Chimamanda is such an amazing author and it was amazing to have received an early copy! Her writing continues to be absolutely gorgeous and she’s such a phenomenal storyteller.

Dream Count follows four African women, all connected, through COVID lockdown. At it’s core, I think it’s a book about the resiliency and joy and grief of women, particularly Black women, as well as Adichie’s grief for her mother, and one of the characters is based on a real person as well.

Let’s start with what I loved about this book: Adichie’s prose is unparalleled. I've heard it described often as "confident," which I would agree with. It's immersive and always strikes just the right tone. I was a frontline worker in NYC during the COVID lockdown, so I’m very picky about how I’ll engage with COVID (and lockdown) in art, and it felt SO spot on in points.

That being said, this book was kind of a slog. It often felt like I was listening to women talk about all the ways men have wronged them - which, don’t get me wrong, are plentiful! But I don’t need to read a book about it; I can just doomscroll for that. It felt like often the men were centered in these women’s stories in a way that really bothered me.

Some of the scenes were SO graphic they made me dizzy, and to have them sprung on me without warning was a little much. I felt that some of the characters were fleshed out and brought depth to the story, whereas others I felt didn’t add much of anything.

Many other people who have read this book have loved it, and maybe I’m just reading it at the wrong time (The Horrors), but it just wasn’t for me.

did it hurt when that man was neither a friend or a benefit?

Dream Count is a collection of stories about the individual and interconnected lives and friendships of 4 women. stories about the friends that stand beside you, meet you in your loneliness, and help lift you up when everything feels like it’s crumbling around you. Dream Count is a reminder of how resilient we can - and are often excepted to be. especially when nothing is going right and the only path forward that you can see, involves giving up hope. these stories remind us that we can do hard things and come out on the other side stronger and softer, still. willing to give and share love with the world and people around us - even when we might be scared to be vulnerable again. it is a collection of the things we are willing to do for love and to be loved, it is loss, it is hope and perseverance. i know the characters in Dream Count & their stories will surely stay with me for weeks and months to come. Thank you Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for continuing to share your stories and work with us & to Knopf for providing this advanced copy. I cannot wait to write a shelf talker about this brilliant book.

Oh wow this book had me from the very beginning. This author is one of my favorites and I’m glad she’s back with this amazing book. I suggest getting a drink and relax as you enter this book. I highly recommend this book and any thing she writes.

What a wonderful book. I love Adiche’s writing. Her characters and themes are universal. Even if you don’t like a character, you feel empathy for them. The story, an interweaving of four chacters lives, is one of ways people
Adapt to their environments, a story of power, a story of people who live their lives in more than one world. A high recommend.

I struggled with Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The story starts out with a lot of backstory to take in and I found myself almost dreading to pick it up however; the characters began to intrigue me so I pushed on with reading. I also wonder if it is the season I am currently in with regards to reading. With all that to say I think this book is going to be loved by many and I am grateful I finished it!

I love Ms. Aidichie's writing and this book is no different... very character driven per usual, but I love how you feel like you are with the characters every step of the way and understand their motivations and struggles on a very deep level.

Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a beautifully written and thought-provoking exploration of identity, culture, and ambition. Adichie's impeccable storytelling, rich prose, and deep emotional insight make it an unforgettable, five-star read.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a master at storytelling. This book is so full of heart and a look at the joys and struggles of being a woman.
We see how these things affect her as a black African woman. You can relate to these characters no matter the color of your skin.
She is so open and honest in these struggles in relationships and life. We see a look into being in love and dealing with abuse. Learning to assert your right to be both independent and happy, but struggling to succeed. This is something that lives in so many of us. That is why her writing is so relatable.
A great book for book clubs, as there is much to discuss.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an exquisite meditation on love, identity, and the connections that tether us to one another, even in isolation. Set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, this novel intertwines the lives of four Nigerian women whose stories will resonate with all readers

Chiamaka, a Nigerian travel writer living in America, is the emotional core of the novel. During the pandemic, alone and reflective, she revisits her past relationships, questioning what she’s been searching for in love and whether she’s been honest with herself about her needs. Her narrative, full of humor and heartbreak, is an unflinching exploration of modern womanhood and the gap between our dreams and reality. Her concept of a “dream count” in place of a “body count” becomes a lens through which she examines her relationships and the men who shaped her journey.

Zikora, Chiamaka’s best friend, is a high-powered lawyer whose success masks a private vulnerability. When betrayed by someone she trusted, she turns to her estranged mother, rediscovering the complex bonds of family in the process. Omelogor, Chiamaka’s cousin, is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question the moral compromises that built her career. Her sharp, incisive voice critiques societal norms and cultural expectations, particularly those imposed on women in spaces dominated by men.

Finally, there’s Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, an immigrant mother who came to America to create opportunities for her daughter. Kadiatou’s story is both a critique of systemic inequality and a testament to the quiet dignity of women navigating impossible circumstances. Her narrative builds to a moment of stunning power.

Adichie masterfully weaves these narratives into a rich tapestry, using each woman’s perspective to reveal a different facet of love, sacrifice, and identity. The pandemic serves as both a literal and metaphorical backdrop, highlighting their isolation while forcing them to confront long-buried truths. Adichie addresses themes of privilege, cultural dissonance, and the enduring impact of colonial legacies.

Dream Count is a gift to readers, a reminder that even in isolation, our lives are inextricably connected. This is a must-read for anyone who loves stories that dig deep into the human heart and come away with truths that resonate long after the final page. #knopfpantheonvoyager #chamamandangoziadichie #adichie #dreamcount #Americanah

I was a huge fan of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie before I read this book and I'm an even bigger fan now. This book is so full of insight and heart and the joys and struggles of living life as a woman but in particular as a black African woman. I'm a White American woman but I was totally taken in by all of the characters. This is the story of struggling in relationships, being in love, dealing with abuse, asserting your right to be both independent and happy, struggling to succeed, dealing with success, what it means to be successful. All of it. The writing is masterful, as always.

There are many parts of.Drram Count that will stay with me. In many ways the writing felt like it peeled back the layers of the characters' desires, but my own. Thank you for the advanced copy.

Beautifully written and compelling story about 4 Nigerian women starting during the pandemic with each woman’s intertwined story told in flashbacks. (SA trigger warning in one woman’s story). This is mainly Chia’s story and the other 3 women are in her orbit. Main themes include regret, sisterhood, class, power, shame. 4.5 ⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be published March 4, 2025.

This is the first book I’ve read by the author.

I was completely bored. Each chapter detailed one of 4 women but I felt it was very slow and without much plot. Sadly cannot recommend.

This book blew me away. It’s the kind of story that sticks with you, the kind you want to tell everyone about. It follows four Nigerian women at major crossroads in their lives, and each one brings something so real and raw to the table.

There’s Chiamaka, a travel writer living in the U.S., looking back on her past relationships during the pandemic and trying to make sense of where she’s been. Her best friend, Zikora, is a powerhouse lawyer who seems to have it all, until betrayal knocks her off balance and sends her back to her family for answers. Then there’s Omelogor, Chiamaka’s cousin, a super-successful banker in Nigeria, who’s quietly wrestling with the moral compromises of her job while trying to do some good on the side. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, who is all heart and grit as she raises her teenage daughter in America while fighting to hold onto everything she’s built.

Each of these women has her own struggles and strengths, and it’s impossible not to connect with at least one of them. For me, Kadiatou’s story hit hardest, her resilience is inspiring and heartbreaking all at once.

The writing is beautiful without being over-the-top, and the way the author captures these women’s lives feels so honest. It’s a celebration of sisterhood, ambition, and the quiet power women carry. Highly, highly recommend this one!

I loved Dream Count. I had previously read "Zikora", published as a short story and loved seeing her story expanded, along with Chiamaka's, Omelogor's, and Kadiatou's. Adichie immediately pulled me in: I loved that we get the four women's perspectives on each other and access to each of their thoughts. This was the best kind of contemporary realistic fiction- it taught me things, validated things I've thought but struggled to put into words, and brought to life characters that feel absolutely real. I didn't really want this book to end! The best book I've read this year.

Adichie writes beautiful prose, and as I read this novel, I found myself highlighting sentences and paragraphs often because they were so well-written and resonant. This novel focuses in separate sections on four women, all Nigerian by birth, and all living at least part of the time in America. I found two of the four (Kadiatou, a maid, and Chiamaka, a travel writer) quite appealing, and reading about their backgrounds and present circumstances very engaging. The other two (Omelogor and Zikora) never quite came to life, and I found much of their sections of the book confusing and less interesting. The novel explores their relationships to one another, to their own families, and especially, to the men who have come and gone over the course of their lives.

Despite the excellent writing, the novel as a whole remained somewhat fragmented, never coming together in a cohesive story, but rather existing as a series of vignettes that too often seemed disconnected. The author's note at the end struck me forcefully: "Novels are never really about what they are about. At least for this writer. Dream Count is, yes, about the interlinked desires of four women, but in a deeply personal way not obvious, at least not immediately so, to the reader, it is really about my mother. About losing my mother. A grief still stubbornly in its infancy, its so-called stages not so much begin as utterly irrelevant, its contours intact and untouched -- the confusion and disbelief, the myriad regrets." So it seems that Adichie is working out her own emotions in writing this novel, and the rawness of those feelings and her need to process them perhaps prevented this novel from being as accessible to this reader as her earlier works.

Thank you to Alfred A. Knopf, publisher, and #NetGalley for providing a free digital ARC in exchange for an objective review.

This is A Book.
In the beginning, I was so overjoyed she had a new book and omg, it was complete magic in the beginning. Every sentence just made my soul sing-- she uses normal words but puts them together in such a way that they are fresh and exciting.. But then it kept going! It says the book in around 400 pages, but I feel like I read 900 pages. She packed so much in and I question if it was all needed. And at the end, I question the point. It was interesting seeing the same people from different perspectives but it also could have been 4 different books. There's still more I want on these women. And time was difficult to tell.
Still, that woman writes like noone else. I feel like I could go to Nigeria and find my way around just on her descriptions. For the fact this book was normal pages, she created multiple full worlds, introduced me to several villages and cities in Africa and taught me so much about those cultures. And when she was in the DC area, I felt like I could tell you the exact block things happened in, she made my old world so real again. It's like she has a time warp in that book because any other author could never have done that much in that number of pages. And kept the language alive and the stories interesting.
So while I'm saying it felt much longer than it was, that's not a bad thing. I feel an Adichie book puts you into a world you will completely lose track of the one you're in. The only bad thing in this case is I had an ARC from Netgalley and felt I needed to finish quickly so as reading stretched on, I got stressed. Also, because it was an ARC, it wasn't indexed and there are a lot of names and I would have appreciated having the search function so I could reminded who they are.
I can see how this took a decade to write, but woman, please don't take that long again!

Books like Dream Count make me want to scream thanks for words. And thanks to people like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who can spin words into the most beautiful, capitulating stories that stop you mid sentence with wonder. I had no idea how much I missed her unique writing voice (although I do use We Should All be Feminists every year with my high school students!) from Half a Yellow Sun and Americanah. Those books are so viscerally lodged in my soul, I cannot believe it’s been so long since she released them into the world.

In Dream Count, each of the four characters are so different and so fully formed, although beneath the layers, their motivations are similar. Cynical Zikora, wandering Chia, devastated Kadi and lost Omelogor….I was so invested in each of their lives as the years played out. I love how their stories unfolded on top of each other with questions and answered in different sections, 100 pages apart.

The use of the Pandemic as a grounding foundational event was interesting. I’m still thinking about why CNA made that choice and I’m left to think that this world stopping event brought loneliness, regret and the people we could no longer touch into sharp focus.

I cannot wait to discuss this with the women in my life. What a wonder it was to read.

I was lucky enough to get an advance of this, and Adiche has done it again. We get the story of a bunch of young women in Nigeria and the event that happens to one of them, and how they are all connected to the person who it happens to, and how they deal with it from their point of view of the world. Lots of intertwined stories, and gorgeously written while she's at it. Definitely worth your time when it comes out this spring.