"New Day": A Book About the Crippled and Difficult Life of People Who Became Homeless Due to Social and Family Reasons (Video)
The novel "New Day" by Greek writer Nikos Chrysos delves into the crippled and arduous lives of individuals who find themselves homeless due to social and family reasons. Described by literary critics as a narrative that cuts to the bone, Chrysos raises a
In Europe, the number of homeless individuals is nearing one million, with 700,000 people sleeping every night outdoors. Over the past decade, homelessness has surged by 70%. The year 2022 witnessed 84,000 homeless people in Germany, 28,000 in Spain, 2,600 spending the night on the streets of Paris, and over 1,000 in Barcelona.
While "New Day" is a work of fiction, the author addresses genuine issues, depicting the daily lives of homeless people using real facts, quotes from news sources, and police chronicles. One of the central characters, Sebastian, experiences a horrifying fate — being burned alive — a real incident. Homeless individuals endure harsh conditions, sleeping in the rain, and subsisting on discarded scraps. Even in fleeting moments of joy, they find solace in a glass of wine or hot coffee away from the public gaze, as they contend with the scrutiny of passersby and cafe owners. Nikos Chrysos vividly illustrates how life on the streets erodes the soul, body, and mind.
The novel intentionally avoids specifying the city in which events unfold, emphasizing the universality of homeless issues across cities. Greek cities closely resemble their European counterparts in grappling with homelessness. Being homeless has become a prevalent phenomenon in Greece, with an estimated 18,000 people on the streets and in homeless shelters in 2015.
Through his characters, the writer shows how and why people lose their homes, ending up on the streets primarily due to family or financial problems and unemployment. The more resourceful among them find refuge on planks, benches, or makeshift structures, often under cardboard or directly on the ground.
According to Chrysos, the situation in Greece and Europe has seen little change in recent years, despite the European Union's creation of a platform to aid the homeless in 2021. The platform's strategy aims to eradicate homelessness by 2030. However, of the 27 European countries that joined the initiative, only Denmark and Austria have achieved modest success.
The ranks of the homeless in Europe have swelled due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, with hundreds of war and poverty refugees facing homelessness and perishing daily on the streets from cold, accidents, attacks, and diseases.
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