King: A Street Story

'King' chronicles the events of a single day in the life of a homeless couple called Vica and Vico, as seen through the eyes of a stray dog who befriends them and follows them around. He becomes their companion and our narrator. We hear how his previous companion Luc committed suicide by jumping off a bridge, and all about a community of down-and-outs living on the 'scrap mountain' called Saint Valery, somewhere near a motorway in somewhen France, on which they eke out their existence scavenging.

John Berger has a beautiful, sparse prose style, and the matter-of-fact way he discloses unexpected details can be devastating. For example, on the second page we are jolted by this:

"A month ago a gang of kids poured petrol over an old man
who show more was sleeping in a street behind the Central Station
and then they threw a match on to him. He woke up in flames."

This is an unforgettable book. It will surprise you, move you, and prick your conscience. I'm ashamed to admit that one reason it caught me by surprise is that Vica and Vico aren't a pair of young drug addicts, they are an elderly couple, married for thirty years, who used to have a 'normal' life (whatever that means) but have ended up on this human scrapheap following redundancy. To society's shame, they have become redundant. This is a day in the life of people literally living on a scrapheap, struggling to survive. As details of their lives are revealed, and their devotion to each other shines through, it breaks your heart. Even to be allowed to stay on the scrapheap they have to pay: in order to raise the money, Vico sells his last possession, a camera:

"Do you want to know the photos I've taken with the camera you are holding in your hands?" asks Vico. "We are not interested" says the shopkeeper.

Is he including us, the readers, in that "we"?
Are we interested in the life story of a tramp? Do we care?

This book that made me realize why so many homeless people seem to have dogs. it's because stray dogs recognize them as fellow outcasts. And because dogs don't discriminate - they see the human beings we choose not to, and befriend them.

"King" may be hard to find, it didn't get the promotion it deserved, and it is frequently misfiled in shops and libraries because Berger didn't want his name to appear on the cover. In fact the only place he is named is in the copyright details. It's almost as if he wants King to be credited as the author - but then again maybe King isn't really a dog...

It may not be the greatest novel of all time, but it is full of simple humanity and the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. I re-read very few books, but this one I keep coming back to - it's so haunting. show less

"¿Qué sucede cuando el Abrigo, una de esas playas donde son arrojados los náufragos de nuestra sociedad, esas tierras de nadie que se vislumbran desde las autopistas en un aleteo de ropa tendida, es objeto de la especulación inmobiliaria? El punto de vista de un perro no es posible para la mirada de un hombre. Así, este perro guía, King, que habla a la inocencia que aún pueda quedar en nosotros, nos conduce por los pliegues de este Abrigo, permitiéndonos entrar en la pequeña resistencia cotidiana impregnada de ingenio y creatividad de los que nada tienen". (Descripción editorial).

A fascinating read..life on the street from the perspective of a dog. He is in his own way a literary version of a street photographer...a well written adventure and a different take on life.