In this latest novel by Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, she explores the experiences of four women through the idea of a dream count— a look at the past in the hope of arriving at a better future. If the past is filled with so much unrealized potential, how can the failed affairs and choices of old be transformed?

The book is written from multiple points of view of these four main characters. Three of them have the time and solitude to understand why their lives have skidded off carefully placed tracks. Chiamaka, Zikora, and Omelogor are forty something, well educated and affluent. What they have most in common is how unlucky they’ve been in love.

The fourth character is Kadiatou, at one time Chiamaka’s housekeeper. She is an immigrant who came to America on a false promise. From a small village in Africa, Kiatadou is a single mother, raising a daughter, while learning to navigate her new world.

I love the idea of a dream count. It raises so many possibilities. How many dreams were fulfilled? Why were others unrealized? What would we learn about our lives if we understood why we made such choices? Is it possible to figure out how we might change our narrative to get what we want in life?

I was mesmerized by how it read. I felt a kinship with the characters despite how different their life experiences were from mine. Its approach was original. It was winding and yet grounded when it needed to be.

The characters have time for reflection because of the isolation of the Pandemic. Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. She is bored and lonely during the Pandemic, living in suburban Maryland, keeping in touch with family and friends through Zoom. She comes from a wealthy family who enable her to keep her profession regardless of how successful she is.

Of the four women, she has an openminded view of the world and the most generous heart. With the loneliness of the isolation, she fills her time (quite colorfully and in detail) thinking about past lovers. Each reminiscence shows us their differences. With some, how could she ever think she’d settle for that? Each are 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.

She struggles with hurt and analyzes. This advice from her housekeeper resonates with Chia as she thinks:

“ I thought often of Katiadou’s words. Your spirit cannot break, even if your heart breaks. It had irritated me, but my irritation might have been a reflexive refusal of an unwanted truth. She was comforting me and maybe warning me… Your heart can break while your spirit remains whole. But what if a spirit breaks?“

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 benefit others. As successful as she is at work, she wants more. She goes to grad school in America. Her blog, For Men Only, pulls no punches.

Sample entries:

Dear Men, I understand you don’t like abortion,, but the best way to reduce abortion is if you take responsibility. for where your male bodily fluids go. Keep your fluids to yourself and do not leave them in undeserving places. Remember, I’m on your side.

Or:

Dear Men, …Some men become irrationally furious when women speak and when women rise and when women shine. Please ensure that this is not the case here…Remember I’m on your side, dear men.

Omelogor is a powerhouse yet needs more.

The Katiadou story interested me the most. When reading it, I was reminded of the tragic Amadou Diallo story. In 1999, an immigrant student from Guinea was mistaken for some other suspect and was shot 42 times by New York City police. His mother’s name was Katiadou. While this was not the incident Adiche chose, she did base this character’s experience on a real more recent event—a situation demonstrating how unevenly 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 absorbing, I had to remind myself to breathe.

We’ve waited ten years for a book from this complex and beautiful writer. Adiche’s Americanah (winner of the National Book Circle award) still heads my list of favorite novels. Her other award winning novels are Purple Hibiscus (Commonwealth Writers’ Prize) Half a Yellow Sun (Women’s Prize for Fiction) and the story collection , The Thing Around Your Neck. If you are looking for a book about multifaceted women and don’t mind some political thought woven through, this is these books are for you. 

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