As a fan of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s work, Dream count felt like her. How she writes about women struggles, desire, and the expectation that comes from family and culture is all over the pages of Dream Count. I loved how the characters interlock. I finished the book thinking about one of the characters who accomplishments meant little in the eyes of others because she did not achieve her womanly goal of having a child. I thought about those whose voice is silence when the risk of losing everything is greater.

There were several quotable moments and important points the author emphasized. I enjoyed Dream Count, but I wanted more. A part of me felt two of the characters needed their own journey, their own book.

Rating 3.5

I have really been looking forward to this! Adichie has been a favorite of mine for years. I was initially confused with the opening of this novel but then I was immediately carried away. Her prose and perception remains unmatched even if the reflective, meandering nature of the story left something to be desired.

Another winner from Chimamanda Adichie! While I freely admit, I will read anything she writes, this book is so worth the wait! The four main characters are vivid and unforgettable. I love that she weaves in a little current (ish) events with the hotel maid/famous jerk storyline. Easy, quick read. Highly recommend!

In the author's note at the end of this novel, Adichie writes, "The point of art is to look at our world and be moved by it, and then to engage in a series of attempts at clearly seeing that world, interpreting it, questioning it. In all these forms of engagement, a kind of purity of purpose must prevail. It cannot be a gimmick, it must at some level be true. Only then can we reach reflection, illumination, and finally, hopefully, epiphany."

Mission accomplished.

Dream Count is a book I've been looking forward to for a very long time and it did not disappoint. Adichie's first novel in over a decade was well worth the wait and I will be processing it for a long time. The novel gives rich character studies in the lives of four interconnected women and is a book to take your time with, to slowly absorb and enjoy.

Dream Count is a story of four African woman with intersecting lives, focusing on their pasts, their strengths and insecurities, their relationships, and their insights and observations about it all. In parts of the story I was transported back to the beginning of the pandemic which was a bit surreal and emotional. Some moments were slice of life descriptions. Others were deep and important statements. That combination worked for me, as did the format. I loved the way the four stories were woven together especially at the end.

Having read Americanah I was expecting beautiful, descriptive, and introspective prose, and I was not disappointed.

Thank you to Knopf for the ARC!

Conceptually, this book was right up my alley. I absolutely loved the characters, the sense of community and the interconnectedness throughout it all. I even really enjoyed the setting of being during COVID but with now having enough distance since that time. As my first book of the author, her writing made me really excited and interested to pick up her other books.

My primary con was that at times the timeline and plot was a little confusing given we were jumping between different POVs and flashbacks. Wish there was more of a structure to keep track or indicate of the timing, people, setting, etc.

i’ve been mulling over what american-ness is, especially with first/second gen immigrant experiences compared to many-generations deep americans that intersect with still being perceived as “foreign” or “other.” this book was an incredible character study that drew me in — i didn’t imagine that each woman’s inner life could be more compelling than the ones preceding, and yet they rounded out the story even more. i feel lucky to be alive at the same time chimamanda ngozi adichie is writing — and this is my first of her works! i’m an american through and through, but will always be a perpetual foreigner, and it is what it is. this book’s encouraging me to continue having these conversations with others and myself.

many thanks to knopf, pantheon, vintage, and anchor, plus netgalley, for this advance reader copy.

While this was beautiful writing and i love the author, this was a littttle too long for me and felt dragged. Given am in a distracted state of mind lately so may need to pick up again in the future

Unfortunately this book just isn't for me, also what I have read about the author's stances has resulted in me DNFing the book.

I will not be reviewing this book at this time given the author's harmful comments to the trans community

I had to DNF this about a quarter through. The writing is beautiful but I felt like Chiamaka’s entire story was about her shitty ex boyfriends and I just couldn’t read any more.

I love Adichie's writing and was thrilled to be approved for her latest. I also had the good fortune of scoring the audio version of it to enjoy at the same time. Adichie's gift with words and her incredible ability to sit inside characters, deeply inhabiting them with empathy, is present more than ever in Dream Count. There are four narrators in the story, and while I enjoy multiple perspectives in fiction, I felt the characters were developed unevenly and therefore felt much more affinity for some than others. Overall, very pleased with the book, but Half of a Yellow Sun remains my favorite Adichie!

My heart ached and soared as I read this book . It left me breathless . This isn’t a book you simply read and set aside, it changes you ! These four Nigerian women tells their story and leaves you felling all the emotions.

Oh dear, this didn't work for me at all...It felt like an uneven debut novel but peppered with the arrogance of an arrived writer.

And the start was so promising...

We get four stories of four different women who essentially choose men badly. The men are - without exception - awful and ignorant, one-dimensional stereotypes. I counted a psychological abuser, an alcoholic, a criminal, a physical abuser, an adulterer, a liar and more. Perhaps for balance there could have been one normal guy? All of them of course allergic to any notion of a shared future, let alone marriage or children.

It was a bit hard to believe these strong, intelligent and independent women - 3 out of 4 really good characters - somehow become completely powerless, passive and irrational as soon as men enter the picture...which I am sure it was not Ngozi Adichie's intention.

I felt a lot of anger in the book, no humour to lighten things up a bit, and a lot of pedantic little lectures. Even if it makes important points, some of which we know from We Should All Be Feminists, this was not an effective way of communicating them. The story also never really comes together.

I appreciated the author's thoughtful note at the end, but it made me wish she had limited herself to the story of Kadiatou in a 150-page novella or so.

I read the first 90 pages and it just wasn’t clicking with me. I was interested in Adichie’s take on a COVID novel, but I’m afraid I was a bit disappointed.

Thank you to Net Galley and Knopf for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I've read a few of the authors other books and was looking forward to this one especially as I read that she had written it after her mother died in 2021. The book is divided into the stories of four women with Chiamaka being the person who connects that others together. The others are Chiamaka's best friend, cousin and housekeeper. The book felt long as if you've stepped into someone's telling of a part of their life story without it being edited. You learn of their lives, challenges, struggles from their very different parts of society - socioeconomic, citizen/immigrant, being Black/African in the US, gender, etc. The only story I found compelling was Kadiatou, the housekeeper, as it told an imagined version the IMF Straus story from the hotel cleaner's point of view. Adichie is a wonderful writer but these stories didn't come together for me as much as I had hoped.

The writing in this book is gorgeous, but it’s a DNF for me at about 15%. These chapters are looooong, which always make it a struggle for me to get invested. Because of this, the book felt slow and I couldn’t get invested, so, sadly, it’s a DNF from me.

Another wonderful read from Adichie, <i>Dream Count</i> is a story of 4 women whose lives intersect through family and continents. The story is divided into 4 sections, each focusing on one of the women but not exclusively. There are themes of love, sex--lots of it but not graphic--, class, and men. Much of the book focuses on the women's relationships with men and the importance of having a circle of women for support. The pandemic is in the background but is not a distraction from the story. Adichie's beautiful prose makes what could have been a confusing story very cohesive and meaningful. What a wonderful book!

This was one of my favorite books of the year. This author writing is so lush and inspiring- I hope to see her at a live event to hear her explain her writing process for this novel in particular. I would recommend this to everyone!

Wow what a ride. For the most part I really enjoyed this novel. I always love when writers create multifaceted characters and allow us to be completely in their minds. I like flaws and differences and seeing their relationships and how they handle day to day life. And this story does that. Adichie introduces these four women, who are all very different, and allows us to follow as their narratives interweave with each other. It took me a while to get through but every time I picked it up, I wanted to keep going. What I didn’t like was that it felt like it centered around men. A lot. Even though there were no male narrators, a lot of the internal dialogue and topics of conversation were men. And I didn’t really expect that. I love a good book where a character just deep dives through her dating history but I guess I just didn’t expect that to be a majority of the plot. And then when I thought that maybe I would see something different in a character like Omelogor, I didn’t. Not really. Overall I did really enjoy the book as I do all of adichies works I just wish it wasn’t so male centered. I also started reading the authors note and she writes about the book not being what it started o it as and I wish we could have seen that as well because I think maybe that would have worked a bit better. The writing was also phenomenal as per usual. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc!