I love the metaphor of badminton in “The Embassy of Cambodia.” Early on Fatou notices the pattern in the games of “pock, smash,” and I feel like that carries over to her story. She repeatedly seems to be floating though a possibly good situation only to be smashed back down. The numbers in the breaks tell the story of a shutout loss in a game of badminton, ended in 0-21. It’s a beautiful through line. Even when the story seems to take a good turn, the next break keeps counting up the scoring deficit until the final loss, the loss of her job. I also love how the story begins and ends with the use of the first person plural narration. It helps the reader see Fatou as any person on the side of the road in an obvious bad spot who we couldn’t or wouldn’t help.

I can believe this trip is almost over! This has been completely amazing. You guys all rock! I’ll never forget this experience.