by: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Goodreads description:
Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. Alone in the midst of the pandemic, she recalls her past lovers and grapples with her choices and regrets. Zikora, her best friend, is a lawyer who has been successful at everything until — betrayed and brokenhearted — she must turn to the person she thought she needed least. Omelogor, Chiamaka’s bold, outspoken cousin, is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question how well she knows herself. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is proudly raising her daughter in America – but faces an unthinkable hardship that threatens all she has worked to achieve.
In Dream Count, Adichie trains her fierce eye on these women in a sparkling, transcendent novel that takes up the very nature of love itself. Is true happiness ever attainable or is it just a fleeting state? And how honest must we be with ourselves in order to love, and to be loved? A trenchant reflection on the choices we make and those made for us, on daughters and mothers, on our interconnected world, Dream Count pulses with emotional urgency and poignant, unflinching observations on the human heart, in language that soars with beauty and power. It confirms Adichie’s status as one of the most exciting and dynamic writers on the literary landscape.
Helen says: 🤓🤓🤓 3/4
I wasn’t expecting to like this as much as I did! It immediately hooked me. This book was divided into four sections, each depicting Nigerian born women (and a Guinean housekeeper) and their relationships with men. “Men are Pigs!” would have made a better title for this book- just kidding. I loved the first three story lines, but struggled with the fourth story. It got dull and drawn out and had kind of a lackluster finale. Still, I very much enjoyed reading this author and look forward to reading more from her.
Holly says: 🤓🤓🤓3/4
I also did not expect to like this book as much as I did! I think that the writing is wonderful and that the book is very entertaining. One or two popular reviewers described it as a “feminist story”, but I do not think it is that at all; I think it is an endearing novel about four very different African women who are striving to have full and complete lives. I do think many of them have relationships with men who are weak, small-minded, or have a disparaging view of women (these “thieves of time”), or sometimes with men that are even disgusting or that they just lose interest in. There is a lot of emphasis on these failed relationships (hence the term “dream count”). I was surprised by the importance put on these relationships, especially by older generations within the culture, but I think the real story is the lives of the women themselves. I would have liked to have known more about their lives and less about their doomed relationships, most of which I was happy to see end.
Helen and Holly Hit the Books 