Smith is acclaimed for her full-length novels, and The Embassy of Cambodia is an understated departure from this trend.
This is a seemingly quirky, whimsical tale of a young black maid in a wealthy, predominantly white neighbourhood. Fatou strolls the main street, observing, while shuttlecocks ping-ping endlessly between anonymous players in a telling motif.
Fatou is intrigued by the disjunction of the Cambodian embassy amid ostentatious residences, and watches for its visitors. Nearby, a middle-aged woman, representing the ''people of Willesden'' and their superior moral standards, observes Fatou.
Smith's narrative technique deliberately selects a remoteness in its depiction of the banal. The privileged watch, and idly comment. Yet within the mini-chapters lurks more substantial detail: conversations reveal deep-seated prejudice and a gulf between whiteness and blackness.
References to historical atrocities infiltrate the content, just as ''foreigners'' are perceived to infiltrate the neighbourhood of Willesden. The reader will enjoy and benefit from revisiting The Embassy of Cambodia.
- Jessie Neilson is a University of Otago library assistant.
