Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Turns Sights On The American Dream
The publication of Dream Count marks Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's much-anticipated return to fiction after a decade-long hiatus since the publication of Americanah . Her two previous bestsellers, Purple Hibiscus 2003 and Half of a Yellow Sun 2006 both take place in Nigeria, yet Dream Count is set in America against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A wry social commentary woven by Adichie's evocative and reflective prose, Dream Count explores the entwined lives of four African diaspora women - Chiamaka, her best friend Zikora, her cousin Omelogor, and her housekeeper Kadiatou - all of whom are struggling with personal and societal challenges, and the concept of modern Nigerian womanhood, as their lives refuse to play out as they had planned.
The novel, just like the characters' lives, is split between Nigeria and the US. Chiamaka, as the wealthy daughter of a "Big Man" rich Nigerian businessman, struggles to find her place in the world and live up to her parents' expectations as she sets out to become a freelance travel writer. From London to Lisbon, her travels open her mind to a world of experiences, yet she still can't shake the feeling that she has found where she truly belongs.
"I'm just an African who should write about struggles" she laments after her article on restaurants is rejected by her editor who asks her to write on the Congo or Sudan instead. Meanwhile Chiamaka's mother cannot understand why her daughter is still single at forty-four and living in America, rather than returning home to Lagos.
"From outside, America makes more sense" Chiamaka puzzles, as she tries to square her African identity with the global dominance of the US where she is reluctantly making her home. In the still moments brought on by lockdown, Chiamaka reflects on her recent, failed relationships and affairs, from a two-timing university lecturer to a secretly married Englishman, and it becomes clear that her most successful relationships are with the three closest women in her life.