Department of Surgery Book Club -Nov 2025

The next Department of Surgery Book Club will be held on Monday, November 24, 2025.

• BOOK: "Dream Count" (Book overview below)  
• Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Date: Monday, November 24, 2025
• Time: 6:30 pm
• Host: Dr. Jaime Escallon

For those interested in participating in the book club, please email: crisel.evangelista@utoronto.ca

ABOUT THE BOOK
"Dream Count"

 Overview:

• Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Published: 2025 (Alfred A. Knopf)
• Genre: Literary Fiction
• Setting: During the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown
• Structure: Five sections, alternating between first- and third-person perspectives

Plot Summary
Dream Count follows the intersecting lives of four African women:

1. Chiamaka (Chia): A Nigerian travel writer isolated in Maryland during lockdown. She reflects on past relationships and questions whether she has wasted her life. Her longing “to be truly known” drives much of the narrative.
2. Zikora: Chia’s best friend, a successful lawyer in Washington, DC, who faces heartbreak and single motherhood after her partner abandons her.
3. Omelogor: Chia’s outspoken cousin, a financial executive in Nigeria who secretly funds women’s businesses through a Robin Hood-style scheme while blogging anonymously about gender dynamics.
4. Kadiatou: Chia’s former housekeeper, now in the U.S., struggling to raise her daughter while confronting devastating personal loss.

The novel explores grief, identity, love, motherhood, and resilience against the isolating backdrop of the pandemic. It is deeply introspective, weaving themes of feminism, immigrant experience, and emotional truth.

Major Themes

• The Pursuit of Happiness: Is true happiness attainable or fleeting?
• Love and Self-Knowledge: How honest must we be with ourselves to love and be loved?
• Isolation and Connection: Lockdown magnifies loneliness and the fragility of relationships.
• Feminist Solidarity: The invisible gift of women supporting each other becomes central.

Tone and Style

• Reflective, lyrical, and emotionally urgent.
• Alternates between intimate first-person narration and panoramic third-person views.

Rich in cultural detail and psychological depth.