In the wake of the release of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s highly anticipated 4th novel, Dream Count, many sentiments have been expressed in the form of criticism with everyone eager to render their opinions on what the novel should and shouldn’t be.
One such review announces the book as “a frustrating return.”
Well then, allow me to invest in this growing pool of opinions. Comparing the creative works of an author is very easily a fool’s errand.
Different experiences inform the creative state of mind of a writer and one shouldn’t expect the same meal to be served at supper daily, lest it turns predictably stale. It is a creative gift to be able to express oneself in non-conforming ways unfettered by expectations or rules.
If one says that the thematic slant of Dream Count is gender and feminism, then that would be stating the obvious to anyone who has read the book.
However, failing to see this book for more than that is myopic to put it mildly.
The author clearly states on many occasions that her book is about female connections.
Dream Count is a book intriguingly filled with the Interconnected quotidian reality and experiences of four women.
There is an ordinariness to Chia’s pursuit of a hopeless type of burning romance and in Zikora’s pressure-induced desires to have it all – a successful job, marriage, a Catholic wedding, two maybe three children, and a tolerable type of love.
There is that same ordinariness in Kadiatou choosing to lie to give her daughter a better life than the one she was dealt. Even Omelogor depicts the ordinariness of a brilliant woman who wishes to infiltrate a corrupt male-dominated world of banking, as she searches for new beginnings and is depressed in the wake of a new territory. Yet, it is all these things that make these characters unique and highly relatable to readers.
As is the norm of many to compartmentalise and box, some have described Dream Count as a failed attempt at feminist fiction.
While one can see the unnecessary need to circumscribe the book in that light given the book’s boisterous themes, it is not difficult to see ways this book plays this part.
Adichie highlights in her characters the many ways in which one can practice feminism.
Her characters are successful women; Chiamaka is a travel writer who doesn’t let repeated rejections from editors stop her from continuing with her book and what she loves. Zikora is a lawyer, Omelogor a banker, and Kadiatou is a hotel maid succeeding in providing her daughter with the decent life she’s always wanted.
We see in the novel that for many of them, this is achieved through sheer hard work and ambition. Her characters are not afraid to make difficult decisions in defiance of a partriarchal society.
Chia calls off her engagement to lovely Chuka, to the consternation of everyone around her and she does so because she is certain of her desires and does not wish to lose any part of herself in marriage.
On many occasions we find that they do not hesitate to teach each other to appreciate their self-worth. Omelogor telling Chia that she deserves better than loving a man from whom she had to hide her worth is one such example.
When Omelogor starts giving money out to women with struggling businesses, it is informed by her desire to empower women in her community and surroundings. To make sure her deeds create a ripple, she would add, “the only way you will thank me is to help another woman when you can.”
Dream Count’s strong point is not in a desire to explore angular dramatics between its characters and carve complex developments.
It shines specifically because it chooses a novel route of tugging at the visceral desires and challenges of ordinary people.
It is on this premise that hidden jewels are rooted; the dynamics of mother-daughter relationships, the pressures of society on a woman and even of a woman on herself, the trauma of childbirth, the complexities of friendship, desires and duty.
Dream Count is in continual conversation, capturing the everyday lives of growing individuals and the interconnectedness of friendships. If this was the mission of the author, is it not preposterous to assume that this book has delivered any less?
Such is the talent of the author. It is her knack for simplistic storytelling and skilful description that stands CNA out as an exceptional contributor to contemporary African and global literature, where many readers have come to appreciate her unique ability to elevate her character’s quotidian experiences into literary genius.
