Tropical Fish: Tales From Entebbe [Paperback]

Doreen Baingana (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 2006

In her fiction debut, Doreen Baingana follows a Ugandan girl as she navigates the uncertain terrain of adolescence. Set mostly in pastoral Entebbe with stops in the cities Kampala and Los Angeles, Tropical Fish depicts the reality of life for Christine Mugisha and her family after Idi Amin’s dictatorship.

Three of the eight chapters are told from the point of view of Christine’s two older sisters, Patti, a born-again Christian who finds herself starving at her boarding school, and Rosa, a free spirit who tries to “magically” seduce one of her teachers. But the star of Tropical Fish is Christine, whom we accompany from her first wobbly steps in high heels, to her encounters with the first-world conveniences and alienation of America, to her return home to Uganda.

As the Mugishas cope with Uganda’s collapsing infrastructure, they also contend with the universal themes of family cohesion, sex and relationships, disease, betrayal, and spirituality. Anyone dipping into Baingana’s incandescent, widely acclaimed novel will enjoy their immersion in the world of this talented newcomer.

*Winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book in the Africa region
*Winner of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Award Series in Short Fiction
*Winner of the Washington Writing Prize for Short Fiction
*Finalist for the Caine Prize in African Writing

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ugandan-born Baingana chronicles in her debut collection of linked stories the lives of three sisters growing up in Entebbe after the fall of Idi Amin. Though most of the stories take place in Africa, "Lost in Los Angeles" follows the principal character, Christine Mugisha, as she travels to California, where she grapples with a different breed of racism than she faces in her own country. The title story, "Tropical Fish," follows Christine's apathetic affair with an older, affluent white man who woos her with the many perks of his money. "A Thank-You Note" is a letter from Christine's older sister, Rosa, to an ex-lover that angrily and poignantly recounts her battle with AIDS. Baingana's characters are confined by a passivity and powerlessness (Christine likens herself to a plastic doll) rarely broken, though the collection ends on a hopeful note, as Christine rejoins her mother and sister Patti—Rosa has already died—thinking about how she "would have to learn all over again how to live in this new old place called home." Baingana's richly detailed stories are lush with cultural commentary. (On sale Sept. 12)
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Review

“Baingana's richly detailed stories are lush with cultural commentary.”—Publishers Weekly

“Marks the debut of an unflinching, graceful new voice.” —David Anthony Durham, author of Pride of Carthage

“[Baingana’s] prose is rich in specifics unknown to most of us, but what is truly dazzling is the way this brilliance of detail mounts into rare, subtle, surprising drama.”—Joan Silber, author of Ideas of Heaven: A Ring of Stories

“Doreen Baingana shows mastery of language, a painter’s eye for detail, and a compassion so deep, I imagine her heart has no bottom.”
—Reginald McKnight, author of He Sleeps: A Novel

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (September 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767925106
• ISBN-13: 978-0767925105
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #212,458 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rare and priceless jewel is this..., March 7, 2007

By 

BMAR (Northern USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tropical Fish: Tales From Entebbe (Paperback)

An amazing set of short stories by debut author Doreen Baingana, "Tropical Fish" quickly drew me in and held me captive until the very last page of the last tale in a series of stories on the lives and development of three Ugandan sisters. Largely focused on the youngest, Christine Mugisha, these stories take us into life as young women in a society full of such promise but decimated in many ways by missteps such as the regime of Idi Amin.

Christine Mugisha and her eldest sister Rosa and the middle child Patti are drawn in strong contrasts, as well as powerful parallels. They are all young women trying to find their way in society with a shared family history. However, each has clutched a different talisman as their saving grace. Rosa seeks comfort and support in a group of friends and in the arms of a young man with whom she has a secret relationship. Patti chooses God as she immerses herself in the society of born-again Christians. Christine searches in many places including both of the paths already chosen by her older sisters. Eventually her quest takes her to the United States of America as she seeks to distinguish herself and truly find out who she is. The paths that each of them takes lead them to distinct destinies. Following their journeys through the eyes and words of Ms. Baingana was a true joy.

Author Baingana is a treasure. She captures the nuances of life in post-Amin Uganda without over politicizing her tales or her characters. In fact, she very convincingly portrays the normal struggles of young women transitioning into full adulthood over the background of struggles of class, gender and politics amongst other issues. I look forward to her navigating another delightful journey.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous and Brilliant, January 4, 2009

By 

Tayari Jones (Urbana, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tropical Fish: Tales From Entebbe (Paperback)

This time next week, I'll be in Kampala, Uganda giving a five-day workshop to the amazing women of an organization called FEMRITE. I am so stoked about the opportunity. Right now, I am preparing a packet of short stories to use as texts. Obviously, I went right to Tropical Fish.

I'd read Tropical Fish before, but I had forgotten just how brilliant Doreen is! I am forcing myself to choose only two stories for my packet, but I can't begin to choose. I love me some coming of age stories and her young narrators are aces. I know I'll end up using one of the epistolary stories because writing a letter that seems like a letter, but still tells a story is a complicated maneuver-- which Doreen pulls off not once, but twice in the collection.

So, here are the stories I am thinking of using and a little bit of summary.
*"A Thank You Note" This story is a letter from Rosa who is in the final stages of HIV to her lover, David. The letter is both personal and real, but at the same time really gives a reader a close look at the physical ravages of the disease and also the way that you can trace the spread of HIV to the complicated networks of culture.
*"Hunger" A formerly well-off girl in boarding school must beg for sugar from the "posh" girls. This is a dynamite look at class and entitlement. The ending put me in the mind of James Baldwin. So good I wanted to eat it.
*"Tropical Fish" The title story is a knock out. Christine, whom we meet as a girl in earlier stories, is grown up now and has fallen into a relationship with a British exporter of fish. It's about sex, power, race, and voice.

I know I said I can only use two, but there are just so many tempting stories. I wish, I wish, I could afford to buy books for all thirty women in the class!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!!, July 24, 2008

By 

Jane N. Kambalame "Jane Kambalame" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tropical Fish: Tales From Entebbe (Paperback)

I absolutely loved this hilarious book because I could identify with some of the characters- The setting is not in a village, the stories are not about nice respectable African girls like we sometimes want the world to believe. Ms. Baingana weaves a story of three African girls growing up in urban Uganda struggling with everyday adolescent issues and College life. She also gives a very clear picture of life of an African immigrant and problems faced in trying to fit in upon return. Very good pick for a book club and rather than borrow from a library, buy one for home library.