Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the story of four unmarried African women with different backgrounds and economic means. Each character is searching for love and fulfillment but never achieves this, either due to poor choices in love partners, inexcusable actions by men, or the inability to accept that love is different than in one’s dreams. The women are trying to find happiness while also trying to understand their families and the culture that has influenced them. The interrelated stories are told from the point of view of each of the women. Three of the four are affluent and well educated. The fourth character is a poor immigrant from a small village and is the housekeeper of one of the other women. Her story is the most compelling and is inspired by a real crime committed against a hotel worker in New York City. I found the story of the housekeeper the most compelling and the story of Chia, an unfulfilled travel writer, the least compelling. Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for the ARC.

I have received a Pre-Publication copy of dream count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie by net gallery for review all opinions written here are my own and I received compensation for this review.
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I enjoyed this story very much. Parts of it were so full of drama.they were almost hard to read because of the graphic detail, I don't necessarily recommend this book for just anyone. Based on that alone, there is quite a bit of it. At the same time I appreciated the fact that it was there pulling back the sheet of what is acceptable and exposing what is underneath. Also talking about something that we all shared in the pandemic of 2020 being what it was the time to reflect a time to wonder too much time to think
The only criticism that I would give this book is that I wish the chapters had been broken down a little bit more. It would have been easier to read or listen to with that small adaptation. Also it was sometimes difficult to follow which characters perspective was being shared at the moment
All in all, I'm glad I read it. It was something outside of my comfort zone

Content warnings: rape, domestic violence

Adichie returns to the publishing world 10 years later with Dream Count, stories of four connected African women and their complicated relationships to America, men, and violence. As always, Adichie does a wonderful job immersing the reader into the world of the novel and it’s a captivating read from the start.

My 2-star rating is entirely due to the lack of enjoyment I got from reading. For a novel supposedly about women, most of the book is spent on the men in their lives and the mistreatment the main characters suffer at their hands. Maybe worse, they all center these horrible men so as the reader you’re forced to live in their regrets- maybe one kind word and they wouldn’t have faced the abuse they did! What?! Adichie is clearly making a point with this but GOD it’s not actually fun to read!

One of the main characters is loosely based on Nasiffou Diallo, who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of rape. I didn’t realize this until the final Author’s Note and that put a lot of plot and character developments into perspective. If you liked A Little Life, this may be for you because this portrayal was punishing in the same way. Since Kadi is based on a real person her fate, her suffering is set. There’s no flexibility in creating a world Adichie can create her own themes and messages in, just the imagined real-life suffering of a portrayal of a real-life woman. Again, there’s a point to be made here but not one that was enjoyable or for me, even particularly moving to read.

Thank you, NetGalley for the eARC and especially for making such a hot release available for all reviewers!

Fairly predictable but an enjoyable read.. Well written, great characters and well told. hanks for the opportunity to read this and much luck on publication.

Oriented but not even mostly set during the pandemic, this tells the stories of four African women and their relationships. Dream Count refers to Chia’s partners, none of whom have successfully demonstrated life partner qualifications. Zikora embarks abruptly on single motherhood. Omelogor is something of a seer—her professional moving and shaking has given her the gift of seeing others’ faults, from ideological conformity to systemic injustice. And Kadiatou, whose arc is based on a real woman’s assault allegation against the head of the IMF in 2011, is the luckless example of all of these personal and systemic misfortunes.
Put like that, this should be a much more depressing book, but it’s not. The characters are warm, funny, self-aware, and generally supportive of each other. I enjoyed the interconnected storylines and characters’ perspectives on each other. Of course, the writing is great. And as always, refreshing to read a take on America that’s zoomed out more than usual.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie doesn't disappoint with her most recent novel! The writing and voices of the four main characters is superb. The 'glue' holding the four women together is Chiamaka - a Nigerian-American travel writer who dreams of romantic love that is all-encompassing and knowing. This beautiful dreamer brings together her best friend, Zikora, cousin, Omelogor, and housekeeper, Kadiatou, into a four-perspective, first-person narrative structure. All four are rediscovering themselves and their relationships in the midst of the pandemic. I personally loved how distinct each woman's voice is - I was incredibly impressed with the way Ngozi Adichie embodied these characters. The themes she's able to cover through these four characters are incredibly impressive: grief, American privilege, betrayal, the immigrant experience, both romantic and platonic love, feminism, sexual assault, political and financial corruption, power, motherhood, daughterhood, toxic masculinity, and more. I loved how Ngozi Adichie was able to shape such an incredibly complex and interconnected narrative that truly reflects the realities of the world we live in, and she does it while holding on to the messiness of people. These characters feel real. They're dynamic, they have blind spots, they change and grow, and they keep their discordant parts. Absolutely phenomenal storytelling and a book that I'll want to re-read and have in my home library when it is published!

title: Dream Count

author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 

publisher: Knopf

publication date: March 4, 2025

pages: 416

peppers: 1 (on this scale)

warnings: none

summary: The book follows four women in their quests to find love, have families, and figure out what makes them happy.

tropes: Since this book isn't a romance, it isn't trope-heavy.

what I liked: some of the characterization

what I didn’t like: the narrative voice, even when in the first person, seems very removed from the action/emotion, as if always telling the stories from years later. I really wanted to like this book because I love Americanah and Purple Hibiscus, but I did not ever get grabbed by this book. In fact, I DNFed it at 41%. 

overall rating: 2 (of 5 stars)

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon Vintage, Anchor, and NetGallery for an Advanced Readers Copy of Dream Count in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis: This story follows the lives of four friends: Chia, Zikora, Omelogor, and Kadiatou. The story narrates their experiences with lovers, life, others' expectations for their lives, their own expectations, and reality. The interwoven stories of these characters are as beautiful as they are brutal.

What I liked: This is the first novel I have read by Adichie and it will not be my last. Never have I annotated a novel like I did with this one. There were so many poignant, beautiful sentences that spoke truth and answers to questions I did not know I had. This is a novel that I will continue to think of long after I have read it!

Rating: 4.5/5

Gripe: The only thing I did not love was how long some of the sections/stories were because it made it more difficult to switch to another characters' perspective after fully becoming invested in the other characters' stories. It would have been easier for me to oscillate between them if they were broken up a little.

I do believe the book necessitates a content warning for sexual assault, mutilation, and loss.

Overall: I highly recommend this book to anyone with a love for stories about the complexities of life and beautiful writing!

Three Nigerian entitled women in their thirties, around the time of COVID pandemic, travel back and forth to major cities on four continents for fun and work. Their search for love and marriage reads like a romantic novel of manners in the tradition of Jane Austen and the professional women of Sex and the City. It is sex in several forms–female sexual matters, pornography as an academic study, sexual violence, sexual privilege, and lots of G rated sexual activities–becomes the governing theme of Adichie’s novel about women successful in high end professions.

The second half of the novel circles around the maid of one of the three friends, who came of age in a village in Guinea and, through a series of tragic events, found her way to the United States. As things get better for her, they get worse. With the introduction of the maid’s story, Adichie contrasts the highs and lows of women–the freewheeling search for Mr Right compared to arranged marriages, the perks of travel as cosmopolitans compared to the pitfalls of immigration. Men at all social levels come across as disappointments, many of them pale stereotypes. This is, undoubtably, literature written for women. Still, male readers who appreciate literary works might want to read this book, if only for the blog articles by one of the women penned as advice for her male readers.

Thank you to Knopf Publishing Group and NetGalley for an advanced readers’ copy.

A reflective look at what happiness means to each person. Inspiring and moving. I couldn't get enough of how well written this book was.

This book was dreamy, introspective, charming, and real. I love the way she writes, it’s so evocative. I loved her characters and the narration. Can’t wait to see more from her!

Another great novel by Chimamamda Ngozi Adichie.
It’s about 4 women, their struggles and joys. Highly recommend.

An absolutely Phenomenal book!! Chimamanda Adichie raises the bar yet again! I would rate this book an 8/10

I liked how the book was quite realistic and down to earth, not sprinkled with fairytales or an expected ending. I liked the detailing of each character (both main and supporting), the intertwined stories and most especially I liked the way knowledge and facts were mixed with fiction. I not only enjoyed the story narrated, I also learnt a lot of new things .

Although there were rare times that I felt some of the issues or supporting characters being described were a bit too in-depth and it made me get bored every now and then while reading the book.

But in all the book was quite a breath of fresh air and it comes highly recommended 👍

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s latest novel, Dream Count, tells the story of four African women of varying economic and social backgrounds. The book starts at the time of the pandemic but most of the women’s stories take place in the years leading up to 2020. Adichie has created four vibrant characters each searching for love and meaning in their lives while also trying to understand their families, history and culture. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it! Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for the ARC.

I love the idea of a dream count.
How many dreams were fulfilled? What happened to those unrealized? What would we learn about our lives if when looking back we could really see and understand the choices we’ve made?. Or try to figure out what we might do differently?. This book does that in such a complete way, I was mesmerized by how it read. I felt a kinship with the characters despite how different their life experiences were from mine. It’s approach was unique and succeeded beautifully in what it was trying to portray.

Dream Count is written from the point of view of four characters. Three of them, Chiamaka, Zikora, and Omelogor are all about forty something.. They are well educated and affluent. Aside from years of friendship, what they have in common is how unlucky in love they’ve been. The fourth character (who I found most compelling) was Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper. She is an immigrant who came from a small village in Africa who is now raising her daughter in America.

The characters have time for reflection because of the isolation of the Pandemic. Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. She comes from a wealthy family who enable her to keep this profession regardless of how successful she is. Of the four women, she has an openminded view of the world and the most generous heart. However, she has become involved with a number of men (who can figure?), all very different in character, goals, and personality but none of them right for her. In some instances, I cheered when a boyfriend bit the dust but others were harder to fathom.

One might say Zikora has had the same bad luck with men but she is much more bound up than Chiamaka. Zikora is also well educated— a lawyer— but her self worth is wrapped up in the traditional goal of finding a husband and having children. We have a birdseye view of how that is working for her.

Omelogor, Chiamaka’s cousin is definitely her own person. She works in finance in Nigeria and is wealthy, self confident, successful and has figured out how to game the system to her advantage. As powerful as she is, Omelogor also begins to look at her life wondering how well she knows herself.

The Katiadou story was the most compelling. When reading it, the names reminded me of the tragic Amadou Diallo story. He was an innocent African man who was shot 42 times by New York City police. His mother’s name was Katiadou. I wasn’t totally wrong, Adiche did base this character’s experience on a real event but it was one much more recent —a situation demonstrating how uneven justice may be applied to women, with respect to race and class, in particular.

But, to back up a bit, I found the storyline about her life before she came to America so compelling, I had to remind myself to breathe.

We’ve waited ten years for a book from this complex and beautiful writer. Adiche’s Americanah still heads my list of favorite books. If you are looking for a book about complex women and don’t mind some political thought woven through, this is the book for you.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the opportunity to read the advanced review copy and write an honest review.

What a story! This book is so much more than the characters inside. It is an epic tale about women and relationships and life. I enjoyed it very much. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I hope to see this as a book club selection, as there is a lot to discuss.

I have to admit, I have mixed feelings about this book. I'll start with the good. The descriptions of people and places are rich, the human drama relatable. The characters are distinct and memorable. Zikora’s mother especially sticks with me. The descriptions of place, especially Kadiatou’s origins and Omelogor’s affluent, independent lifestyle and her glorious intellect, are quite riveting.

The bad: so much cruelty. The men are uniformly cold, selfish, and sexist, but the women, particularly in the first half of the book, are mean to each other, even the friends! I almost gave up reading, thinking, what is the point of all this coldness? It's more balanced in the second half. Also, this isn’t a novel. It’s a series of character portrayals. I didn’t see any character arcs. Only Kadiatou’s is a story. The most disappointing was Chia, who begins and ends the book lacking agency, still drifting and self-negating.

Ms. Adichie's author note talks about Kadiatou's story being inspired by a crime committed against a hotel worker in New York City, May of 2011. Adichie wanted to explore a “significant cultural moment in America.” Yes, that’s good. But was that the reason she wrote the book, and she invented other characters to support this one?

This was such an interesting, attention grabbing book. Very interesting perspectives on relationships and cultures. I loved learning all the various names of the characters and the food. I also enjoyed the travel descriptions. Amazing story by a wonderful storyteller. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

What a fine writer she is. This enormously enjoyable saga of four women ranges widely - seriously, incisively, comically, perceptively - and draws wonderful portraits of both women and men of various races, ages and classes. It wields politics and emotions, experiences and knowledge. But best of all it points up so much about how men and women interact. Whether dealing with intimate relationships, or violent ones, or power structures, it’s always savvy and smart but also incredibly readable.
I was sorry to leave the conversation which felt like it could have continued on much longer. This in lieu of a plot. Ideally I would have liked both, but there was plenty here to satisfy and enlighten.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Knopf Publishing for the ARC of Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

It may have been ten years since her last novel, but Ms. Adichie's powerful voice and sense of character and description are as strong as ever in Dream Count - a story of four interconnected women sharing pieces of their lives during the loneliness of the pandemic. Each of the characters has a different story to tell, but each still has a quality of feminism to it, especially as it relates to the relationships between mothers and daughters. I think many will agree that Kadiatou's story is the powerhouse of the novel, but I found such poignancy in the ways Zikora sees her mother by the end of her own story. I found depth in the ways in which women are expected to be sacrificed for or blamed by men in relationships that may even seem healthy without proper reflection or interference of those who know you better.

This novel is character driven, and feels like four separate stories where the others may touch down briefly in a disconnected narrative. To some, this may make the progress feel slow, as often we are touching down in multiple moments across years or on one specific moment in depth, though without any real action taking place. Regardless of action, the prose is so beautiful and every sentence and word seems very particularly selected and filled with deeper meaning. It is a book worth taking your time on, to enjoy slowly. While the stories are not exactly happy, they are real, and given the pandemic setting, sometimes knowing things were real is how we got through those days of being distanced in the unknown.

Be sure to read the author's note at the end to better understand Ms. Adichie's motivations for Dream Count. I think it adds a lot in reflection to the overall stories if that piece is saved until the end.