Memories can be a tricky thing.

Author : Paweł Huelle
Title : Who Was David Weiser?
Published : 23/05/1991
Pages : 220
Format : Hardback
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC







     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 Wieser.

     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.