Structure

The novella The Embassy of Cambodia by Zadie Smith follows a chronological plot structure. The narrative presents the story of Fatou from when she first walks past the Cambodian embassy until the moment when she is fired and kicked out of the Derawals’ house and waits by the embassy to meet with Andrew. 

The novella is split into 21 short chapters. Some of the chapters are used as interruptions in the narrative where the narrator makes comments about the embassy or Fatou. The way the chapters are numbered (0 - 1, 0 - 21) reflects the score of a badminton match, in which points go up to 21. 

The novella includes flashbacks. For example, when Fatou goes swimming, she often thinks back to different times in her life, such as when she lived in Ghana or Rome: “As she swam, she thought...