Catherine Raynes: Dreamcount and Presumed Guilty

Dreamcount by Chiamanda Ngozi Adichie

From award-winning author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists. Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. Alone in the midst of the pandemic, she recalls her past lovers and grapples with her choices and regrets. Zikora, her best friend, is a lawyer who has been successful at everything until — betrayed and brokenhearted — she must turn to the person she thought she needed least. Omelogor, Chiamaka’s bold, outspoken cousin, is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question how well she knows herself. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is proudly raising her daughter in America – but faces an unthinkable hardship that threatens all she has worked to achieve. In Dream Count, Adichie trains her fierce eye on these women in a sparkling, transcendent novel that takes up the very nature of love itself.

Presumed Guilty by Scott Turow

New from the author of Presumed Innocent, the #1 bestseller that redefined the legal thriller and is the basis for Apple TV+'s most-watched drama series ever (starring Jake Gyllenhaal). In Presumed Guilty, Rusty is a retired judge attempting a third act in life with a loving soon-to-be wife, Bea, with whom he shares both a restful home on an idyllic lake in the rural Midwest and a plaintive hope that this marriage will be his best, and his last.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from Newstalk ZEDB twenty one to twelve on Newstalks. They'd
be Katherine Rains as our book reviewer and she's here
with her two recommendations for us this weekend. Hi, Catherine
Hijack Okay. Let's start off with Dream Count, which is
the latest book by Chimanda and Gauzi Adachi.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
So it actually takes on some major themes in this novel.
It's her first and ten years and she explores lots
of race, belonging, class issues, societal norms, corruption, sexism, and morality.
And all her characters have these different belief systems that
sometimes clash. And she's telling the story from four Nigerian
women who are in their forties have reached these major

(00:47):
turning points in their lives. So there's Jima Kanda, who's
a travel writer who was raised in wealth and she's
living in the US and she's talking about her past
lovers and the ending of each relationship. And her best friend, Shikhora,
is a lawyer who's always been successful, but she's been
portrayed and she turns back to her mother in that time.
And then there's Emily who's her cousin, and she lives

(01:08):
in Nigeria and she's an incredibly successful banker and she's
enormously donates to people to alleviate some of the shame
for the corruption in her work. And finally there's katal
who's her housekeeper and she's very proud to be raising
her teenage daughter in America and her book kind of
the book traces her childhood and Nigeria to the present

(01:29):
day where she's sort of faced with the situation where
she might actually lose everything. And so these women are
unlikely friends in lots of ways, and they navigate their
expectations in life and realities, and you get these interconnect
stories told from different perspectives and aduct She managed to
get layer upon layer for these characters, and she's an
incredibly talented writer, and it leaves you with lots of

(01:51):
feelings and thoughts at the end of the novel.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah nice, Okay. That's dream Count by Chamanda and Gorzi Adachi.
You've also read Presumed Guilty by Scott turau.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
So in this which follows a book that he wrote
over thirty years ago called Presumed Innocent, which last year
was turned into Apple series with Jake Giggenhall. And in
This Rusty So actually's now a seventy year old retired
judge and he finds himself in this quiet lakeside community
and he's with his fans a b and they have
this great life and she is a position of a

(02:23):
principal at local school, and they've lived together but never married,
and they share their home with her adopted son, Aaron.
And it hadn't be easy for him growing up as
the only black kid in a primarily white community, and
he'd found his relationship with his lovely girl, May, who
had met at school. But also on the other hand,
he finds himself serving a probation sentence for a drug offense,

(02:47):
and Rusty and b agree to take responsibility for him
in those restrictions as part of probation, and all's going
kind of well until Aaron and May decide to go
camping together, and Aaron knew that leaving home and driving
were against his per role of probation agreement. And that's
the trip that changes his life because shortly after he

(03:07):
returns without her, her body's discovered and he's charged with
first degree murder and against his better judgment, Rusty decides
to take on the case, and that's where you get
the twists and the turns and courtroom suspense and this
legal drama that takes place in those courtrooms. And Scoptro
is incredibly good at writing these courtroom scenes and making

(03:27):
you feel like you're sitting there right with the parties involved.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah, okay, cool, So that's presumed guilty by Scott Tua.
Your first book is Dream Count by Jamanda and Gazzi
Adachi and Catherine's recommendations will be on the News Talks.
He'd be website for more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame.
Listen live to News Talks he'd be from nine am Saturday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio