Dream Count

This marvelous novel is like picking up an object and turning it over in one's hands, seeing different aspects from different angles which make one appreciate the whole in new ways with each turn. Adichie writes about four women, living variously in Nigeria, Guinea, and the United States, and the ways in which their lives intersect. Different chapters take up each character and we see events from their own vantage point as well as the gradual reveal of a larger story based on a horrific moment in one of the characters' lives. Each character reflects on the men that they have dated, married, loved, rejected, accommodated, or resigned themselves to. Adichie is a brilliant writer, and I am particularly stuck by how she writes about the expectations of individual characters, and how they balance their own internal feelings with the demands of the community around them -- sometimes supportive, sometimes incredulous. Each character has to deal with their own assessment of what they want, which can be difficult to articulate but always worth pursuing. Adichie is also wonderful in the details — that sense of dread one can feel before clicking “join” on a Zoom meeting, for example.