The Embassy of Cambodia is a miniature novel of 21 short chapters written by Zadie Smith. At first, the text was published in The New Yorker journal in 2013. Through the description of the Ivory Coast [dt.: Elfenbeinküste] immigrant Fatou who fled to London illegally, Zadie Smith illustrates the life conditions of an immigrant as a form of modern slavery. Smith writes on Fatou’s circumstances and the principles of exploitation and deprivation of rights that the young immigrant has to face.
The first chapter describes the Cambodian embassy in Willesden, an area of North West London. The embassy, which is located next to a wellness centre, is behind a red brick wall. Behind this wall, badminton is often played. The author describes the sport through the recurring words “Pock, smash. Pock, smash.”
On her way to the wellness centre, Fatou passes the embassy building. In the wellness centre she practises swimming, which she enjoys very much. She is very skilled, due to her self-taught experience swimming in the Atlantic ocean. Every time Fatou passes the embassy, she notices the badminton play.
The inhabitants of Willesdens are rather prosaic [dt.: nüchtern, realtistisch, emotionslos] in their approach to the embassy. They are described as unpoetic and the majority of people only associate it with vague recollections of the Cambodian genocide when glancing at the embassy.
In summer, the inhabitants of Willesden watch the Olympic Games, while the badminton players, whom Fatou passes every Monday, play on. Fatou secretly uses the membership cards of the Derawals to get into the wellness center. In front of the Embassy, Fatou often observes young white people enter the building trying to apply for a visa or she simply watches the badminton game which is never interrupted.
On the twentieth of August, Fatou recognises a basketball basket in a corner of the embassy terrain, although she has never seen anyone playing basketball, only badminton.
In chapter six, Fatou describes the surroundings of the embassy and the embassy itself as nothing special. In the area there is a Catholic nunnery [dt.: Nonnenkloster], a Sikh institute [dt.: Institut von Angehörigen einer Religionsgemeinschaft im Pandschab], a faux-Tudor-house and a decrepit [dt.: heruntergekommen] old people’s home. To the people in Willesden and Brondesbury the Embassy of Cambodia seems like a surprising and odd feature of the area.
Fatou watches a Cambodian woman who leaves the embassy with several shopping bags. Surprised, Fatou realises that the woman is shopping where Fatou also does the shopping for the Derawal family. Fatou assumes that every culture has its own stores and also mentions that Chinese people usually keep to themselves regarding their eating habits.
Fatou watches the woman even longer and realizes that in her bags there are probably clothes or rubbish instead of food. Once again, Fatou perceives the badminton playing behind the wall.
In context with the Cambodian woman, the narrator explains that if the inhabitants of Willesden followed the stories and events of each country, there would be no time left for other activities.
Fatou and Andrew are sitting in the Tunisian café on a Sunday when Fatou talks to Andrew about the Holocaust. Andrew is a friend of Fatou’s who respects her. He is pursuing his education in economics at the college of North West London.
Later, Fatou wants to talk about Africa and asks Andrew the question “Are we born to suffer?”. Andrew answers with simple words, explaining that the Jews cry for the Jews, the Russians for the Russians and the Africans for Africa. Fatou says Africans have had to suffer more than other peoples, for example, the Chinese have never been slaves. Andrew then addresses the example of Hiroshima in Japan and explains what happened.
In the course of the conversation, Fatou tries to imagine Andrew as her husband, but in the end she sees him more as a son and doesn’t like his figure and his moustache. Andrew admires Fatou for her way of thinking and offers to ask her questions at any time. He recognises the friendship between the two and reassures Fatou, arguing that Christianity is spreading rapidly in Africa and that God will therefore no longer allow Africans to suffer.