Tropical Fish
by Doreen Baingana
(Oshun)
Fiction writers have the language and leeway to play with received notions of truth and form new stories out of raw material,” Doreen Baingana said recently at a writer’s conference. Reading her debut novel Tropical Fish, one gets a crystal-clear picture of what she meant.
There is a piercing universal truth presented in Tropical Fish, a truth that pounces on the reader at unexpected moments, and this is part of the beauty of this exceptionally written book.
Through the eyes of three sisters, we learn about growing up in Uganda in the post-Idi Amin era. Through Christine’s exploration of her mother’s jewellery box, hidden among the beautiful stones, beads and pearls, we come to understand her parent’s flawed marriage. Through a thank-you note written to a past lover called David, Rosa, the eldest of the sisters, alerts us of the ”cruel blanket” called Aids that threatens to cover us all.
Baingana explores the concept of home through Christine’s return to Uganda from the United States. She finds herself detached from a home that she believed she would always understand and love — while much has stayed the same, much has changed. Can we feel like a stranger in our own home? Who decides where home is? It is such questions that one is bound to ask oneself while reading this story.
It is a beautifully written book, with well-developed characters. In each of the sisters one finds a partial reflection of oneself, and appreciates their journey into adulthood.