Tropical Fish: Tales from Entebbe by Doreen Baingana is an interlinked short story collection; each of the stories is told from the point of view of one of three sisters, and the stories move forward in time. It’s a neat format, and one that Baingana pulls off very well; while most of the stories are about Christina, the youngest sister, the occasional change in point of view helped round out the book. Baingana is a wonderful writer, and one of the things I love most is the sense of place she brought to Tropical Fish. I’ve never been anywhere near Uganda (though I do hope to visit one day), but I was able to walk the streets of Entebbe, party at Makere University, and experience boarding school life thanks to Baingana.
For some reason, my writing feels a bit formal today, so I hope I’m getting across to you how much this book delighted me! I really loved it; in addition to that wonderful sense of place, the book is full of the universal issues girls face as they grown into womanhood. I identified with all of the sisters, and while Baingana occassionally broke my heart, she also made me smile and laugh.
All of the stories in the collection are wonderful, but the one that took my breath away, that I would make everyone read if it was available anywhere online, was “A Thank-You Note.” It’s written in the form of a letter, and it’s about AIDS and the horrible irony and being a carefree college student and knowing you’re dying when you’re twenty-three. Just now, I was looking for a passage to share with you, and I wish I could just type up the whole thing. But since I can’t, here’s a bit that really caught me:
David, we whispered these rumors about them, the villagers, but didn’t talk about us, did we? Now we know we are all connected: one big loving community. Back then, we thought we were different, serparate from the Rakai kind; they were born suffering, after all, but not us, oh no. We were at Makere University; we were the cream of the crop. We had dodged the bullets of Amin, Obote, all the coups, the economic war, exile and return, and here we were on the road to success. We were the lukcy ones, the chosen few. No one said this out loud, of course, we didn’t consciously think it, but the knowledge sat at the back of our minds like a fat cat. We were intelligent, read books for fun, had worn shoes and socks to school while villagers went barefoot; we spoke proper English; listened to Top of the Pops rather than Congolese music; ate with forks, not our fingers. And, of course, we would one day leave this place to work in southern Africa, or go to Europe or America for further studies. Escape, but not by dying.
What went wrong, David?
I’ve read a lot of short stories over the years, and there are a special few that touch me, that I will always remember and think about. I am positive that “A Thank You Note” is one of those stories.
That being said, I almost didn’t want to tell y’all that it was my favourite. Why? Because it seems a touch stereotypical to have a story about AIDS in a collection set anywhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Tropical Fish is anything but stereotypical. The sisters are from privileged Uganda, and they always feel like real people dealing with real issues, not like mouthpieces for ‘African issues,’ whatever that might be. And “A Thank You Note” is intensely personal, which is what makes it so searing.
I thought I’d have more to talk about in this post, since the book makes me feel all gushy! But I went into it not knowing anything (I didn’t even realise the stories were interlinked until the third one, lol), and I find I don’t want to talk about specifics, because I want you all to experience it for yourself. Even if you’re not a big short story fan, I think you should try it out; it has the continuity of a novel, with characters growing over time. If you value wonderful writing, or characters who feel like they could step out of the pages, or coming-of-age stories or a powerful sense of place, do yourself a favour and read Tropical Fish. It exceeded every one of my expectations, and I can only hope that Baingana publishes another book soon.
Oh! I almost forgot to mention that I read this book for the African Diaspora Challenge, as an Eastern Africa selection. 
I’ve loved every book I’ve read for the challenge so far, and I highly recommend you sign yourself up for it, or at least check out the recommended reading and participants’ reviews.
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