I could not warm up to this book, despite Kenneth Bonert's obvious writing ability. I don't necessarily need to like the characters in order to enjoy a novel, but I do need to find them interesting enough that I care about what happens to them as the story progresses. That didn't happen for me with The Lion Seeker. I couldn't care about Isaac Helger and his repeatedly bad choices that make him appear to be bent on ruining every chance he gets. I couldn't care about Gitelle, Isaac's irritating nag of a mother who appears to be one of "the stupids" herself. And I couldn't care about Abel, Isaac's milquetoast of a father, who seems to have almost no personality.
I did, however, find it interesting to learn of the Lithuanian Jews who emigrated to South Africa in the early 20th century, and of the attitudes toward them in their adopted country.
Two things I would have liked to have known before requesting this book:
1) It is written in the present tense.
2) There are no quotation marks used for dialogue.
I have seen a lot of glowing reviews for this book, so this is probably just one of those times when the plot and narrative style were not a good match for me.
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