I have been meaning to read Adichie for a long time, but this book did not influence me to pick up any of their other works.

I repeatedly wanted to DNF, and each time I pressed on, it didn't get better. To the point where I finally did DNF at 60%

The concept of intertwined lives has been done before, and I felt like this was the worst I have seen.

I do understand that this was written through the grief of the author's mother's passing, and while I feel for the author and the grief that they face. I didn't enjoy this book and didn't like how grief was explored in it.

I really enjoyed Dream Count! The story pulled me in right away, and the visuals were super cool and creative. It had this dreamy, emotional vibe that stuck with me after it ended. If you're into something a little different and meaningful, definitely give this one a try. Totally worth it!

Four women’s lives are intertwined in this novel, three are well-off friends/relatives from Nigeria and the fourth a poor woman from Guinea. The books explores the reality of being a woman in patriarchy and all the offenses to a woman’s body that can involve (including on the page sexual assault). Much of the book is compelling, but I found it a bit uneven. We rotate between the women and when we arrive at the third woman, the writing becomes much more dense and it felt to me a bit like tripping on the sidewalk. It disrupted the smoothness of the narrative in a way I didn’t like. I don’t know if this was intentional, but to me it made to story drag and made me want to put it down a bit. I’m glad I stuck with it, though, as the assault is horrific and following the aftermath kept me glued to the page. Not Adichie’s best but good.

I love material that challenges me to grow my perspectives of the world, and this book delivered on that. This author has some of the most beautiful prose, and it really shines in her fiction debut. One of the things that most stood out to me in the four stories of these women’s lives was how women deeply consider things like marriage and children in a way that men do not have to. Each of these women’s lives were informed by men in different ways, and the author beautifully demonstrates the extremely complicated ways in which women are forced to engage with men in their understanding of their futures and the meaning of their lives. Thought provoking and beautifully done, if you want to really reflect on meaning, love, and relationships with men, this one is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, pantheon, vintage and anchor for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review

"Dream Count" is a gem! There are four main characters that have a section written through their point of view. Chiamaka (Chia) is the daughter of a wealthy family who is a travel writer living in America. Zikora is her best friend. Omelogor is Chia's cousin whose livelihood takes a questionable turn. Kadiatou is Chia's housekeeper who experiences an assault while working in a hotel. Each character has their own life struggles. Whether it's a man in their life, careers, or challenges with culture, I found this plot very insightful. The book starts with the "rumblings" of COVID-19, and by the end of the book, these women survived COVID-19 while sharing its impacts on their lives. I could not wait to get back to this book when I had to set it down.

The common thread is they are from Africa. The reader learns much about Nigeria (culture, language, history, and more). I found this very interesting. The author does a great job enlightening the reader with this aspect.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Thanks to the publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, and the author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, for the privilege to read this advanced copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Adichie is a beautiful writer. Unfortunately the storytelling in this book is uneven at best. It is clear that Kadiatou is the character Adichie cares most about and Omelogor is the character she admires the most. These are the characters written with most depth, nuance, and agency. Both Chia and Zikora’s stories feel relentlessly depressing. Both characters are reactive and seemingly trapped by their ideas of marriage and children, willing to sacrifice their dignity for what they see as the big prize. Omelogor is a valiant counterpoint of a woman unafraid to go after money, power, and independence. But even in her case, Adichie plagued Omelogor with feelings of emptiness and uncertainty about her life choices. Why can’t even one character in this book feel good about a life without a man and children? It is telling, and indicative of the personal grief that Adichie channels through this book, that the most hopeful moment happens at the very end and involves Kadiatou and her daughter, and their relief at the end of Kadiatou’s torture at the hands of the justice system. The fact that this relief comes at the cost of justice and consequences for Kadiatou’s rapist is a cynical attempt of wish fulfillment for Adichie who clearly wishes that the real case Kadiatou’s is based on had turned out differently. Overall, other than a collection of anecdotes about the pitfalls of women’s dreams and how awful men can be to women, it’s unclear what the underlying message is of this book. Beautifully written but unfulfilling experience.

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc

this is the first book by adichie i’ve read since purple hibiscus back in 2021 for grad school, and i was hoping dream count would be as resounding as purple hibiscus.

while i was interested in the first 25% of the book, the rest left me scratching my head. women so desperate to be with men that they choose such disastrously emotionally unavailable men and then are upset when those men cannot provide to them the emotional needs they are looking for.

this just felt lackluster in plot and characters’ goals/desires, but clearly i’m in the minority, which is fine

Dream Count was set during the Covid19 pandemic, but went back and forth in time as the four main characters remember events both good and bad that have shaped their lives. I enjoyed many of the story lines, but one horrific event was very difficult to read. Adichie is an excellent writer, and she wove together these stories effortlessly. Thank you to @netgalley, @Libro.fm, and the publisher for the advanced digital copies.

It took a while to tie all these women stories together and having gone into this book blind i was shocked at the culmination. I didn’t know that was the inspiration for this novel but I didn’t have a sneaky suspicion once the VIP floor was mentioned. I put the book down and ran to Wikipedia for a refresher. The author did a great job of humanizing Kadiatou, something that wasn’t at all the focus during the media frenzy, it was more on the perpetrator. And Kadiatou’s tale came quite late in the novel, after I’d spent most of my time cursing all of Chiamaka’s love interests and decision making, all the while Kiadatou was in the background. I took copious notes in an attempt to keep everyone’s story straight as there were so many characters introduced. The only character whose story didn’t quite come together IMHO was Omelogor’s. I don’t think she got the same development the others had, I don’t think we got to the bottom of her motivations, like we did the other ladies. She held things back from her entourage and even from us the readers. But over all the characters were well developed. There were very deep topics addressed but not in a way that was too much to handle. Zikora’s story could have been fleshed out more but that could have been due to editing as the author has a short story out on her journey. The novel takes place with the pandemic as a backdrop and reminded us of the craziness of those initial days when conspiracies were gospel and everyone knew better than medical experts, yet the global crisis didn’t overshadow the stories. I did like how the stories were woven together, just that a couple were rushed. I enjoyed this one.

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