The King David Report

by Stefan Heym

In this retelling of the biblical story, King Solomon commissions Ethan the Scribe to write the official history of King David. In return for the finest cooking in the land and the wages of a minor prophet, Ethan must write a proper record, full of glory and battles, statecraft and honor--a tribute to David and, of course, to Solomon, his heir. But as Ethan explores the story, he finds another life hidden behind the iron curtain dividing past from the story of a David who seduced, lied, bragged, and plundered his way to power. Ethan which life should be reported in the King David Report?

Written by one of Germany's most acclaimed dissident authors, The King David Report is both an analysis of the writer's obligations to truth, and an astute satire on the workings of history and politics in a totalitarian state.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Satire, Jewish, Biblical Fiction, Germany, German Literature

254 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Michael Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is an alternative, satirical take on the Old Testament account of King David (I Samuel through I Kings, chapter 2).

Many decades ago, I earned an advanced degree in theology and Biblical studies. Before reading this book, I refreshed myself on the latest archaeology. As Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman observed in their scholarly work, David and Solomon: "we can now say— as we will argue in considerable detail throughout this book— that many of the famous episodes in the biblical story of David and Solomon are fictions, historically questionable, or highly exaggerated." Although, later in their book, they have to admit that the only actual archeological reference to David is to the "House of David" from a dig in 1993. That's it!? Not surprisingly, Protestant fundamentalists and Likud Zionists want to make much of this one reference than is justified.

Revisiting the Old Testament was a reminder of what a primitive document it is, full of fables and, more seriously, fostering violence in both ancient and modern Israel (kill "every man, woman and child" in the name of Yahweh) and paralyzing apocalyptic fantasies from Christian fundamentalists. I say paralyzing because if Jesus is to return any minute (as he has been expected to do so for two thousand years now) then why bother with the stewardship of the Earth or anything else long term?

The novel itself is a lot of fun. It's written in a mock-formal style. The author did his own research. The premise is that King Solomon assigns a scribe named Ethan to compile and write an account of Solomon's father, King David, in part to justify Solomon's own rule. Needless to say, Ethan comes up with a very different story than what's in in the Old Testament.

There is no ebook available for this volume, but it was relatively easy to find a used paperback copy at a reasonable price.

[Siv30 · Rating 5 out of 5]

לסקירה מפורטת בעברית ואנגלית, קישור לבלוג שלי -

https://sivi-the-avid-reader.com/דוח-...

[Gaya Aran · Rating 4 out of 5]

יש קטעים מאוד מייגעים בספר הזה, ומכאן הורדת כוכב אחד. היו גם קטעים שהתקשיתי להבין מה מתרחש בהם באופן מדויק, ואני לא בטוחה אם זה היה אשמת התרגום - למרות שבסך הכל אפשר לראות מלאכת מחשבת ראויה לשבח בעבודה על תרגום הספר הזה.
אחרי ששמנו את הסייגים בצד, אני שמחה מאוד שהמשכתי לקרוא אותו. מדובר בספר מתוחכם, יצירתי, חתרני ורלוונטי מאוד.

[Joachim Mols · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most readers would like to think, that Heym wrote something about the bible, but I would say he used the history only for telling something about modern times. By careful reading it becomes clear that David is Lenin and Salomon is Stalin. The camouflage was necessary to avoid the censorship of the communist authorities, because that what Heym is going to say about these Bolsheviks is not very pleasant for them. He shows us very clear how Stalin tried to represent himself as a heir of this not really sympathic Lenin and how he was able to change history in order to achieve his goals.

[Racheli Zusiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

ספר מעולה, מרתק ומעניין. המלך שלמה וההנהגה שמסביבו מטילים על איתן האזרחי, היסטוריון וסופר, לחבר את דו"ח המלך דוד, כדי להעצים ולהלל את דמותו של המלך דוד - וכפועל יוצא מכך להלל את דמותו של שלמה המלך, בנו. לספר כמה רבדים. רובד אחד הוא הסיפור המקראי על דוד לעומת שאול - והגלוי והנסתר בו (יוכי ברנדס עסקה בנושא בכמה מספריה), אבל הרובד היותר משמעותי הוא סיפורו של איתן ועמידתו - ונפילתו - מול כוחות ההון-שלטון וכוחות התעמולה והשחיתות של שלטון שלמה, המהווים משל הן לתקופות מההיסטוריה (לי עלתה בראש תקופתו של סטאלין) ולמרבה הצער - גם לתקופתנו שלנו.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

If the Biblical stories of King David leave you wondering how such a man came to be revered, this will compound the puzzle. Heym posits a historian, Ethan the wise, whom King Solomon coerces into writing a history of David that will lay to rest any questions about the right of his younger son, said Solomon, to sit on the throne. Ethan undertakes a serious investigation to get the facts for his document, searching out the witnesses and victims who have been sidelined by David himself or later by Solomon, as the royal son carries out his inherited vengeance/coverup. As Ethan learns that the truth behind the rumors is even worse than he feared, he struggles to write a history that reveals David’s ugly deeds between the lines of the sanitized biography he spins out to preserve his life.

Meanwhile, Heym is doing the very same thing as he reveals the way the Communist state wields terrifying power, via his historical novel. The forced confessions, manufactured missteps, mad houses for the inconvenient, and legions of thugs in Ethan’s ancient Israel are certainly meant to mirror Stalin’s legacy. At the very end of the book Heym explains his purpose in writing the book:

"As I sometimes read the Bible, it occurred to me that this section of it represented more than a fine oriental fairy tale or an edifying parable. Behind the stories of giants and prophets, of beautiful women and ugly murders, there emerged the account of a revolution which developed according to its inherent laws, and which found its completion in the establishment of the state by David. What a character, this David ben Jess--a killer who maintains close personal ties with God, a brigand who doubles as a pet, a tyrant who from a dozen hardly settled nomadic tribes forges a nation.”

A revolution developing according to its inherent laws--suggests both the historical dialectic that was used to predict Communism and, ironically, the progression from idealism to tyranny that Heym perhaps concluded Communism was bound to lead to, in Stalin and the Gulag. The state certainly silenced Heym, refusing to publish his work after 1963.

The book is actually written in English, and is an odd combination of Biblical constructions, contemporary idiom and ironic comments. (Heym, a native German, spent many years in the US and continued to write in English after he moved to East Germany after WWII.) I enjoyed it, but would certainly have understood it on more levels if I knew more about East German and Soviet politics of the 30s through 50s--clearly the characters at Solomon’s court had particular counterparts in Stalin’s coterie.

[Leselissi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dieses Buch kann ich einfach nicht weiterlesen. Habe bis zu S. 164 durchgehalten, ab da reichte es mir endgültig.
Ich gebe zu, als Parabel auf die Spiele der Politik ist es tatsächlich hervorragend geeignet.
Auch die biblische Sprachweise, die der Autor Stefan Heym gewählt hat, ist authentisch und lässt sich sogar gut lesen, nachdem man sich daran gewöhnt hat.
Was mich an diesem Buch ärgert ist aber etwas anderes.
Ich kenne die Geschichte Davids und habe mich viel damit beschäftigt. Deswegen hatte ich mich auch sehr auf die Lektüre dieses Buches gefreut.
Allerdigns hatte ich nicht mit dem Zerrspiegel gerechnet, den der Autor diesem Menschen vorhält.
Heym verdreht David zu einem grausamen Tyrannen, der egozentrisch und machtbesessen seine Ziele verfolgt. Er hurt, meuchelt, ist intrigant, verlogen, selbstherrlich, menschenverachtend und seine Beziehung zu Gott ist nichts weiter als Vergeistigung und nicht für ganz voll zu nehmen.
So geht es das ganze Buch über. Ich hatte das Gefühl, beim lesen würde mir eine gräßliche Fratze entgegen blicken, die absolut gar nichts mit dem König David zu tun hat.
Klar war David nicht unfehlbar und makellos. Die großen Vergehen, die er begangen hat sind ja gemeinhin bekannt, doch solch ein Schreckensherrscher, den Heym aus ihm gemacht hat, war er mit Sicherheit auch nicht. Gerade das war er nicht.
Es heißt doch "David, ein Mann nach dem Herzen Gottes". Was das bedeutet hat Stefan Heym ganz offenbar nicht begriffen.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hillarious, penetrating account written from the perspective of one of the compilers of (what becomes) the Bible, who is commissioned by Solomon to write
"The One and Only True and Authoritative, Historically Correct and Officially Approved Report on the Amazing Rise, God-fearing Life, Heroic Deeds and Wonderful Achievements of David, Son of Jesse" henceforward to be known as "the King David Report"

For all the laughs, you really feel you are getting a slice of life from that time period, seen through the eyes of a Jewish Intellectual (one of the first no doubt) who is just trying to survive, if possible, with his integrity as well.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very slow start on this, but once I got into it it was very funny and quite insightful.

[Ram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this a long time ago.....what I remember is that it was good.

[Boris Feldman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not for everyone.
If you are very interested in the story of King David, then it is fascinating. The prose is superb. Don't laugh, but the font is execrable. Northwestern University Press charges $19 for a paperback that looks as if it were printed on a dot matrix in 1985.
If you liked Heller's "G-d Knows," you will like this even better.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating historical novel. Every time I think no, that isn't in the Bible and then double check, sure enough, it's there with a different slant.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second time I'm reading this book - I think I picked it up first in college. I'd forgotten most of the details apart from the fact that I found it extremely interesting. Now I've re-read it because I've been reading The Historical David by Joel Baden and David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible's Sacred Kings and the Roots of the Western Tradition by Finkelstein and Silberman, which are literary and archaeological analyses of the David story. So I thought I'd revisit this book, which does something similar to Baden's but in the form of a novel.

Basically, we follow the semi-fictional protagonist Ethan of Ezrah, a scribe/historian of ancient Israel, who is commissioned by Solomon to be the redactor for the King David Report, which will justify David's rise to power and thereby Solomon's claim to the throne of Israel. Unfortunately David has done a lot of unsavoury things in his rise to and maintenance of power, all of which are still within living memory. So they have to paper over these.

In so doing, Heym is basically proposing a theory similar to but minutely different from Baden's (in a fun way): this report (1 Samuel 6 to 1 Kings 2) is written apologetically, but the reason we get to see a glimpse of all of the bad stuff instead of it being omitted altogether, is because of a scribe dedicated to the truth, who realises he has to glorify David to save his own skin, but still cleverly sneaks in enough of the truth so that future historians (like Baden, and before him other historians including Emil Kautzch, whose German Bible translation and notes inspired Heym's novel) will be able to glean the truth about David. (Of course, David is very much a glorious figure in popular culture, so he may have succeeded over much in the preserving his own skin part, although only by the skin of his teeth.)

Heym was a dissident and this book isn't really about David at all, in the end: it's about the fate of truth-seekers in a totalitarian regime. (I saw another commenter say that David is Lenin and Solomon is Stalin, which is really insightful and I hadn't made that connection. I guess Saul is Trotsky??)

My one quibble/warning is that women are here in this book mainly to have sex with (I made the same comment about Lamb by Christopher Moore). Maybe it's inevitable in fiction rooted in the Bible? There is the saving grace of wise and kind Esther, but she dies in the end without seeing Ezrah again. Otherwise this work feels like a minor miracle: it reads very psychologically true and plausibly of that era, and I think it's very biblically accurate. Heym must have done a massive amount of research and planning.

Ironically, reading this book made me lean a bit more towards Finkelstein's POV. For him, David and Solomon's glorious kingdom never existed. Based on archaeological evidence or rather the lack thereof, they were minor chieftains at best. That and the lack of evidence for literacy in Judah leads him to suggest that the "King David Report" (i.e. those sections of the Hebrew Bible) were actually composed much later, when refugees from the northern kingdom of Israel were pouring into Judah, bringing tales glorifying their own hero Saul and possibly denigrating David as his murderer. When I read Finkelstein's argument, I didn't really buy the literacy argument. I thought that low literacy didn't mean no literacy and it was possible some gifted person wrote it down. But reading this book with all its courtly apparatus and sources in the form of interview transcripts and ostraca etc made me think maybe their argument is potentially correct, after all.

Highly recommended! And if you enjoy this, consider River of Ink by Paul M.M. Cooper which has very similar themes and is gorgeously written.

[Sinta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amusing tone at times. But too dry and pointed to be excellent. Lacks the subtlety that would bring its critiques to life

Quotes:
Why, then, was King Yahveh replaced by Saul the son of Kish?
A visible king, however impressive in his prime, waxes feeble; Lord Yahveh, King of Israel, remained forever arrayed in the glory of man's imagination. But his will could assert itself only through interpretation, and those who interpreted him were human and prone to error. They might read their own desires into the heavenly portents; and some of the holy men were known to have tailored their messages to interests quite worldly.

But Amenhotep gazed at me from between painted eyelids and said, “Truly, Ethan, you amaze me. Being a student of events past and present, have you not noticed that the mind of man is strangely split in two, as is his tongue? We seem to be living in two worlds: one that is described in the teachings of the wise men and judges and prophets, and another which nobody speaks of but which is real; one that is fenced in by law and by the word of your god Yahveh, and another whose laws are written nowhere but followed by everybody. And praised be that split of the mind, because it enables a person to do what is necessary by the laws of the real world and yet believe in the teachings of the wise men and judges and prophets; and only those will end in despair who, seeing the cleavage, take it upon themselves to make reality fit the doctrine. For there is no way back to the garden of Eden, of which I have read in your books, and you cannot make undone the sin of your forefather who ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; but people have learned to live with the knowledge.”

As power is born of conspiracy, the mighty cannot but think in its terms

[teodosia · Rating 3 out of 5]

„Și la ce ți-ar ajuta dacă ai avea răspunsurile?” a continuat Estera. „Ai putea să le scrii în Relatarea despre regele David sau în vreo altă carte?”
„Nu prea. Dar trebuie s-o știu eu însumi. Trebuie să știu cine era omul David. Era o fiară de pradă, care dă iama? Sau avea înaintea lui un țel, către care gonea cu orice preț? Sau orice strădanie e deșartă și chiar cei mai mari dintre noi sunt grăunte de nisip, pe care vântul timpului le spulberă?”
„Biet om!” a zis Estera.
„David?” am întrebat.
„Nu, tu.”

ce este și ce anume poate fi un istoric? și în ce măsură mai are societatea nevoie de unul? ajuns la curtea regelui Solomon, istoricului Etan ben Hosaia i se înfățișează realitatea vremurilor biblice evocate în roman (de actualitate însă și în prezent!): la ce servește un letopiseț? privind totul dintr-o asemenea perspectivă, găsim justă afirmația căpitanului de la porțile cetății lui Solomon: „Avem nevoie în Ierusalim de pietrari, de zidari, de salahori la căratul tencuielii; chiar şi un cizmar ar fi de folos; da ia te uită, ne vine un istoric.”. cu asemenea „necesități” ale societății ne-am obișnuit: ele au fost evocate cel puțin pe parcursul unei jumătăți de veac, când istoria a căpătat un rol de instrument, iar istoricul unul de funcționar aflat în slujba „partidului”. și tocmai în jurul acestei teme gravitează romanul lui Heym: cum evităm ca o relatare istorică să nu devină, așa cum unui anumit profesor îi place s-o numească, o „penibilitate istorică”?

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

i may have blunted myself on the story of david and saul and absalom and etc etc so the subtlety and power of this novel took a while to sink in, wrapped up as they are with the source material. extremely 1970s novel about a scribe tasked by king solomon with writing a history of king david that legitimates solomon. there are probably all kinds of east german jewish dissident in the 1970s political subtexts that i'm not getting. still, that gibes with one of the stickiest ideas the narrator utters: "Blessed be the name of the Lord our God, whose truth is like a field arrayed with flowers of many colors, for each man to pick the one striking his fancy."

[Errol Cavan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This exquisite little novel serves tweo functions. For those interested in how parts of the Old Testament came to written it is an excellent primer that while it is conjectural will stir great interest. For those interested in how Communism rewites history it is an expose of the danger of political and doctrinaire dictates on how the past shouild be viewed, not according to dispassionate inquiry but party allegiance. Heym wrote this book primarily to warn, but did so in an engaging manner.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I weirdly liked this book a lot. It was so vivid that when I read the Bible, I kept thinking that I had seen what I was reading in a movie. It took me a few days to realize that it was just the mind movie I made from reading this.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't really describe this book. It's in a category of its own. You just have to read it.

[Jayson Gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damn good.

[Nigel Ewan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most enjoyable and memorable novels I've ever read. Though at times Heym's interpretation and embellishment of the biblical account comes across as overly cynical, this book's entire existence is a testament to the one-of-a-kind power of God's word.

[Rowland Pasaribu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een hervertelling van een van de oudste verhalen in de wereld, Batseba is een verslag van het laatste deel van de regel van koning David. Het is een aardse, emotionele roman vol levendig memorabele personages, die mythische status te bereiken met behoud van hun menselijkheid. De vertrouwde figuren - Uria, den Hethiet, Tamar, Absalom, David, Amnon, Joab, Mefiboset, Nathan en, bovenal, Batseba zichzelf - en een paar kleine originele karakters krijgen ruimte om te groeien en echt tot leven komen. Meer dan alleen het verhaal is afkomstig uit het Oude Testament; Lindgren's taal is de cadans van de bijbelse modellen en hij zorgt voor de krachtige (en gemakkelijk misbruikt) instrument voor Mytho-poëtische abstractie met vaardigheid.

Ondanks een soortgelijke instelling, Stefan Heym is de koning David Report is een heel andere roman. Het vertelt het verhaal achter de oprichting van het bijbelse verslag van de regel van koning David. Ethan de historicus wordt opgeroepen door koning Salomo om te schrijven "The One and Only True en gezaghebbende, historisch correct en officieel erkend Verslag over de Amazing Rise, godvrezende Life, heldendaden en Wonderful prestaties van David, zoon van Jesse". Hij moet een evenwicht zijn eigen toewijding aan de waarheid met de tegenstrijdige opvattingen van de verschillende facties rechter over wat moet worden opgenomen. Het resultaat is zowel een vorm van historische mysterie, met de "echte" gebeurtenissen van de regering van David geleidelijk geopenbaard door Ethan's onderzoeken, en een politieke satire (Stefan Heym was een Oost-Duits, vertrouwd zijn met historisch revisionisme). Dit aspect is echter niet gearbeid, en het resultaat is een onderhoudende, humoristische roman met een ernstige kernel. De koning David verslag is een van mijn favoriete historische romans.

Zowel het verslag van koning David en Bathseba zal worden genoten door liefhebbers van historische fictie, beide zijn prima romans in welke context. Hoewel beide Lindgren en Heym hebben gemaakt van de tekst van het Oude Testament als een lanceerplatform, lezen tussen de lijnen van het bijbelse verslag en het aanbieden van hun eigen gissen naar de werkelijkheid achter de woorden, hun romans roepen heel verschillende werelden. De koning David verslag benadrukt de overeenkomsten tussen het verleden en het heden; de wereld van Bathsheba is zowel sneller en meer vreemd. Mijn advies is om te voorkomen dat het maken van een keuze en zowel lezen.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

With humor, anger, and anguish, Mr. Heym's novel lays out the difficulty of writing history for a leadership that is interested in power, but not in truth. Mr. H. describes the life of a man commissioned by King Solomon to write the official history of the life and times of his father, King David. It turns out that the resulting history is part of the Hebrew Bible (namely, I Samuel 6 through I Kings 2). In following the writer through his research and adventures, Mr. H. shows how a document can omit, gloss over, bend, etc. actual events in the service of some overriding purpose of The State, for example. It is a treat how Mr. H. tells not only the story of the writer, but also the "true" story of what he's writing about.

I believe Mr. H. was an East German writer whose work (according to the bio in the edition I read) was published only in the West after an official attack on Mr. H. in 1965. The novel was written in the early 1970's at a time when the disappearance of the Iron Curtain was unthinkable. Hence, the novel is also a criticism of the society Mr. H. lived in with its "revisionist history" and the types of "official narrative" that George Orwell laid out in "1984". Nonetheless, the novel is about more than a writer living in a communist state. The reason: "Official narratives" are always with us, alive and well.

Last, this is a book for Bible-lovers. It is a real treat as it gives a certain thriller excitement to the King David story and alternative ways of looking at it and the people in it (such as Bath-Sheeba, Absalom, Joab, etc.).

********** I read this book a second time in October 2020. So, it must have made a big impression on me. I just want to add two things to my earlier review. First, the exciting nature of the stories in the life of King David are beautifully picked apart and deconstructed so that we end up with two stories of each of the events. Each story is a good one. Second, I didn’t pay enough attention the first time to the personal or novelistic side of the book — that is, the life and experiences of protagonist who is the man hired or appointed to research and write the story of King David. In this, we have the professional, personal, and family stresses that his contact with Power creates. Love, family life, fear, money, etc. are all implicated in the almost impossible job this conscientious man is asked to perform.

[Tintenhain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ethan, Sohn des Hoshaja, aus der Stadt Ezra, ein Historiker und Schreiber, wird zu König Salomo gerufen und damit beauftragt, den „Einen und Einzigen Wahren und Autorativen, Historisch Genauen und Amtlich Anerkannten Bericht über den Erstaunlichen Aufstieg, das Gottesfürchtige Leben, sowie die Heroischen Taten und Wunderbaren Leistungen des David ben Jesse, Königs von Juda, während Sieben und beider Juda und Israel während Dreiunddreißig Jahren, des Erwählten GOttes und Vaters von König Salomo“ zu erstellen. Schnell stellt er fest, dass dies nur ein Balanceakt zwischen historischer Genauigkeit und den Fordernissen des Königs und seiner Berater sein kann, den sein Leben liegt in deren Händen. Sorgfältig wertet er Quellen aus, befragt die letzten Überlebenden aus der Zeit König Davids und spürt Widersprüche und vor allem wenig Heldenhaftes über den verehrten Herrscher auf. Ethan muss sich entscheiden, wieweit er der Wahrheit dienen darf und inwieweit er gewillt ist, zur Legendenbildung beizutragen...

Es hat eine Weile gedauert, bis ich in das Buch hinein gefunden habe, aber dann habe ich es doch mit großem Interesse gelesen. Richtig „klick“ hat es gemacht als ich die verschiedenen Personen des König-David-Berichtes in den Weiten des Internets aufspürte und in einen besseren Zusammenhang bringen konnte. Von da an hat mir das Lesen richtig Spaß gemacht und ich habe in der Bibel ab und an Stellen nachgelesen.
Beeindruckend fand ich, wie Heym sich konsequent in der Sprache vergangener Zeiten ausdrückt, auch wenn es manchmal etwas sehr gestelzt und gewollt klingt. Der innere Konflikt Ethans ist sehr gut herausgearbeitet und lässt den Leser sowohl das historische Interesse, die Suche nach der Wahrheit und das damit verbundene Dilemma nachspüren.
Heyms Roman wird oft als Kritik an der DDR verstanden, kann jedoch auf jede Diktatur zutreffen. Überall da, wo Menschen sich zu Herrschern emporschwingen und ihre Herrschaft auf Angst und Unterdrückung begründen, wird die Wahrheit zur Gefahr und das Verfälschen geschichtlicher Ereignisse, um den eigenen Anspruch auf die Herrschaft zu legitimieren, ein hilfreiches Mittel zur Beeinflussung der Massen.

[Gossymotto · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you ever wondered about the written history of a great man (or woman), a politician, king, Queen, public figure. Wondered how any one person could become so perfect, such a legend, this book will give you a hint as to how history is written of such people. How stories are created, shaped, bent, to fit the image that is required, to be maintained.

In this story you will read that King David was not exactly the person as depicted in the Bible. Whether you choose to believe this version or not, is entirely up to you.

I gave this book two stars only because I found it difficult to read, the language and the style, which is fitting for the story but made it hard to follow and stick with at times. (I kept drifting off or falling asleep).

Without getting into my own personal views of what is written in the bible or how great men of history are depicted, I'll just say that this book wasn't exactly an eye-opener for me, but it might be for some, and I'm sure it will enrage a few as well.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant extended metaphor. On the surface, a novel told in the voice of the man responsible for redacting the stories of King David found in the bible, under the direction of a team appointed by King Solomon. There are so many stories of David, most not flattering, some casting a poor light on his son Solomon. Which to include, and which of the men surrounding Solomon worked for David and has a stake in how the story is redacted. The author was a German Jew who was a member of the Communist party before WWII and fled the Nazis. After serving in the US Army, he went back to East Germany after the war, where he was a party member and a novelist, who eventually got into trouble for telling to much truth in his fiction. This book is a meditation on how a revolution populated by people who served in the previous regime is compromised and constricted. Great writing.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An ingenious and intriguing book. Looking at the writing of the Kind David Report (part of the Old Testament) through the eyes of the author. A timeless look at corruption, misdirection, marketing, journalism, witch-hunting and deception which is as relevant to modern leadership and politics as it was in the time of King Solomon. Human weakness vs moral standpoints and humanity vs inhumanity. Times have changed, or have they? Thought provoking and incredibly written.

[Raymond Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A work of art in the real sense. For what is history made of but those glimpses the people in power wish you to see. This exposes thier deciets and needs much as a good bit of journalism can. But to have done that in this way and that time and on so sensitive a subject i can only ask the authour to take a bow.
He taught me much and no doubt will treach me more over the years. One of the best books i have ever read.

[Cristiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heym's novel is considered among Biblical scholars one of the most fascinating and attentive reconstruction of
Israel under David's and Solomon's rule. It is very interesting indeed the way the author has tried to reconstruct the possible scholarly setting of a scribe in the first millennium BCE. I highly recommend this reading.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative read on the history of King David, good perspective on the "retelling of history by those who won the war". But overall a little dry and stilted (perhaps a result of translation).