"Tropical Fish"
Written by: Doreen Baingana
Published by: Oshun Books
Reviewed by: Moira Richards
ISBN: 177-007-0516
Genre: Fiction
Tropical Fish comprises eight short personal narratives told in turn by the three Mugisha sisters who grow up in Uganda shortly after the demise of the Idi Amin regime. In the book each young woman's tale adds to those of her sisters to create for the reader, a mosaic of their family life and of life in Uganda during the nineteen eighties with all its cultural richnesses, deadly dangers and political turmoil. Similar in many ways to any other place in the world.
The sisters follow rather divergent life paths so we catch glimpses of a number of different facets of Ugandan culture and traditions. I particularly enjoyed one of the pieces from Christine, youngest of the sisters, that relays her first impressions of life as lived in Los Angeles. She travels to the USA as a young woman and lives and works there for eight years before returning to Uganda. She gives an interesting outsider's view of first-world city life as well as some insight into life there as an expatriate. The story contrasts well with a later tale that she relates about her experiences on her subsequent return to Uganda after the long absence from her home country.
Doreen Baingana published most of these pieces separately and at different times, as short stories in various North American litmags before she drew them together as this multi-faceted novella. Although she wrote all the stories as stand-alone pieces, they link together seamlessly and display none of the 'separateness' that cause some readers to avoid the short story genre.
Google 'Moira Richards' to find links to her essays on Women Abuse, her reviews of woman-authored books as well as to other writing and editing work she does for various print and e-publications. She can often be found lounging about the staff rooms ofwomenwriters.net, absolutewrite.com and moondance.org - usually sipping tea, sometimes Jack Daniels.
Off-line, she teaches accounting and other numberly subjects to students at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa. And writes a poem or two.