Dream Count (publication day March 4, 2025) is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's first novel since 2013's Americanah. Like Americanah, the setting of Dream Count goes back and forth between the United States and Nigeria, but Dream Count follows four African women, three living in the United States and one in Nigeria.

Chiamaka's story begins and ends the book, during the pandemic lockdown. She is a travel writer, daughter of a wealthy Nigerian family who is able to travel independently and does not need to make a living from her writing. She has dated widely, has had relationships with men all over the world, of all nationalities, but still yearns to be truly known. Her good friend is Zikora, whose story begins when she is in labor. She is also Nigerian, a lawyer at a large firm in the U.S., who was left by her boyfriend when he found out she was pregnant. Her mother, who she hasn't really been close to, comes for the birth, and Zikora learns more about her mother, who is the head of a primary school, than she knew from her memories.

The heart of the novel is Kadiatou--Kadi's story. Kadi cleans and takes care of Chiamaka's house while she travels. She is from Republic of Guinea, and a lot of her story is told as a flashback to her childhood and early life there, where she lost her father in a mining accident early, and she and her sister were forced to undergo female genital mutilation. Her sister dies during a medical procedure, and she is forced to marry, though the man she loves, Amadou, has gone to the United States. Kadi becomes pregnant, but her husband also dies in a mining accident. She names her daughter after her sister, learns how to cook, and lives with an aunt. Eventually Amadou returns for her, and she seeks asylum, which is granted by the United States. There, she finds out that not everything is like Amadou has said, and he ends up in prison on a drug charge. But Kadi meets Chiamaka, works at a hotel as a maid, and is happy with her life, as her daughter is doing well and living an American life. But then Kadi is assaulted by an important hotel guest, and her life spirals out of control with the U.S. justice system and how sexual assault victims are treated by it.

Finally, the last woman whose perspective we get is Omelogor, although we've seen her from the others' perspectives from the very beginning. Omelogor is Chiamaka's cousin, and has stayed in Nigeria, working in banking. She did spend some time in graduate school in the United States, but the cultural differences were too difficult and she became depressed. Her best friend is Jide, a gay man who can't be out in Nigeria, and Omelogor hosts dinner parties for various groups of friends. She is in deep in the financial world in Nigeria, laundering money for very important people, but she finds a way to use it to help women in her home village. She is steely and uncompromising, but when an aunt says she can't be happy living the life she is living, single and childless in her mid-40s, she really thinks about it.

I enjoyed learning the four different perspectives these women had of the world and how the each dealt with what was happening, with the pandemic, and with what happened to Kadi. It was not plot-driven, but I felt that Adichie really delved deeply into each character.

I believe it is generally fat positive, as Omelogor is "blessed in the front and back" and Kadi mentions how Amadou loves her wide hips, but diet culture has creeped in somewhat as there is mention of "hip dips" and Kadi not wanting to be "too big." So I'm going to categorize it as "Mixed fat positive and anti-fat."

This is beautiful writing but I found the story lacking, especially the second half. It was slow and difficult to get through. I hope others enjoy it more than I did.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a mixed third and first person multi-POV literary novel exploring the experiences of Nigerian women, some of whom live in America. Chiamaka is a woman entering middle age who is realizing that she hasn’t gotten everything she really wanted despite her success. Zikora explores her faith and her desire to have a child. Kadiatou eventually moves to America with her young child, Binta, to be with the love of her life but things never go as smoothly as we plan. Omelogor still lives in Nigeria and is growing increasingly concerned as COVID looms closer and closer.

The most uncomfortable POV was, without a doubt, Kadiatou’s. We have a scene that is the most in depth scene of female circumcision that I have encountered in any media. It’s brief and more focused on Kadiatou's feelings rather than graphic details, but it was still overwhelming and very poignant. There is something very powerful in being in the POV of someone who is experiencing this and the uncomfortable atmosphere that Adichie creates around it while still recognizing why it was done (so Kadiatou and her sister could get married). Kadiatou is also sexually assaulted and how it’s depicted is done in a way to respect the character and recognize her fear and how fast something like this happens as well as the trauma of reporting assault and the way you feel violated when evidence is being taken. It is a lot but it is the most powerful POV.

I really loved Zikora’s POV because of how much it discusses her Catholic faith and her feelings around the various Popes and her desire to have a child. I was raised Catholic and have been trying to get my hands on as many POVs discussing the Catholic faith because so much of what has been readily available to me is Roman Catholic American and that doesn’t even begin to cover the depth of the roots the Church has planted over the world. I had no idea that Pope John Paul visited Nigeria and that it was such a historic visit. I learned a lot from Zikora’s POV.

The major themes are motherhood, the Nigerian and Nigerian diaspora experience, dating outside your culture vs dating within your culture, tradition vs modernity, and the way America views Nigeria. Every theme is explored by all four of the POVs but in very different ways. We follow Kadiatou for almost the full length of her life so we see her being a child and then becoming a mother and it’s contrasted with Chia and Zikora realizing they are getting older and it’s getting more difficult for them to have children while Omelogor doesn’t want kids at all but she doesn’t want the option taken from her. By using four very different women with very different wants and needs who are connected, we get to see the complexities and how there is no universal experience even if there are shared ones.

Content warning for depictions of sexual assault and female circumcision, cheating, anti-Semitism, racism, and mentions of abortion.

I would recommend this to readers looking for in depth looks at the lives of Nigerian women and the diaspora and readers of literary fiction looking for something that doesn’t shy away from difficult conversations

This is beautifully written, character driven literary fiction that follows four African women in Nigeria and the United States. Each section tells one of the women’s stories with interconnected storylines throughout. The focus is on interpersonal relationships, predominantly with the men in their lives, but also includes a lovely mother-daughter relationship. The book explores themes of identity, culture, American and Nigerian politics, immigration, class, race, and finding one’s place in the world. The strongest
storyline for me was Kadiatou and I would have preferred a whole book from her perspective— this was also the subject of the authors note at the end which made it even more poignant. The novel opens and closes with Chia’s perspective, which was my least favorite of the four perspectives. Her storyline felt more like a litany of all her male relationships. The final section detracted from my overall enjoyment of the novel for this reason and I wished we could have ended with Kadiatou or Omelegor, which would have bumped this to a 5 star read.

I still highly recommend this novel for those who love strong character development, exceptional writing, and a culturally rich experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.

The story about four Nigerian women who are all connected - Chiamaka, Zikora, Kadiatou, and Omelogor - their lives, dreams, realities, relationships. While this is a novel, the structure of the book felt more like loosely connected short stories. Despite the fact that each of the women are strong and have forged their paths (with the exception of Kadiatou although she admirably stands up for herself), they struggle with self doubts, isolation, reflections of past relationships and being mired in current unfulfilled ones. It took me quite awhile to get through this book, unlike the author’s other books that have kept me engrossed and riveted. I missed experiencing the author’s beautiful lyricism and superb command of the language as I’ve experienced in her previous works. While a bit disappointed, I’m glad I read this book, for how could I not read a. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie book? It just was not as wonderful a read as her other books, which were five-star reads with the exception of two that were four star reads. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Magnificent. A must-read. My first five-star read of 2025.

As I was reading this book, I thought to myself, if given a school assignment to write about this book, what would I choose? The diverse cultures of Nigeria? Female friendships? Comparing gender roles in different cultures? Gender expectations? Social structures? The "American dream"? Tradition? Love? What success is? Justice? Forgiveness? Love?

My mind was spinning with each page - so much to think about it was delightfully dizzying. Adichie is a master story teller. Every sentence felt thoughtful and smart and needed.

Take your time while you read this one. And you must read this one. Brilliant.

Heartfelt thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf/Pantheon/Vintage/Anchor for the advanced reader copy.

3.5 stars

Adichie is back with an expansive novel, this time about four different women connected by their African heritage and time in the U.S. I loved AMERICANAH and was looking forward to the same level of writing and characterization. DREAM COUNT was a more uneven story. The book started strong with Chia's and Zikora's stories. While I thought Kadi's story was compelling, it didn't feel like it was connected to the previous stories. And Omelogor was the least interesting (and least sympathetic) character; her section was one I skimmed, hoping that we'd come back to either Chia or Zikora in the end. While the writing was still the lush, finely honed language I've come to expect of Adichie, but the structure of the different sections remained disjointed.

Dream Count is out March 4, 2025

Adichie is a beautiful writer and I really enjoyed this book. We waited four years for it and it did not disappoint! It paints a nuanced picture of four Nigerian and Nigerian-American women. It is absolutely a character study book and if you like Americanah, you will probably love this too.

"How slippery moralities are, how they circle and thin and change with circumstance."

I was so thankful and excited to receive Adichie's new novel for early review. I love Americanah and was pleased that this book lived up to my expectations set by that earlier novel. Chiamaka, Zikora, Kadiatou, and Omelogor were all such interesting characters. What I loved most about the structure of the novel was starting out during the 2020 lockdown, then going back in time and learning more about the characters and where/how they ended up in the places they currently are (both physically and metaphorically).

There were two quotes about the 2020 lockdown era of humanity that really stuck with me: “I felt as if all human progress was swiftly reversing to an ancient stage of confusion that should by now have been extinct” as well as “How could I possibly be both sluggish and restless?” I felt those!

To me, this book is in many ways about love, specifically the importance of being honest about love. Honesty with yourself regarding your wants and dreams and the motivations behind those; honesty with your friends and family about the realities of your actions and interactions; honest dialogue about the realities of humanity and nationality; I could go on but I do feel like this book really challenges its characters to be honest about the things/people they love.

I was really moved by the author's note at the time describing this book as being about her mother. After reading that I could very much see the way Adichie weaved her love and grief over the loss of her mother thorughout the book. One of the quotes that I feel encompasses the feeling of losing a loved one that I relate to is when Kadiatou is mourning the loss of a close relative and describes it as "mournful absence as tactile as presence" - I really feel that feeling the loss of someone is as present as if they were there in the room with you.

Thank you for this incredible reading experience!

4 ⭐️

DREAM COUNT by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chiamaka is the nexus that brings the reader these four women’s stories: Chiamaka, her cousin Omelogor, her best friend Zikora, and her family’s maid Kadiatou. Each is experiencing challenges, particularly related to men or motherhood against the backdrop of the beginning of the pandemic.

➕ I liked seeing the issues each woman was going through and being able to compare and contrast them.
➕ The writing is solid, as you would expect from this powerhouse of an author.

➖ While each of these women is experiencing different issues, I felt the “voice” of each narrator sounded similar. If I picked up the novel while in the middle of a narrator’s section, I had to use the issues of the narrator to figure out which section I was in.
➖ I wasn’t as invested in Omelogor’s section. Some sections felt very long-winded and too character-driven for even me.

Loved the writing with so many keen observations from the author. This read like separate novellas, which is a decent structure. I wish the “voice” of the novella subjects differed more from one another.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

It publishes March 4, 2025.

{3.5 stars}

Thanks to Knopf for gifted access via Netgalley. All opinions below are my own.

I love the depth of which Adichie builds her characters. Like the books of hers I've read before, it was easy to slip into the lives of these women and feel immersed. That said, I didn't much like Chia, Zikora or Omelogor, if this book had been their stories alone, it’s a shrug at three stars. At its heart it’s a book about life not turning out how you hoped and the bald realities of how poorly we treat one another based on our preconceived notions of race and gender. Well worn roads but with the backdrop of COVID as a fulcrum for introspection,

Kadiatou's story however was a heartwrenching 5 stars. That had me so immersed I was upset when POVs changed. And then it ends so abruptly without the insight of being in her POV. I get this book wasn’t written “for” me, so there was probably some depth in the other POVs that I just didn’t get. It was just a bit long so I struggled with those sections at times.

This was a good book however I did not know a large focus would be on sexual assault. It was an interesting story, but I felt like the focus was largely on the men in the women’s lives and not the women themselves.

Adichie is a talented writer (I loved Americanah), but this book took me forever to read for some reason. It is character driven, and there is no central plot, but rather the stories of four connected women. COVID does play a role in the book (heads up if that's not your thing). Chia and Zikora's stories were the least interesting to me, as they were basically about them falling for a series of awful men. I liked Kadi and Omelogor's stories - I enjoyed reading about Kadi's childhood and growing up in Nigeria, and Omelogor had an interesting career. I appreciated the author's note at the end explaining how Kadi is based on a real person.

This was my first time reading a book by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She had such a beautiful way of presenting the experiences of the women in her books. So deeply, that was forced into some self reflection of my own type of dream count - reaching body just the men that have fallen short, but also people. This novel is present raw emotions through breathtaking prose.

I was so very excited to try this book - I’ve heard so many amazing things about this author’s writing. They definitely nailed the character study and the prose is breathtaking. There is no doubt in my mind that the author is talented but I’m not sure this was the right book for me.

I was looking forward to an interwoven story following the four main characters and instead feel like I read four separate novellas with little tying them together. By the time the narratives intersected I couldn’t recall the significance of that intersection.

When the book finally researched its overall arc the resolution felt a bit rushed.

Overall I feel readers that truly appreciate in depth character studies - but don’t mind when the characters have little development - would really enjoy this one. Adichie’s prose steals the show and certainly makes me want to try more of their work in the future!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Knopf for this advanced reader copy of Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

This novel is an intense character story of four interconnected women reflecting on their lives as a their worlds shift with a looming global pandemic. Chia is a Nigerian woman and travel writer who is really the common denominator in any relationship that the other women have with each other. Zikora is a lawyer and Chia’s best friend, Kadi is Guinean woman working as Chia’s housekeeper and Omelegor is Chia’s intimidating cousin and financial powerhouse.

I loved the idea of this novel more than the execution. When I got to Kadi’s story, I was so enraptured, I no longer cared about anyone else. Her story was so tender and captivating, it stole the thunder from the rest of the women. I didn’t want to leave her. I wanted that same experience with each woman, but alas no luck.

I really enjoyed this read and the perspectives of these different characters. I wish I'd taken fewer breaks while reading, because that made it a little harder to follow and track the different characters and their stories. Overall, I loved it, and the ending wrapped up the stories beautifully.

I am a huge fan on Adichie’s fiction and was thrilled to read this ARC. I enjoyed this expansive story with multiple narratives and perspectives. Like Americanah, it is a mosaic that spans countries, continents, and time periods. I loved it.

4.5 stars. I am honored to have been given the chance to read an ARC of Adichie’s newest novel. It is as well-written and moving as I expected.

The women at the heart of the story are each unique and fully formed. Particularly moving was the insightful telling of the story of the hotel maid assaulted by an influential international politician.

From both a context and a content perspective, this book reads like four short stories. In this story, four women tell their stories through flashbacks and the present day. One of the standout stories for me was Kadiatou's account of managing sexual assault as an immigrant. It would have been great if the entire book had been about her since she is the character I will remember the most. The book dragged a bit, but the story of Kadiatou made it worth reading. Readers who enjoy reading about different cultures and understand female friendships will enjoy this book. You won't be able to read this book in a hurry. Flashbacks sometimes meander, focusing almost too much on the men in their lives. Some sentences take your breath away, so it's worth your time. Her ability to write something extraordinary from the ordinary is one of her greatest strengths.

Thank you to Knopf for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.