The Lion Seeker

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In the tradition of the great immigrant sagas, The Lion Seeker brings us Isaac Helger, son of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, surviving the streets of Johannesburg in the shadow of World War II Are you a stupid or a clever Such is the refrain in Isaac Helger s mind as he makes his way from redheaded hooligan to searching adolescent to striving young man on the make His mother s question haunts every choice Are you a stupid or a cleverWill you find a way to lift your family out of Johannesburg s poor inner city, to buy a house in the suburbs, to bring your aunts and cousins from Lithuania Isaac s mother is a strong woman and a scarred woman her maimed face taunts him with a past no one will discuss As World War II approaches, then falls upon them, they hurtle toward a catastrophic reckoning Isaac must make decisions that, at first, only seem to be life or death, then actually are.Meanwhile, South Africa s history, bound up with Europe s but inflected with its own accents Afrikaans, Zulu, Yiddish, English begins to unravel Isaac s vibrant, working class, Jewish neighborhood lies near the African slums under cover of night, the slums are razed, the residents forced off to townships Isaac s fortune seeking takes him to the privileged seclusion of the Johannesburg suburbs, where he will court forbidden love It partners him with the unlucky, unsinkable Hugo Bleznick, selling miracle products to suspicious farmers And it leads him into a feud with a grayshirt Afrikaaner who insidiously undermines him in the auto shop, where Isaac has found the only work that ever felt true And then his mother s secret, long carefully guarded, takes them to the diamond mines, where everything is covered in a thin, metallic dust, where lions wait among desert rocks, and where Isaac will begin to learn the bittersweet reality of success bought at truly any cost.A thrilling ride through the life of one fumbling young hero, The Lion Seeker is a glorious reinvention of the classic family and coming of age sagas We are caught hearts open and wrecked between the urgent ambitions of a mother who knows what it takes to survive and a son straining against the responsibilities of the old world, even as he is endowed with the freedoms of the new. Download The Lion Seeker – kino-fada.fr Kenneth Bonert writes in the Acknowledgements supplement to this powerful novel about his profound gratitude to his late grandmother, her memories of her Lithuanian home village of Dusat, and the Jewish community in South Africa that so nourished her It is clear that this book is a labour of love, inspired by family experiences and tragedies that shape the work s harsh narrative and complex interwoven texture.Isaac Helger, five year old hellion...I hesitated to rate this book It s set in South Africa with all the linguistic style it entails, and I don t particularly enjoy that Whereas it s also a story of the world war ii or so it says on the blurb , and I love stories of the war It turned out to be surprisingly easy to read, but it wasn t a war story Rather, it s a story of a young jewish man being brought up in South Africa, having been lucky enough to escape Lithuania when Hitler wasn t even a name Consequently, he is one of the I hesitated to rate this book It s set in South Africa with all the linguistic style it entails, and I don t particularly enjoy that Whereas it s also a story of the world war ii or so it says on the blurb , and I love stories of the war It turned out to be surprisingly easy to read, but it wasn t a war story Rather, it s a story of a young jewish man being brought up in South Africa, having been lucky enough to escape Lithuania when Hitler wasn t even a name Consequently, he is one of the unbelievers when it comes to the Jewish persecution in Europe, and his family and he himself suffers for it I think it was well written...3.5 starsThis is an engaging historical novel, and given the quality of writing and characterization I can see Bonert going on to write excellent literary novels in the future This one falls short of its ambitious goals, but it s still worth a read.The Lion Seeker follows a young man named Isaac, a Jewish refugee from Lithuania, growing up working class in South Africa in the 1930s Numerous threads follow various aspects of Isaac s life his complicated family, his romance with a rich girl, hi 3.5 starsThis is an engaging historical novel, and given the quality of writing and characterization I can see Bonert going on to write excellent literary novels in the future This one falls short of its ambitious goals, but it s still worth a read.The Lion Seeker follows a young man named Isaac, a Jewish refugee from Lithuania, growing up working class in South Africa in the 1930s Numerous threads follow various aspects of Isaac s life his com...4.5 starsSprawling historical saga of a Jewish family that emigrates from Lithuania to South Africa in the early 1900s Energetic writing, vivid characters, lots of conflict made the pages of this book fly by.Im ersten Teil erfahren wir, dass Isaac mit Mutter und Schwester aus einem kleinen Dorf in Lettland zu seinem Vater, der in S dafrika lebt und dort bereits eine Uhrmacherwerkstatt betreibt, auswandert Was dazu gef hrt hat erfahren wir nach und nach im Lauf der Geschichte.Isaacs Mutter Gitelle ist sehr ehrgeizig und will f r ihren Sohn alles erreichen So verbietet sie ihm Kontakt mit den Einheimischen Schwarzen, denn Wei e haben diese zu verachten um anerkannt zu werden.Energisch vertreibt sie Im ersten Teil erfahren wir, dass Isaac mit Mutter und Schwester aus einem kleinen Dorf in Lettland zu seinem Vater, der in S dafrika lebt und dort bereits eine Uhrmacherwerkstatt betreibt, auswandert Was dazu gef hrt hat erfahren wir nach und nach im Lauf der Geschichte.Isaacs Mutter Gitelle ist sehr ehrgeizig und will f r ihren Sohn alles erreichen So verbietet sie ihm Kontakt mit den Einheimischen Schwarzen, denn Wei e haben diese zu verachten um anerkannt zu werden.Energisch vertreibt sie die in ihren Augen faulen nichtsnutzigen Freun...This is from an ARC sent to me by the publisher.It s amazing how many stories there still are from the time of World War II so many different angles and perspectives, so many lives affected, all over the world And how relevant and searing these stories still are today.This one is about a young Jewish boy living in Johannesburg after emigrating there with his family from Lithuania At a time when Jewish people the world over are about to be persecuted on the grandest scale, life for them in Jo This is from an ARC sent to me by the publisher.It s amazing how many stories there still are from the time of World War II so many different angles and perspectives, so many lives affected, all over the world And how relevant and searing these stories still are today.This one is about a young Jewish boy living in Johannesburg after emigrating there with his family from Lithuania At a time when Jewish people the world over are about to be persecuted on the grandest scale, life for them in Johannesburg is low but of course they are still not the lowest of society Isaac Helger as a child mixes easily with other children in the streets, until his mother realizes and quickly puts an end to those early friendships With little education and plenty of naivete, Isaac blindly fumbles his way into young adulthood, unable to figure out why he continually runs into brick walls His mother wants one t...Not sure if this book is for everyone but I totally enjoyed it It is the European Jewish immigrant s story but this one is S Africa which might not be as know to Americans I particularly enjoyed the use of Yiddish which was well translated.It is a powerful book about love, family, sin and forgivenes...Read my review on New York Journal of Books first Additional remarks that appeared in a different and now defunct publication begin with the next paragraph.Jewish books The Lion Seeker portrays South Africa s Jewish communitySouth African born and raised Jewish Canadian writer Kenneth Bonert s debut novel The Lion Seeker, which Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is publishing today, is both a coming of age and an immigration story In my New York Journal of Books review I write Most of Kenneth Bonert Read my review on New York Journal of Books first Additional remarks ...Occasionally lyrical, often gritty, this is a big, angry story about a tough, resourceful young man growing up in a chaotic world populated by deeply damaged refugees, abused native tribesmen, crafty charlatans, brutal Nazi influenced bullies and roughnecks of all kinds What fascinating characters Bonert is able to portray and how complex, real and deeply human they are, with all their foibles, contradictions, self delusions Plagued by misfortune and betrayal, Isaac pursues desp...I rated The Lion Seeker with four stars but would have preferred 3 1 2 because I often didn t care for Bonert s dark graphic details The novel gave me an idea of South Africa s prejudice against Jews and its involvement in WWII I knew of the racial and power divide of SF s Whites and the Blacks, but I had no idea beforehand of the tension ov...

The Lion Seeker
  • English
  • 06 February 2018
  • Hardcover
  • 576 pages
  • 0547898045
  • Kenneth Bonert
  • The Lion Seeker