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De Ambassade Van Cambodja (2014)

by Zadie Smith(Favorite Author)

3.67 of 5 Votes: 1

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Prometheus

review 1: A good read but the same excellent standard I have come to expect from Zadie Smith. I think if I read it in the New Yorker I would have been impressed, as it's a perfect read for "browsing" but published and turned into a penguin classic style book is a little over the top and raises expectations too much. Living in Hong Kong and working on migrants issues as I do, it certainly gave me food for thought.
review 2: My first experience delving into the works of Zadie Smith, 'The Embassy of Cambodia' proved to be a rich narrative making the most of an economy of words used to create a well-versed fleshed out short story. Through the protagonist, the deep-thinking African-migrant Fatou, we see not just the many faces of modern London but the perilous existence lived... more by Fatou before arriving from Africa. There is a perfect juxtaposition between the Cambodian genocide under the Khmer Rouge and the current plight of migrants of the U.K. Though there is definitely motifs of racial and social inequality present within 'Embassy' the narrative seems to go beyond racism as purely black and white (excuse the pun). Essentially it is Andrew (Fatou's confidant) who explains it best with his 'Big Man Policy', somebody always wants to be the big man and rule, but the big man is weak, which if they see you realising they will destroy you. This is the case with Fatou's employers, the Pakistani Derawal family who takes the form of the big man, who ultimately fire Fatou for her burgeoning independent thoughts. As is further explicated with the case with the ever-present exchange of the badminton shuttlecock of the embassy in repetitive 'pock, smash, pock, smash' we see the abundant nature of the 'big man policy' alive in the world, the badminton game is used as a racial signifier as the short story concludes with 'one player could imagine only a violent conclusion and the other only a hopeful return.' less

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