I can’t believe I’m writing my final blog post. It is so bittersweet.

The Embassy of Cambodia left a very loose ending which  disappointed a lot of readers; however, I enjoyed Zadie’s Smith’s style, and I feel as if it was designed to make the readers think. I could not determine who was actually telling the story, but I assumed that it had to be someone that had been paying close attention to Fatou as she journeyed through the neighborhood. This character brought the Embassy of Cambodia to life. I had no idea what this was, or what the people on the other side were doing, but it sure made me want to climb inside and see for myself. I think the story shows how we can be on the outside of someone’s life and looking in, imagining what we want about someone. Fatou imagined the lives of those who were on the other side of the wall just as the people who watched her on the side of the streets formed their opinions of her sitting on the sidewalk. They could only imagine “a violent conclusion or a hopeful return” for her.  I think this implies that people should take a moment to just check on someone! I see this all the time in Atlanta especially! People are so focused on their own lives, where they have to be, what they have to do, and they won’t stop to see how someone else is doing. But it only takes a few seconds to ask someone, “how are you?”

I try to make someone’s day even when I can’t brighten my own. I believe if any one of those people would have stopped and talked to Fatou, the story would have ended differently. But now we don’t know what happened with Fatou, or how life turned out for her. And we never will!

Zadie Smith made the characters seem so real and she raised some very intense points in this short story. I could relate to Fatou’s battle with her faith and religion. I feel that this story was short and complete and it served it’s purpose of making the reader’s think.