The Philip Gourevitch-Title-Concept-Rip-Off Award Goes To....

Andrew Rice, author of the forthcoming, "The Teeth May Smile But the Heart Does Not Forget," which is subtitled, "Murder and Memory in Uganda."

A wee bit obvious, no?

When Philip first told me that he was thinking of calling his Rwanda book "We Wish To Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families," I said something akin to, "WTF?" It seemed very... long. Of course, the title turned out to be a stroke of genius (the actual book was pretty damn good as well).

So, of course, the great temptation when writing a book about atrocities in Africa is to steal the Gourevitch model. Which is fine, except that this Uganda title doesn't have the same lyricism, or the same blood-chilling juxtaposition of high manners and the forecast of imminent murder. On the other hand, I'm not going to judge a book by its title, and Rice is on to an important story. Uganda, where I used to spend a lot of time, is a fascinating place, today a more-or-less functioning (well, sometimes less) country that was not long ago the scene of unparalleled horror. Rice is a very good journalist, so I'm looking forward to reading it. Despite the title.