on the meta level of whether an author would choose to highlight a miscarriage of justice or an instance where the justice system "got it right") but Adichie handles the human side of that story with particular deftness and takes it some interesting places.

I did not find this book engaging. I tired quickly of the many romantic attempts Chiamaka made at meaningful human interaction. I persevered to Zikora but did not find her story any more inspiring. I was not interested in continuing to read the stories of the other girls. I did not find Adichie's writing engaging. It was like she was just telling stories without passion. Others may love her works but this one was just not for me.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

The story of four Nigerian women connected through various relationships and jobs, all of whom are struggling with different obstacles in their pursuit of happiness. There were moments of beautiful prose but the pacing was so slow and not all of the perspectives held my interest equally. A well written book with important things to say - just missing that special element that made some of her others all time favorites for me.

This book follows 4 African women, 3 living in the United States, through their relationships with men. Each woman's story is told separately in long uninterrupted chapters with parts overlapping as other women's stories are told. Overall it was hard to enjoy this book, perhaps because of the women's choices in men and maybe because I would have preferred multiple shorter alternating, interwoven chapters. I found Kadi's story the most compelling. I did not care for the blog posts by Omelogor - she was a fun, interesting character and I didn't find them necessary. A discussable book but I think it will take perseverance for some readers to finish it

Four Nigerian women, whose lives are interwoven, are on different paths yet share the same longing for happiness. Chimaka, a travel writer living in the United States, begins to reflect on her journey during the pandemic, delving into deep introspection about her past relationships. Her best friend Zikora, a lawyer also living in the U.S., is successful but single, yearning for something more. Omelogor, thriving in her career as a Nigerian banker, has a wide social circle but is rethinking her life now that she is past her childbearing years. Kadiatou, Chimaka’s housekeeper, has faced many challenges. As a young widow, she moved to the U.S. with her daughter to start a new life.

In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Dream Count, the lives of these four women are vividly portrayed through her beautiful prose. Despite their differences, they share common concerns and challenges, such as love, family, and friendship, as each faces pivotal moments in their lives. They experience both joy and profound sorrow. The pandemic's emergence as a backdrop adds an intriguing element to the unfolding story. Each character is multi-layered and vulnerable, with Omelogor being the most complex and Kadiatou the one I cared the most about. This is a deeply moving book that requires the right mindset before delving into it.

4.25 stars.