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Who Was David Weiser?
During the hot Polish summer of 1957, strange things began to happen. The fish died and stewed fetidly in the bay, there was a drought and a comet. The priest said they were signs from God, but the children believed that these happenings were connected to the mysterious David Weiser.
215 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1987
About the author
Paweł Huelle
38 books47 followersPaweł Huelle (b. 10 September 1957 in Gdańsk, Poland) was a Polish prose writer.
Huelle studied philology at Gdańsk University, and later became a journalist. He worked for a time for the press service of Solidarność (Solidarity). He has also taught literature, philosophy, and history. He was director of the Polish Television in his home town from 1994 to 1999.
His literary debut came in 1987 with Weiser Dawidek, made into a film, Weiser, by Wojciech Marczewski in 2000.
Huelle studied philology at Gdańsk University, and later became a journalist. He worked for a time for the press service of Solidarność (Solidarity). He has also taught literature, philosophy, and history. He was director of the Polish Television in his home town from 1994 to 1999.
His literary debut came in 1987 with Weiser Dawidek, made into a film, Weiser, by Wojciech Marczewski in 2000.
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January 16, 2023
David Weiser is the only Jewish boy in an otherwise all-Catholic school in Gdansk Poland. It’s the summer of 1957. When all the other kids march as a unit in an annual religious procession he doesn't participate. The boys see him watching the procession from a hillside and they chant “David Weiser is a Jew.”
So David is forced to be a loner. He never plays with or participates in activities with the other boys. There is one girl, Elka, who hangs out with him and she becomes a major part of the story told by one of the boys, Heller.
The boys start interacting with David one summer day while playing war games. David gives them a rusty gun he found. That’s the start of his winning them over. At first he mostly talks to them through Elka. He stands in front of them and says to Elka ‘tell them such and such.’
That's really the start of the story because it turns out that David is kind of a wizard and we get a bit of almost magical realism.
The GR book blurb gives a good outline of the story so I will use that and not worry about revealing spoilers: ‘David Weiser can hypnotize panthers, shoot a bullet through a Hitler stamp at a hundred meters, and even levitate. After staging a spectacular explosion with a hidden cache of old German munitions, Weiser and Elka vanish without a trace, leaving the three other boys, including Pawel Heller - the novel's narrator - to explain his disappearance to the authorities.’
I say ‘almost’ magical realism above because the author leaves the reader a bit of explanation that we can choose to believe is the cause of David’s wizardry. For example,
As the story opens, three boys are being interrogated by the school director, the public prosecutor, a military office and a sadistic teacher. David and Elka are missing, so the authorities believe they died in the explosion. But where are their bodies? The boys are covering up something.
The story alternates in passages between the interrogation and Heller’s reflections on the events with David that summer. All three boys give varying versions of what happened, trying to protect David and Elka. So the authorities send them out of the room, not allowed to talk to each other, and repeatedly call them back in one by one to go over their stories until midnight.
Thirty years later, the narrator, Heller, is writing this book still attempting to solve the mystery that he has puzzled over since these events. He warns us that the story is one of an unsolved mystery. “That sentence is illogical, but let it stand, because everything in this story is illogical. So let it stand.” What really happened in all these incidents? And what really happened to David and Elka?
This lifelong obsession with a mystery, as I think about it, is a theme in several other books that I have read and reviewed. A man is obsessed with things that happened years ago and is still searching for answers. I think of Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis where Dom obsesses over his deceased wife’s fidelity and Embers by Sandor Marai with a related theme. In The Vanishing by Tim Krabbé, a man obsesses over how his wife disappeared and there is an almost identical theme in one of the stories built into the novel Flights by Olga Tokarczuk. In Paul Modiano’s novel, So You Don't Get Lost in the Neighborhood, the elderly narrator is still preoccupied with figuring out mysterious events of his bizarre childhood.
There is good straightforward writing and local color of Gdansk. These are all poor kids living in a deteriorated neighborhood where their fathers work in the shipyard. There are bits and pieces of information about growing up in communist Poland. For example, the kids still get a heavy dose of religion at school and church and yet they have to sing patriotic communist songs that denigrate religious authorities.
The Polish author (b. 1957) has written 10 novels and collections of short stories, about half translated into English. David Weiser was his first novel and remains his most read.
Top photo of the Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers in Gdansk, mentioned in the story. From Wikipedia
The author from polskieradio.pl
So David is forced to be a loner. He never plays with or participates in activities with the other boys. There is one girl, Elka, who hangs out with him and she becomes a major part of the story told by one of the boys, Heller.
The boys start interacting with David one summer day while playing war games. David gives them a rusty gun he found. That’s the start of his winning them over. At first he mostly talks to them through Elka. He stands in front of them and says to Elka ‘tell them such and such.’
That's really the start of the story because it turns out that David is kind of a wizard and we get a bit of almost magical realism.
The GR book blurb gives a good outline of the story so I will use that and not worry about revealing spoilers: ‘David Weiser can hypnotize panthers, shoot a bullet through a Hitler stamp at a hundred meters, and even levitate. After staging a spectacular explosion with a hidden cache of old German munitions, Weiser and Elka vanish without a trace, leaving the three other boys, including Pawel Heller - the novel's narrator - to explain his disappearance to the authorities.’
I say ‘almost’ magical realism above because the author leaves the reader a bit of explanation that we can choose to believe is the cause of David’s wizardry. For example,
As the story opens, three boys are being interrogated by the school director, the public prosecutor, a military office and a sadistic teacher. David and Elka are missing, so the authorities believe they died in the explosion. But where are their bodies? The boys are covering up something.
The story alternates in passages between the interrogation and Heller’s reflections on the events with David that summer. All three boys give varying versions of what happened, trying to protect David and Elka. So the authorities send them out of the room, not allowed to talk to each other, and repeatedly call them back in one by one to go over their stories until midnight.
Thirty years later, the narrator, Heller, is writing this book still attempting to solve the mystery that he has puzzled over since these events. He warns us that the story is one of an unsolved mystery. “That sentence is illogical, but let it stand, because everything in this story is illogical. So let it stand.” What really happened in all these incidents? And what really happened to David and Elka?
This lifelong obsession with a mystery, as I think about it, is a theme in several other books that I have read and reviewed. A man is obsessed with things that happened years ago and is still searching for answers. I think of Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis where Dom obsesses over his deceased wife’s fidelity and Embers by Sandor Marai with a related theme. In The Vanishing by Tim Krabbé, a man obsesses over how his wife disappeared and there is an almost identical theme in one of the stories built into the novel Flights by Olga Tokarczuk. In Paul Modiano’s novel, So You Don't Get Lost in the Neighborhood, the elderly narrator is still preoccupied with figuring out mysterious events of his bizarre childhood.
There is good straightforward writing and local color of Gdansk. These are all poor kids living in a deteriorated neighborhood where their fathers work in the shipyard. There are bits and pieces of information about growing up in communist Poland. For example, the kids still get a heavy dose of religion at school and church and yet they have to sing patriotic communist songs that denigrate religious authorities.
The Polish author (b. 1957) has written 10 novels and collections of short stories, about half translated into English. David Weiser was his first novel and remains his most read.
Top photo of the Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers in Gdansk, mentioned in the story. From Wikipedia
The author from polskieradio.pl
September 14, 2024
Можно было бы отнести роман к магическому реализму, но все же, мне кажется, чудесные вещи, которые проделывает Давидек Вайзер, нарисованы детским воображением, готовностью верить в чудеса, равно как и неготовностью поверить в смерть своего кумира. Очевидны библейские аллюзии, проявляющиеся и в именах героев, экологической катастрофе в устье реки - своеобразный Апокалипсис, но у меня нет их интерпретации. Личность Давидека Вайзера неоднозначна, он по натуре лидер, явно одарен, но странными талантами - гипнозом, умением обращаться с взрывчаткой, без тренировок он хорошо играет в футбол, но вряд ли назовешь его положительным героем, особенно в эпизоде с нападением пантеры на жену дрессировщика в цирке. Он не соизмеряет риск и опасность, однажды ранил друга, сказав только, что это был рикошет. Он своего рода Сверхчеловек, с неординарными способностями. Множественность сюжетных ходов усложняется сумасшедшим в жёлтом халате, который, очевидно, тоже символ чего-то, учитывая эпитеты "желтокрылый".
Фоном проходят политические события в Польше, движение "Солидарность". События, связанные со взрывами найденными мальчишками-сорванцами неразорвавшихся немецких снарядов со времён Второй мировой войны происходят в 1957 году, через тринадцать лет после ее окончания. Автор не ставит вопрос, какие последствия оставляет война в виде неразорвавшихся боеприпасов, которые могут попасть в руки детей, случайных прохожих, и может, преступников. Ужас войны в том, что и годы спустя после ее окончания земля, хранящая смертоносное оружие, продолжает быть опасной. Мне кажется, что эта мысль должна была быть более ясно выраженной.
Фоном проходят политические события в Польше, движение "Солидарность". События, связанные со взрывами найденными мальчишками-сорванцами неразорвавшихся немецких снарядов со времён Второй мировой войны происходят в 1957 году, через тринадцать лет после ее окончания. Автор не ставит вопрос, какие последствия оставляет война в виде неразорвавшихся боеприпасов, которые могут попасть в руки детей, случайных прохожих, и может, преступников. Ужас войны в том, что и годы спустя после ее окончания земля, хранящая смертоносное оружие, продолжает быть опасной. Мне кажется, что эта мысль должна была быть более ясно выраженной.
September 16, 2014
PL: Recenzja w dwóch językach - tekst angielski znajduje się pod polskim.
ENG: This is a bilingual review - English text is presented below.
PL: Weiser Dawidek to prozatorski debiut Pawła Huelle opublikowany po raz pierwszy w rok moich narodzin (1987), a zarazem pierwsza polska powieść którą przeczytałem po długim urlopie od polskiej literatury. Wybrałem "Weisera" przypadkowo; wstyd się przyznać lecz wcześniej nie czytałem nic autorstwa Pawła Huelle, a moja wiedza na temat jego twórczości była dość znikoma. Gdzie więc lepiej zacząć niż na początku? Na szczęście mogę z przyjemnością powiedzieć że "Weiser" okazał się być strzałem w dziesiątkę i powieścią do której z chęcią wrócę w przyszłości.
Co więc takiego najbardziej spodobało mi się w "Weiserze"? Przede wszystkim jego niejednoznaczność - powieść można (a nawet trzeba) czytać wiele razy i na wiele sposobów, za każdym razem głowiąc się nad pytaniami które zadaje. Czym właściwie jest - snuciem wspomnień dzieciństwa i dorastania? Powieścią historyczną o realiach powojennego Gdańska i jego okolic, w której miasto jest nie tylko tłem jej wydarzeń lecz odgrywa w nich ważną rolę? Przesiąkniętą religijną symboliką i mistycyzmem nierozwiązywalną zagadką zninięcia tytułowego bohatera?
Historię opisaną w "Weiserze" rozpoczyna przesłuchanie trzech dwunastoletnich przyjaciół - Szymka, Piotra i Pawła Hellera, narratora powieści - w gabinecie dyrektora szkoły do której uczęszczają. Chłopcy są przesłuchiwani przez dyrektora, prokuratora oraz nauczyciela przyrody M-skiego w sprawie zaginięcia w niewyjaśnionych okolicznościach dwójki ich znajomych, Elki i tytułowego Dawida Weisera; po kolei muszą wchodzić do gabinetu i składać zeznania. Przesłuchanie to staje się punktem odniesienia dla dorosłego już Hellera, któremu przeszłość nie daje spokoju; stara się zrekonstruować całą historię od samego początku i połączyć wspomnienia dziecka z odkryciami dorosłego na potrzeby nienapisanej jeszcze książki o Weiserze.
Wspomnienia Hellera rozpoczynają się z momentem poznania Weisera na procesji Bożego Ciała, gdy wyłania się zza dymu kadzidła, tak jakby czekał na nich od zawsze; młody Żyd, szykanowany jako ten co nie chodzi na religię, roztacza swój czar nad grupą przyjaciół i imponuje im swoją ogromną wiedzą oraz umiejętnościami które wydają się być nieskończone. Weiser potrafi wykonywać niesamowite sztuczki, posiada prawdziwy karabin oraz ogromną wiedzę o Gdańsku, nazistach i wojnie; jednocześnie cały czas trzyma dystans do całej reszty - nawet Elka, która przebywa z nim praktycznie cały czas, zdaje się niewiele o nim wiedzieć. Dni spędzone z Weiserem i Elką będą dla Pawła ostatnimi dniami dorastania, a z rzeczywistym zniknięciem Weisera ostatecznie skończy się okres niewinności i magii dzieciństwa.
Dorosły Heller wspomina minione lata spędzone w innym świecie - gorące lato Gdańska pełnego symboli zwiastujących o nadejściu jakiejś niechybnej katastrofy - zatoką pełną śniętych ryb, kometą przelatującą nad miastem. Z tamtych dni zostało tyle ile z politycznych agitacji M-skiego; po pochodach pierwszomajowych do których przymuszał mieszkańców zostały tylko zbierające w piwnicy kurz portrety dawnych przywódców Partii.
Starając się zrozumieć tamte dni i zagadkę Weisera, Heller usiłuje rozmawiać z Szymkiem, Piotrem i Elką - lecz ich wspomnienia nie pokrywają się ze sobą. Dawni przyjaciele i znajomi niektóre wydarzenia pamiętają zupełnie inaczej, a innych nie pamiętają wcale - o samym Weiserze mówią z brakiem zainteresowania, nie rozumiejąc i nie podzielając obsesji Hellera - chcąc jakby mieć ten czas za sobą, a nie do niego wrócić. Czy sztuczki i cała mistyczna postać Weisera były wyolbrzymieniami dziecięcego umysłu, czy też dorosłość ostatecznie odebrała im dziecięcą wrażliwość na tajemnice i cuda?
Jak można więc dociec prawdy - i czy jest to w ogóle możliwe? I, przede wszystkim, czy warto? Czy warto poświęcać życie na przeszłość gdy teraźniejszość umyka przed oczami?
Krytycy zarzucają Huellemu lekkie ściąganie od Guntera Grassa, słynnego drugiego barda Gdańska, lecz jako że nigdy go nie czytałem nie mogę się wypowiedzieć na temat ewentualnych podobieństw między dwoma autorami. Uważam jednak że "Weiser" sam się broni i jest jedną z najlepszych powieści powojennej literatury polskiej, nie tylko okresu transformacji - powieścią pełną niedopowiedzeń i wieloznaczności, lecz także uroku i magii której tak brak dziś w wielu książkach.
Powieść przetłumaczył na język angielski Michael Kandel, i w 1992 r. wydano ją jako Who Was David Weiser?.
ENG: Weiser Dawidek is Paweł Huelle's prose debut, first published in the year of my birth (1987), and the first Polish novel that I read after not reading Polish literature for a long time. I discovered "Weiser" and chose to read it by accident - I'm embarrassed to say that I have not read anything by Paweł Huelle before, and my knowledge of his work was rather poor. So where better to begin than at the beginning? Luckily, I'm very happy to say that "Weiser" was a bull's-eye, and a novel which I'll read again with pleasure.
What did I most like about the book? First of all, its ambiguity - this is a novel which can (and should be) read multiple times in multiple ways, each time trying to find answers to the questions it asks. What is it - a weaving of memories of childhood and adolescence? A historical novel about the realities of the post-war Gdańsk and its environs, where the city is not mere background for the events but plays an important part in them? An unsolvable mystery of the titular character's disappearance, replete with mysticism and religious symbolism?
The novel opens with the interrogation of three twelve year old friends - Szymek, Piotrek and Paweł Heller, who is the sole narrator - in the principal's office at the school which they're attending. The three boys are cross-examined by the principal, local attorney and M-ski, the biology teacher, who ask them about the unexplained disappearance of their two fellow students and acquaintances, Elka and the titular Dawid Weiser.
This hearing becomes a point of reference for the now-adult Heller, who continues to be haunted by the past; he tries to reconstruct the whole story from the very beginning by connecting memories from his boyhood and his research as an adult for a yet unwritten book about Weiser.
Heller's memories begin with the first impression of Weiser - when he emerged from behind the incense smoke at a Corpus Christi procession, as if he was always waiting there for him and his friends. Weiser, a young Jew bullied by other students for not attending religion class at school, soon casts his spell over the three friends and enchants them with his incredible knowledge and seemingly endless skills. He can perform stunning tricks, has a real gun and possesses an extraordinary knowledge of Gdańsk, the war and nazis; at the same time he always maintains his distance from the group, and even Elka, who is with him at almost all times, seems to know little about him. For Paweł, these days, spent with Weiser and Elka, will be the last days of adolescence - and with Weiser's disappearance so will vanish the time of innocence and childhood magic.
The adult Heller now remembers these bygone years, spent in another world - that hot summer when Gdańsk was full of ominous symbols, portents of some inevitable catastrophe to happen; the sea full of dead fish, a comet passing over the city. These days are as gone as is M-sk's old political agitation - the only thing which remains from the old May 1st parades which he forced others to attend are the enormous portrait of Party leaders, now gathering dust in the basement.
To understand these days and the riddle that is Dawid Weiser, Heller tries to talk to Szymek, Piotrek and Elka - but their memories don't match. His old friends and acquaintances remember certain events differently, and some don't remember at all - they're reluctant to talk about Weiser, speaking with a lack of interest, neither understanding nor sharing Heller's obsession with him - as if trying to put that time behind them, not wanting to return to it. Were the tricks and whole mystical character of Weiser effects of a child's exaggerating imagination? Or did adulthood strip them from a child's sensitivity for the mysterious and magical?
How could then the truth be grasped - and is it even possible? And even more so, is it worth it? Is it worth to spend your life trying to return to the past when the present is passing by, unnoticed?
Critics accuse Huelle of being overly influenced by Gunter Grass, famous fellow bard of Gdańsk, though I have never read him and can't confirm where there's any merit to their claims. Still, I believe that "Weiser" stands perfectly on its own and is one of the best novels of post-war Polish literature, and not only from the period of transformation - a novel full of allusions, allegories and implications, but also charm and magic which is so missing in many other books.
The novel has been translated into English by Michael Kandel, and published in 1992 as Who Was David Weiser?.
ENG: This is a bilingual review - English text is presented below.
PL: Weiser Dawidek to prozatorski debiut Pawła Huelle opublikowany po raz pierwszy w rok moich narodzin (1987), a zarazem pierwsza polska powieść którą przeczytałem po długim urlopie od polskiej literatury. Wybrałem "Weisera" przypadkowo; wstyd się przyznać lecz wcześniej nie czytałem nic autorstwa Pawła Huelle, a moja wiedza na temat jego twórczości była dość znikoma. Gdzie więc lepiej zacząć niż na początku? Na szczęście mogę z przyjemnością powiedzieć że "Weiser" okazał się być strzałem w dziesiątkę i powieścią do której z chęcią wrócę w przyszłości.
Co więc takiego najbardziej spodobało mi się w "Weiserze"? Przede wszystkim jego niejednoznaczność - powieść można (a nawet trzeba) czytać wiele razy i na wiele sposobów, za każdym razem głowiąc się nad pytaniami które zadaje. Czym właściwie jest - snuciem wspomnień dzieciństwa i dorastania? Powieścią historyczną o realiach powojennego Gdańska i jego okolic, w której miasto jest nie tylko tłem jej wydarzeń lecz odgrywa w nich ważną rolę? Przesiąkniętą religijną symboliką i mistycyzmem nierozwiązywalną zagadką zninięcia tytułowego bohatera?
Historię opisaną w "Weiserze" rozpoczyna przesłuchanie trzech dwunastoletnich przyjaciół - Szymka, Piotra i Pawła Hellera, narratora powieści - w gabinecie dyrektora szkoły do której uczęszczają. Chłopcy są przesłuchiwani przez dyrektora, prokuratora oraz nauczyciela przyrody M-skiego w sprawie zaginięcia w niewyjaśnionych okolicznościach dwójki ich znajomych, Elki i tytułowego Dawida Weisera; po kolei muszą wchodzić do gabinetu i składać zeznania. Przesłuchanie to staje się punktem odniesienia dla dorosłego już Hellera, któremu przeszłość nie daje spokoju; stara się zrekonstruować całą historię od samego początku i połączyć wspomnienia dziecka z odkryciami dorosłego na potrzeby nienapisanej jeszcze książki o Weiserze.
Wspomnienia Hellera rozpoczynają się z momentem poznania Weisera na procesji Bożego Ciała, gdy wyłania się zza dymu kadzidła, tak jakby czekał na nich od zawsze; młody Żyd, szykanowany jako ten co nie chodzi na religię, roztacza swój czar nad grupą przyjaciół i imponuje im swoją ogromną wiedzą oraz umiejętnościami które wydają się być nieskończone. Weiser potrafi wykonywać niesamowite sztuczki, posiada prawdziwy karabin oraz ogromną wiedzę o Gdańsku, nazistach i wojnie; jednocześnie cały czas trzyma dystans do całej reszty - nawet Elka, która przebywa z nim praktycznie cały czas, zdaje się niewiele o nim wiedzieć. Dni spędzone z Weiserem i Elką będą dla Pawła ostatnimi dniami dorastania, a z rzeczywistym zniknięciem Weisera ostatecznie skończy się okres niewinności i magii dzieciństwa.
Dorosły Heller wspomina minione lata spędzone w innym świecie - gorące lato Gdańska pełnego symboli zwiastujących o nadejściu jakiejś niechybnej katastrofy - zatoką pełną śniętych ryb, kometą przelatującą nad miastem. Z tamtych dni zostało tyle ile z politycznych agitacji M-skiego; po pochodach pierwszomajowych do których przymuszał mieszkańców zostały tylko zbierające w piwnicy kurz portrety dawnych przywódców Partii.
Starając się zrozumieć tamte dni i zagadkę Weisera, Heller usiłuje rozmawiać z Szymkiem, Piotrem i Elką - lecz ich wspomnienia nie pokrywają się ze sobą. Dawni przyjaciele i znajomi niektóre wydarzenia pamiętają zupełnie inaczej, a innych nie pamiętają wcale - o samym Weiserze mówią z brakiem zainteresowania, nie rozumiejąc i nie podzielając obsesji Hellera - chcąc jakby mieć ten czas za sobą, a nie do niego wrócić. Czy sztuczki i cała mistyczna postać Weisera były wyolbrzymieniami dziecięcego umysłu, czy też dorosłość ostatecznie odebrała im dziecięcą wrażliwość na tajemnice i cuda?
Jak można więc dociec prawdy - i czy jest to w ogóle możliwe? I, przede wszystkim, czy warto? Czy warto poświęcać życie na przeszłość gdy teraźniejszość umyka przed oczami?
Krytycy zarzucają Huellemu lekkie ściąganie od Guntera Grassa, słynnego drugiego barda Gdańska, lecz jako że nigdy go nie czytałem nie mogę się wypowiedzieć na temat ewentualnych podobieństw między dwoma autorami. Uważam jednak że "Weiser" sam się broni i jest jedną z najlepszych powieści powojennej literatury polskiej, nie tylko okresu transformacji - powieścią pełną niedopowiedzeń i wieloznaczności, lecz także uroku i magii której tak brak dziś w wielu książkach.
Powieść przetłumaczył na język angielski Michael Kandel, i w 1992 r. wydano ją jako Who Was David Weiser?.
ENG: Weiser Dawidek is Paweł Huelle's prose debut, first published in the year of my birth (1987), and the first Polish novel that I read after not reading Polish literature for a long time. I discovered "Weiser" and chose to read it by accident - I'm embarrassed to say that I have not read anything by Paweł Huelle before, and my knowledge of his work was rather poor. So where better to begin than at the beginning? Luckily, I'm very happy to say that "Weiser" was a bull's-eye, and a novel which I'll read again with pleasure.
What did I most like about the book? First of all, its ambiguity - this is a novel which can (and should be) read multiple times in multiple ways, each time trying to find answers to the questions it asks. What is it - a weaving of memories of childhood and adolescence? A historical novel about the realities of the post-war Gdańsk and its environs, where the city is not mere background for the events but plays an important part in them? An unsolvable mystery of the titular character's disappearance, replete with mysticism and religious symbolism?
The novel opens with the interrogation of three twelve year old friends - Szymek, Piotrek and Paweł Heller, who is the sole narrator - in the principal's office at the school which they're attending. The three boys are cross-examined by the principal, local attorney and M-ski, the biology teacher, who ask them about the unexplained disappearance of their two fellow students and acquaintances, Elka and the titular Dawid Weiser.
This hearing becomes a point of reference for the now-adult Heller, who continues to be haunted by the past; he tries to reconstruct the whole story from the very beginning by connecting memories from his boyhood and his research as an adult for a yet unwritten book about Weiser.
Heller's memories begin with the first impression of Weiser - when he emerged from behind the incense smoke at a Corpus Christi procession, as if he was always waiting there for him and his friends. Weiser, a young Jew bullied by other students for not attending religion class at school, soon casts his spell over the three friends and enchants them with his incredible knowledge and seemingly endless skills. He can perform stunning tricks, has a real gun and possesses an extraordinary knowledge of Gdańsk, the war and nazis; at the same time he always maintains his distance from the group, and even Elka, who is with him at almost all times, seems to know little about him. For Paweł, these days, spent with Weiser and Elka, will be the last days of adolescence - and with Weiser's disappearance so will vanish the time of innocence and childhood magic.
The adult Heller now remembers these bygone years, spent in another world - that hot summer when Gdańsk was full of ominous symbols, portents of some inevitable catastrophe to happen; the sea full of dead fish, a comet passing over the city. These days are as gone as is M-sk's old political agitation - the only thing which remains from the old May 1st parades which he forced others to attend are the enormous portrait of Party leaders, now gathering dust in the basement.
To understand these days and the riddle that is Dawid Weiser, Heller tries to talk to Szymek, Piotrek and Elka - but their memories don't match. His old friends and acquaintances remember certain events differently, and some don't remember at all - they're reluctant to talk about Weiser, speaking with a lack of interest, neither understanding nor sharing Heller's obsession with him - as if trying to put that time behind them, not wanting to return to it. Were the tricks and whole mystical character of Weiser effects of a child's exaggerating imagination? Or did adulthood strip them from a child's sensitivity for the mysterious and magical?
How could then the truth be grasped - and is it even possible? And even more so, is it worth it? Is it worth to spend your life trying to return to the past when the present is passing by, unnoticed?
Critics accuse Huelle of being overly influenced by Gunter Grass, famous fellow bard of Gdańsk, though I have never read him and can't confirm where there's any merit to their claims. Still, I believe that "Weiser" stands perfectly on its own and is one of the best novels of post-war Polish literature, and not only from the period of transformation - a novel full of allusions, allegories and implications, but also charm and magic which is so missing in many other books.
The novel has been translated into English by Michael Kandel, and published in 1992 as Who Was David Weiser?.
February 28, 2019
I found this book in a second-hand book shop and bought it as it is written by a Polish author I have not heard before. It set in Gdansk in the 50s and 70s. It is about the boys growing under the overwhelming shadow of the Second World War.
It has got a lot to like: the fantastic narrator's voice, the atmosphere of the time - the mixture of begone era and uneasy transition to the soviet rule, the melancholy, the unreliability of our memories. It also deals with religious zealotry, antisemitism and the cruelty of the communist functionaries.
However, the post-war adventures of the 12-year old boys (take Tom Sawyer adventures and put them into the context of Post-War Poland) and a flavour of magical realism did not resonate with me very strongly.
In summary, it is a wonderful book for the right reader. But for me, I admired and I was moved by some things and I was bored by the others. But it feels good to dive into the atmosphere of the Eastern European soul-searching for a change.
It has got a lot to like: the fantastic narrator's voice, the atmosphere of the time - the mixture of begone era and uneasy transition to the soviet rule, the melancholy, the unreliability of our memories. It also deals with religious zealotry, antisemitism and the cruelty of the communist functionaries.
However, the post-war adventures of the 12-year old boys (take Tom Sawyer adventures and put them into the context of Post-War Poland) and a flavour of magical realism did not resonate with me very strongly.
In summary, it is a wonderful book for the right reader. But for me, I admired and I was moved by some things and I was bored by the others. But it feels good to dive into the atmosphere of the Eastern European soul-searching for a change.
September 4, 2009
Another book about the Gdansk / Danzig region I read by coincidence in the same days I put my eyes on the pages of "Dog Years" by Gunther Grass.
"Who Was David Weiser" takes place between the 1950s and the 1970s with a massive use of flashback. It was uneasy to get into the mood of this book, but then I have to say how Pawel Huelle writes like no other novelist I read so far.
Sometimes I appreciate his style sometimes not (the metatextual references to readers, chosen terms and hypothetic editor are out of place), but as a matter of fact the novelist is able to create an interesting and unconventional story out the mysterious events of a distant summer.
The character of Dawid Weiser is one of the most enygmatic I ever found in literature. Huelle doesn't tell us that much about him, creating a feeling of constant expectation about Weiser all through the book.
Besides this book is about childhood and the process of recollecting its faded memories: a topic I always liked a lot.
"Who Was David Weiser" takes place between the 1950s and the 1970s with a massive use of flashback. It was uneasy to get into the mood of this book, but then I have to say how Pawel Huelle writes like no other novelist I read so far.
Sometimes I appreciate his style sometimes not (the metatextual references to readers, chosen terms and hypothetic editor are out of place), but as a matter of fact the novelist is able to create an interesting and unconventional story out the mysterious events of a distant summer.
The character of Dawid Weiser is one of the most enygmatic I ever found in literature. Huelle doesn't tell us that much about him, creating a feeling of constant expectation about Weiser all through the book.
Besides this book is about childhood and the process of recollecting its faded memories: a topic I always liked a lot.
October 16, 2007
Still don't know who David Weiser is..but what I do know is this is one fantastic book..well written and compelling..you can't find this book in print, but I recommend you get on amazon and buy a used copy..you won't regret it..
February 8, 2022
8,5/10
April 11, 2025
GOD DAMMIT JAK JA KOCHAM TĄ KSIĄŻKĘ 😭😭😭 reread once again - wielopoziomowość tego utworu nie przestanie mnie zadziwiać
July 9, 2023
Dawid, Dawidek Weiser jest...?
December 13, 2014
Recommended by Maciek. Set in the late 1950s in Gdansk (Poland), this is a classic coming of age story. David Weiser is a mysterious Jewish outcast in a Catholic town. His sole defender is a girl named Elka, and over time, three other boys become fascinated by this seemingly worldly classmate. The book is narrated by one of the three, while they are being interrogated following the disappearance of Weiser and Elka, who are presumed to have died in a huge explosion detonated by Weiser. The constant time shifting in narration was a challenge, and the fact that the parents of these boys left them alone and at the mercy of school officials and investigators was hard to believe, even given the time period. Well written, with some intriguing mystery/mysticism, but I would have preferred more resolution.
March 6, 2022
będę o niej często myśleć
June 16, 2024
Świetna!!!
Did Not Finish
June 24, 2026Kompletnie mi nie pasuje i męczy niemiłosiernie. Dnf na 50 stronie
August 24, 2024
"Weiser wasn't just anyone - the other boys were sure of that. Yet during the hot Polish summer of 1957 extraordinary conditions prevailed. The fish died, and stewed fetidly in the bay; there was a drought, and a comet: Father Dudak and the old people said these were signs of heavenly retribution.
"But Weiser was the greatest puzzle. There was no end to his puzzling talents - and no explanation for them. Even animals seemed to obey the scrawny boy. Then came the explosion and the revelation of his arsenal at the disused brickworks. With qualities like these, David Weiser was quickly promoted from Jewish outcast to local hero.
"In a tantalising and searching confession, one boy who was held in Weiser's thrall that summer tries to look back and recreate the mystery. Who was David Weiser? What did his eccentric powers portend?" From the jacket of the 1991 Bloomsbury hardback edition of the novel. I have included it not because it is a good summary of the novel, but because it is better than the minimal ones on GR. At least it hints at the novel's complex, rich, many different meanings.
Because this marvellous novel is open to many readings, but no sure or simple ones. Although this is Huelle's first novel it contains themes that would recur again and again in his work most particularly Gdansk; which inevitably, for this reader, brings to mind 'Cat And Mouse' by Gunter Grass. Huelle's novel takes place in Gdansk post WWII and is about, in part, a boy, David Weiser, who nobody understands and who disappears. Grass's novel takes place in WWII and at its heart is a boy, Joachim Mahlke who also disappears. Huelle's novels is also about absence and what is absent in post WWII Gdansk? The Germans, and the Jews of course. David Weiser, and the man who looks after him who may or may not be his grandfather, is Jewish and obsessed with the fast disappearing ruins of German Gdansk.
That the novel is set in Gdansk in 1957, the year and place of the author's birth is not accidental. The novel is an exceptionally fine portrayal of life in communist Poland. Huelle is not writing about dissidents or intellectuals but of very ordinary people, many of whom of course had no roots in Gdansk. They would have come there as exiles from parts of Poland, that were no longer Polish (please see my footnote *1 below). The novel jumps forward in time as far as the Solidarnosc years in the 1970s but it is not in anyway anti-communist. The Catholic Church is shown to be as powerful, if not more powerful, than the party in controlling and forming the children. The Catholic Church is omnipresent as an alternate power, not as a force for good. By the time the novel was published in 1989 the time when simple dichotomies of good and bad as represented by the catholic church or communist party had long vanished.
It is this lack of easy answers that makes this novel so absorbing. It concentrates on one boy that knew and was involved, with two other friends, with David Weiser as, not friends, almost more like acolytes, who keeps trying to understand who David Weiser was, what he did and what became of him. But his attempts to understand is frustrated as the memories of his friends and others fragment and even those who were adults at the time, like their teacher Mr M-ski, change and become different. But then trying to understand as an adult, what he didn't understand as a child, is complicated by past ignorance and current knowledge. The novel concludes with both resolution and no resolution:
"...everything that came within your view, and everything that lay within your touch, has long ago crumbled to dust..."
This is a fine absorbing novel by an author I will read more by. It is rich in suggestions, but simple in its telling. I apologise if anything I have written might discourage you from reading this novel, that was not my intention. This is definitely a novel you should read.
*1 You don't need to know any of this history to read or enjoy this novel but to not even realise the complexities is to leave yourself at a disadvantage where the history of this region is concerned and, as an example, I recommend reading about The Cemetery of the defenders of Lwow at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cemeter...
or you could ponder that Lwow (Polish) is now Lviv (Ukrainian) and was also at one time referred to as Lvov (Russian) and Lemberg (German).
"But Weiser was the greatest puzzle. There was no end to his puzzling talents - and no explanation for them. Even animals seemed to obey the scrawny boy. Then came the explosion and the revelation of his arsenal at the disused brickworks. With qualities like these, David Weiser was quickly promoted from Jewish outcast to local hero.
"In a tantalising and searching confession, one boy who was held in Weiser's thrall that summer tries to look back and recreate the mystery. Who was David Weiser? What did his eccentric powers portend?" From the jacket of the 1991 Bloomsbury hardback edition of the novel. I have included it not because it is a good summary of the novel, but because it is better than the minimal ones on GR. At least it hints at the novel's complex, rich, many different meanings.
Because this marvellous novel is open to many readings, but no sure or simple ones. Although this is Huelle's first novel it contains themes that would recur again and again in his work most particularly Gdansk; which inevitably, for this reader, brings to mind 'Cat And Mouse' by Gunter Grass. Huelle's novel takes place in Gdansk post WWII and is about, in part, a boy, David Weiser, who nobody understands and who disappears. Grass's novel takes place in WWII and at its heart is a boy, Joachim Mahlke who also disappears. Huelle's novels is also about absence and what is absent in post WWII Gdansk? The Germans, and the Jews of course. David Weiser, and the man who looks after him who may or may not be his grandfather, is Jewish and obsessed with the fast disappearing ruins of German Gdansk.
That the novel is set in Gdansk in 1957, the year and place of the author's birth is not accidental. The novel is an exceptionally fine portrayal of life in communist Poland. Huelle is not writing about dissidents or intellectuals but of very ordinary people, many of whom of course had no roots in Gdansk. They would have come there as exiles from parts of Poland, that were no longer Polish (please see my footnote *1 below). The novel jumps forward in time as far as the Solidarnosc years in the 1970s but it is not in anyway anti-communist. The Catholic Church is shown to be as powerful, if not more powerful, than the party in controlling and forming the children. The Catholic Church is omnipresent as an alternate power, not as a force for good. By the time the novel was published in 1989 the time when simple dichotomies of good and bad as represented by the catholic church or communist party had long vanished.
It is this lack of easy answers that makes this novel so absorbing. It concentrates on one boy that knew and was involved, with two other friends, with David Weiser as, not friends, almost more like acolytes, who keeps trying to understand who David Weiser was, what he did and what became of him. But his attempts to understand is frustrated as the memories of his friends and others fragment and even those who were adults at the time, like their teacher Mr M-ski, change and become different. But then trying to understand as an adult, what he didn't understand as a child, is complicated by past ignorance and current knowledge. The novel concludes with both resolution and no resolution:
"...everything that came within your view, and everything that lay within your touch, has long ago crumbled to dust..."
This is a fine absorbing novel by an author I will read more by. It is rich in suggestions, but simple in its telling. I apologise if anything I have written might discourage you from reading this novel, that was not my intention. This is definitely a novel you should read.
*1 You don't need to know any of this history to read or enjoy this novel but to not even realise the complexities is to leave yourself at a disadvantage where the history of this region is concerned and, as an example, I recommend reading about The Cemetery of the defenders of Lwow at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cemeter...
or you could ponder that Lwow (Polish) is now Lviv (Ukrainian) and was also at one time referred to as Lvov (Russian) and Lemberg (German).
February 19, 2026
Powieść oniryczna, zawieszona między podziemiami cegielni a murem szpitala psychiatrycznego; opuszczonym ewangelickim cmentarzem a budynkiem szkoły.
Dziecięcy bohaterowie śladom przeszłości nadają własne znaczenia, symbole. W dorosłości te miejsca zanikają. Giną w pamięci, ale i fizycznie - powstają ogródki działkowe, bloki, wygładzone chodniki i parkingi. I ostatecznie zostajemy z pytaniem - jakie to miało znaczenie, skoro nie zostały żadne ślady?
Weiser jest jak dybuk - duch, który przychodzi, by przypominać. Demiurg dziecięcej wyobraźni - sprawca wybuchów, wybawiciel z kłopotów, zabawiacz w czasie nudy. A może go nie ma, może jest tylko wytworem wyobraźni, śladem po narodzie, który zniknął. Cieniem żydowskiego sztetla. Bo i tak ostatecznie nikt o niego nie pyta, nie szuka.
Katolicyzm ludowy, pełen niezrozumiałych rytuałów, procesji, szeptanych zaklęć jest równie obcy jak opowieść Dawida. Jedno i drugie to baśń, element rytuału zabawy lub przeszkody, która stoi na drodze do zabawy.
Elka jest NIemką i to również nikomu z nich nie przeszkadza.
I tu właśnie Huelle dokonuje cudu. Pokazuje wielokulturowość nie jako projekt polityczny, ale jako element dziecięcego świata. Dzieci są tolerancyjne, bo nieobciążone ideologią; nie nadają znaczeń, które przypisują osobom, miejscom dorośli. Jest współpraca, przygoda, czysta zabawa.
Czy to jedyna interpretacja tej książki? Nie. Narrator sam myli tropy, podsuwa rozwiązania: jakie znaczenie ma prawda, skoro liczy się tylko mit, baśń. Może nie chodzi o pamięć, ale o odtwarzanie świata i o to, że przeszłość istnieje tylko wtedy, gdy ktoś ją opowiada, tak jak mu się wydaje, że pamięta.
Może więc “Weiser Dawidek” to opowieść o znikaniu - miejsc, ludzi, narodów, dzieciństwa. O tym, że rzeczywistość ulatuje, ale opowieść trwa. I może to jest jedyna prawda, na jaką możemy sobie pozwolić.
Książka wybitna, wielowarstwowa, metaforyczna; każda warstwa skrywa kolejną, kolejną i kolejną… Lektura obowiązkowa.
Dziecięcy bohaterowie śladom przeszłości nadają własne znaczenia, symbole. W dorosłości te miejsca zanikają. Giną w pamięci, ale i fizycznie - powstają ogródki działkowe, bloki, wygładzone chodniki i parkingi. I ostatecznie zostajemy z pytaniem - jakie to miało znaczenie, skoro nie zostały żadne ślady?
Weiser jest jak dybuk - duch, który przychodzi, by przypominać. Demiurg dziecięcej wyobraźni - sprawca wybuchów, wybawiciel z kłopotów, zabawiacz w czasie nudy. A może go nie ma, może jest tylko wytworem wyobraźni, śladem po narodzie, który zniknął. Cieniem żydowskiego sztetla. Bo i tak ostatecznie nikt o niego nie pyta, nie szuka.
Katolicyzm ludowy, pełen niezrozumiałych rytuałów, procesji, szeptanych zaklęć jest równie obcy jak opowieść Dawida. Jedno i drugie to baśń, element rytuału zabawy lub przeszkody, która stoi na drodze do zabawy.
Elka jest NIemką i to również nikomu z nich nie przeszkadza.
I tu właśnie Huelle dokonuje cudu. Pokazuje wielokulturowość nie jako projekt polityczny, ale jako element dziecięcego świata. Dzieci są tolerancyjne, bo nieobciążone ideologią; nie nadają znaczeń, które przypisują osobom, miejscom dorośli. Jest współpraca, przygoda, czysta zabawa.
Czy to jedyna interpretacja tej książki? Nie. Narrator sam myli tropy, podsuwa rozwiązania: jakie znaczenie ma prawda, skoro liczy się tylko mit, baśń. Może nie chodzi o pamięć, ale o odtwarzanie świata i o to, że przeszłość istnieje tylko wtedy, gdy ktoś ją opowiada, tak jak mu się wydaje, że pamięta.
Może więc “Weiser Dawidek” to opowieść o znikaniu - miejsc, ludzi, narodów, dzieciństwa. O tym, że rzeczywistość ulatuje, ale opowieść trwa. I może to jest jedyna prawda, na jaką możemy sobie pozwolić.
Książka wybitna, wielowarstwowa, metaforyczna; każda warstwa skrywa kolejną, kolejną i kolejną… Lektura obowiązkowa.
October 27, 2017
In the past year or so I have come to appreciate polish authors more and more. Mostly in the crime genre. So it was while looking for a new book to devour I came across this book. While not my usual fair I became intrigued by the premise. Our narrator now later on in his life recalling back to events of his childhood. What happen to the mysterious boy known as David Wieser. where did he come from and where did he go after the summer they spent together.
We are told this extraordinary tale from the view point of our narrator. This is given to us in the form of an interrogation he is giving cut between flash back as he recalls what took place. For the most part the story revolves around a group of friends who encounter the young Weiser and then get led on a serious of ever growing adventures. David is the ever outsider not really fitting in the world he inhabits. For a start being a Jewish child in 1957's Poland must still have been hard life. With echo's of the past ever present. We are delivered in to a strange place This is a boy who seems on the out side to be leading these boys away from the traditional values of there community. Does that make him a bad person. There are many suggestions as to who or what David is, from prophet to demon or simply just a wayward boy out to make his own fun. Personally I think he serves to show the friends that there is more to their life's than they think. Can we truly trust Pawel's tale from his childhood. His distrust of his interrogators means that may be he isn't telling them and in turn us every thing that occurred.
The author gives us an intriguing premise. A story about memories and a bond of friendship. His style flows through the pages well drawing us in to the story. He paints a picture of an endless summer spent on miss adventures and mysteries. While the book never truly answers the question of who was David Weiser for me this was not a problem. I think it kind of is left up to the reader to decide for them selves what really happened. We are also never really given an explanation as what all the training and adventures Weiser leads the friends on is entirely for. While he does tell them an elaborate plot about revolutions and the future to come you have to wonder if he ever believed it him self. But intern does it really matter this is a book that's more about the journey than actually giving you answers. While I can not confess to having been alive or for that matter ever having lived in Poland I would imagine that in the time period the book is set it was a difficult time when many things where in a state of changing flux. This the author presents to us through the strange tale maybe in the form of the metaphors of events. I'm still not entirely sure. While by the end of the book I felt slightly confused I know I'm better for having taken the journey.
This is book full of strange turns leading us to end just as weird. Over all I enjoyed it and at 220 pages it doesn't tale long to complete. In some ways it's a story of misspent youth as much as it's a mystery story. Much like out narrator who is haunted by his strange friend I think this character will stay with me for quite some time. At times I found myself questioning where it was all leading. And while you ended up with more questions than you start with it a book worthy of spending time with.
We are told this extraordinary tale from the view point of our narrator. This is given to us in the form of an interrogation he is giving cut between flash back as he recalls what took place. For the most part the story revolves around a group of friends who encounter the young Weiser and then get led on a serious of ever growing adventures. David is the ever outsider not really fitting in the world he inhabits. For a start being a Jewish child in 1957's Poland must still have been hard life. With echo's of the past ever present. We are delivered in to a strange place This is a boy who seems on the out side to be leading these boys away from the traditional values of there community. Does that make him a bad person. There are many suggestions as to who or what David is, from prophet to demon or simply just a wayward boy out to make his own fun. Personally I think he serves to show the friends that there is more to their life's than they think. Can we truly trust Pawel's tale from his childhood. His distrust of his interrogators means that may be he isn't telling them and in turn us every thing that occurred.
The author gives us an intriguing premise. A story about memories and a bond of friendship. His style flows through the pages well drawing us in to the story. He paints a picture of an endless summer spent on miss adventures and mysteries. While the book never truly answers the question of who was David Weiser for me this was not a problem. I think it kind of is left up to the reader to decide for them selves what really happened. We are also never really given an explanation as what all the training and adventures Weiser leads the friends on is entirely for. While he does tell them an elaborate plot about revolutions and the future to come you have to wonder if he ever believed it him self. But intern does it really matter this is a book that's more about the journey than actually giving you answers. While I can not confess to having been alive or for that matter ever having lived in Poland I would imagine that in the time period the book is set it was a difficult time when many things where in a state of changing flux. This the author presents to us through the strange tale maybe in the form of the metaphors of events. I'm still not entirely sure. While by the end of the book I felt slightly confused I know I'm better for having taken the journey.
This is book full of strange turns leading us to end just as weird. Over all I enjoyed it and at 220 pages it doesn't tale long to complete. In some ways it's a story of misspent youth as much as it's a mystery story. Much like out narrator who is haunted by his strange friend I think this character will stay with me for quite some time. At times I found myself questioning where it was all leading. And while you ended up with more questions than you start with it a book worthy of spending time with.
January 14, 2015
Сумний повоєнний Гданськ, підлітки з робітничих родин і єврейський хлопчик Давідек, схожий своїми вміннями не то на чаклуна, не то на диявола. Оповідач через багато років намагається зрозуміти і витлумачити всі історії з зникненнями, зачарованими пантерами і левітацією, але раціональне пояснення, хоча й знаходиться, та все ж не те, що потрібно.
Дуже сподобалася ця атмосфера соціалістичної Польщі 50-х. Надприроднє з'являється то тут, то там, як Давідек, чи місцевий священик (який конкурує з партією за душі робітників, прекрасний момент), що жахає всіх проповідями виконує роль духовного орієнтира для перейнятих болем людей. Природні нещастя - рибу чи посуху намагаються подолати молитвами або алкоголом, поперемінно.
Дуже сподобалася ця атмосфера соціалістичної Польщі 50-х. Надприроднє з'являється то тут, то там, як Давідек, чи місцевий священик (який конкурує з партією за душі робітників, прекрасний момент), що жахає всіх проповідями виконує роль духовного орієнтира для перейнятих болем людей. Природні нещастя - рибу чи посуху намагаються подолати молитвами або алкоголом, поперемінно.
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May 28, 2017Zaczynałam lekturę tej książki od audiobooka czytanego przez Wojciecha Malajkata; audiobook zniknął niestety z Ninateki, ale głos Malajkata towarzyszył mi do końca. Ciekawie konstruowana narracja, kłamstwa przesłuchania i "rzeczywiste" wydarzenia, wspominana dorosłość narratora, która w jakiś sposób zaczyna dominować nad historią zniknięcia pewnego żydowskiego chłopca z jego dzieciństwa. Aura mistyki bijąca z opowieści snutej po latach chyba więcej mówi o tym, że w późniejszych wydarzeniach, zwłaszcza w śmierci Piotra, trudno już jest się jej doszukiwać, a historia Weisera Dawidka jest jednym wielkim tematem zastępczym.
Chętnie przeczytam jakąś interpretację, choć mogę się z niej dowiedzieć, że zupełnie źle czytam tę książkę :)
Chętnie przeczytam jakąś interpretację, choć mogę się z niej dowiedzieć, że zupełnie źle czytam tę książkę :)
May 11, 2008
This book absorbs all your attention and mind. I still don't know who Dawid Weiser was? But he influenced very strongly lives of people he was playing with back in late 1950s. Great, gripping and thrilling.
May 10, 2026
czuje sie jakby to byla kolektywna halucynacja
July 31, 2022
bardzo dobra książka moim skromnym zdaniem, nie pamiętam, co mówiliśmy o niej na zajęciach, muszę sobie przypomnieć. bardzo chciałam w końcu dowiedzieć się co się stało, wszystko to takie mistyczne było. wszystko, a najlepsze kąski to wyłanianie się z dymu kadzidlanego, lewitowanie pry dźwiękach fletni pana, mówienie głosem dorosłego mężczyzny i stawanie się nienaturalnie wyglądającym, kiedy się za długo patrzy. na wyrost!!
polecam
polecam
May 4, 2025
FENOMENALNAAAA!
Co prawda trochę brakuje mi takiego konkretnego, ostatecznego wyjaśnienia, co naprawdę stało się z Weiserem Dawidkiem, kim był, skąd się wziął, dokąd się udał...
Niemniej jednak fabuła mnie tak porwała, trzymała i nie chciała puścić. Czytało się ekspresowo, bo bardzo chciałam poznać, co będzie dalej.
Świetna książka!
( Aż jestem zdziwiona, że taka dobra a znalazła się na liście lektur XDD)
Co prawda trochę brakuje mi takiego konkretnego, ostatecznego wyjaśnienia, co naprawdę stało się z Weiserem Dawidkiem, kim był, skąd się wziął, dokąd się udał...
Niemniej jednak fabuła mnie tak porwała, trzymała i nie chciała puścić. Czytało się ekspresowo, bo bardzo chciałam poznać, co będzie dalej.
Świetna książka!
( Aż jestem zdziwiona, że taka dobra a znalazła się na liście lektur XDD)
September 26, 2017
Romanzo poliziesco se vogliamo. Thriller intriso di suspence. Per quell'enigma che con l’andar degli anni attanaglia chiunque.
http://www.piegodilibri.it/libri-disp...
http://www.piegodilibri.it/libri-disp...
June 8, 2023
Przeczytane z przymusu, skonczone z wkurwieniem
September 5, 2023
Fajny Żyd z tego Dawidka Weiserka był
June 13, 2026
Literacko jest świetna, ma niesamowity klimat, zostawia dużo do myślenia,
ale jednocześnie potrafi zmęczyć tempem i tym ciągłym wymykaniem się odpowiedziom.
ale jednocześnie potrafi zmęczyć tempem i tym ciągłym wymykaniem się odpowiedziom.
July 19, 2026
Z pozoru opis wakacyjnych przygód, ale tak naprawdę to pochłaniająca kręta wędrówka za tajemnicą i prawdą, dziejącą się na granicy wyobraźni i realności - czy da się zawsze dotrzeć do prawdy?
June 23, 2025
Dobrnąłem do końca bo motywywało mnie, że akcja książki rozgrywa się w pobliżu mojego mieszkania, a dowiedziałem się o niej z nagrobka na opuszczonym cmenatrzu.
I co jak najbardziej trzeba policzyć autorowi na plus, to opis miejsca akcji. Lato w Gdańsku w latach 50 można nie tylko sobie wyobrazić ale wręcz poczuć.
Otaczający je tajemniczy las tylko rozgrzewa dziecięcą fantazję głównego bohatera.
Razem z barwnym otoczeniem poznajemy barwnych bohaterów.
Co więc mi tu nie zagrało?
Tytułowy Weiser Dawidek.
Obsesja głównego bohatera na jego punkcie, jego imię pojawiające się po kilka razy na każdej stronie drażniło mnie chyba dlatego, że kompletnie nie obchodziły mnie jego losy.
Główny zamysł i intryga, która miała pchać całą akcję wydawała mi się niezrównanie nudna w porównaniu do otaczających ją opisów świata.
Sam Dawid, przedstawiany tylko z pozycji obserwatora, nie tylko mnie nudził, ale i irytował z każdym ochem i achem na jego temat. Tym bardziej, że nie zostaje przybliżony czytelnikowi jako jednostka, tylko jako szaleńcza pasja narratora.
I co jak najbardziej trzeba policzyć autorowi na plus, to opis miejsca akcji. Lato w Gdańsku w latach 50 można nie tylko sobie wyobrazić ale wręcz poczuć.
Otaczający je tajemniczy las tylko rozgrzewa dziecięcą fantazję głównego bohatera.
Razem z barwnym otoczeniem poznajemy barwnych bohaterów.
Co więc mi tu nie zagrało?
Tytułowy Weiser Dawidek.
Obsesja głównego bohatera na jego punkcie, jego imię pojawiające się po kilka razy na każdej stronie drażniło mnie chyba dlatego, że kompletnie nie obchodziły mnie jego losy.
Główny zamysł i intryga, która miała pchać całą akcję wydawała mi się niezrównanie nudna w porównaniu do otaczających ją opisów świata.
Sam Dawid, przedstawiany tylko z pozycji obserwatora, nie tylko mnie nudził, ale i irytował z każdym ochem i achem na jego temat. Tym bardziej, że nie zostaje przybliżony czytelnikowi jako jednostka, tylko jako szaleńcza pasja narratora.
August 14, 2026
3,5
tak, mój teść mi to polecił 🤓
tak, mój teść mi to polecił 🤓
November 1, 2019
Although we know from the beginning that we will not see a simple solution to the puzzle, the book remains intriguing to the end. The title Weiser is a Jewish 11-year-old. He is a loner. Proteus. Raised by his grandfather in the suburbs of Gdansk. During hot summer holidays, he will interest a handful of schoolmates which will change their holidays and expand their experience.
Huelle created an extremely suggestive image of hot summer days, children's games, dreams and desires. Children's purity and their sensitivity.
The book's action takes place in few different times: the summer months of the mid-1950s, which then led to the memories of later years and the present. Spreading the story over time plays an important role here: it encourages reflection on the process of memory and forgetfulness, and the different weight of the same event for its participants.
To tell the truth, I haven't learned the answer to all the questions bothering me since the beginning of reading "Weiser Dawidek". I can't even reasonably answer what happened on a hot summer vacation on the Baltic coast. The logic of this story sank deep into the cemetery crypt or disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel. Perhaps there were many details that, if combined, would give a true picture of the events in the suburbs of Gdańsk that a group of teenagers were so fascinated by. But why bother if it's not the most important thing. The most fascinating in this very interesting puzzle is observing the character of the title hero, alternately disappearing in the smoke curtains that he triggers.
Did I succumb to a collective psychosis that Paweł Huelle sprayed in his novel? It is only certain that when I read Huelle's novel, it smelled of a puzzle. It sparkled from billions of question marks stretching over the book. It swirled with less logical events, arranged by the author not quite in chronological order. Who was David really? Tracking his hidden abilities took me into unknown and imaginary stories. However, I will never be able to answer this question.
Huelle created an extremely suggestive image of hot summer days, children's games, dreams and desires. Children's purity and their sensitivity.
The book's action takes place in few different times: the summer months of the mid-1950s, which then led to the memories of later years and the present. Spreading the story over time plays an important role here: it encourages reflection on the process of memory and forgetfulness, and the different weight of the same event for its participants.
To tell the truth, I haven't learned the answer to all the questions bothering me since the beginning of reading "Weiser Dawidek". I can't even reasonably answer what happened on a hot summer vacation on the Baltic coast. The logic of this story sank deep into the cemetery crypt or disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel. Perhaps there were many details that, if combined, would give a true picture of the events in the suburbs of Gdańsk that a group of teenagers were so fascinated by. But why bother if it's not the most important thing. The most fascinating in this very interesting puzzle is observing the character of the title hero, alternately disappearing in the smoke curtains that he triggers.
Did I succumb to a collective psychosis that Paweł Huelle sprayed in his novel? It is only certain that when I read Huelle's novel, it smelled of a puzzle. It sparkled from billions of question marks stretching over the book. It swirled with less logical events, arranged by the author not quite in chronological order. Who was David really? Tracking his hidden abilities took me into unknown and imaginary stories. However, I will never be able to answer this question.
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