Dream Count (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)

I had seen a TED talk by Adichie about the danger of a single story - a very powerful talk about how we tend to ascribe a single theme or story to a person, place or even a set of people. And that then becomes the only truth about them for us. It was very well delivered and made a lot of sense. This is the first book i have read written by her and it is also the first one that has a deep connect with Africa. 

Not to mince words here, as a book this disappointed me. Maybe it has something to do with my expectations. This book is about the lives of women from Nigeria, who now partly or wholly live in US. It gives us a sense of the life they led, the rich culture they come from, their tensions with other clans, tribes, religions from Nigeria and how they deal with the dichotomies when they stay in America. However, all this is presented largely with respect to the men they date. So we have Chiamaka, a struggling travel writer, Zikora her best friend and a successful corporate lawyer and Omelogor, her cousin and a successful banker. All three women come from privilege, are well educated, good looking with stable careers and no money problems. However, they have a lot of problems - men problems. So we are treated to a whole book about the relationships each of them have had with men of different shapes and sizes and nationalities and ethnicities. On loop. Ad Nauseum. Is there a growth after each relationship? Does the woman in question understand herself better, or have better boundaries, or a more sorted way of choosing a partner? Nope, Nada. Just the same story with different men. 

The only story that I liked was the one with Kadiatou - Chiamaka’s housekeeper, who flees to Nigeria with her infant daughter, after a cruel marriage. She is slowly building her life in America, with her hard work and diligence and when she finally feels she can breathe easy, she faces the most horrendous attack. Supported by Chiamaka and her friends, she fights back for justice, but that is elusive. This part of the story is based on a true incident and is well told. However, it ends with Kadiatou not getting justice and the perpetrator going scotfree, to yet again inflict the same pain on some other hapless woman.

I would have preferred the whole book to have been about Kadi and her story - her origin, her arrival in America and then the struggle for justice. In the Author’s note, Adichie clearly says that it was what really happened to Nafissatou Diallo, that inspired her to create Kadi’s character and her hardships. In that case, she should have focused on that. Instead it gets thoroughly diluted by rich and beautiful women’s problems. And no, characters from Africa need not be needy, poor or unsuccessful. I would love to know about these beautiful, privileged and successful women, but then i need more than just the problems they have with men.