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Book: Theo of Golden — kindness, loss, and small stories
Theo of Golden, by Allen Levi, is a fairly simple book in the way it is built, but it keeps getting bigger as the stories of the people in it begin to appear.
Without giving away too much, Theo arrives in the small town of Golden without saying much about who he is or why he is there. In a coffeehouse, he finds a collection of pencil portraits of local residents. From there, he begins buying the portraits and giving them to the people depicted in them.
But the portrait is almost an excuse.
With every delivery, Theo meets someone, listens to a story, and becomes part of that person’s life for a little while. Gradually, the book reveals loss, regret, loneliness, family relationships, friendship, and the things people often carry without anyone else noticing.
What I liked most is that the book does not depend on big events. Most of the story happens through conversations, encounters, and small gestures.
Theo is not presented as someone trying to fix everybody’s life either. A lot of the time, he simply pays attention, listens, and does something kind without expecting much in return.
For me, the portraits eventually represent something larger: the idea of actually seeing people. We pass by other people every day, but that does not mean we really know the person beside us.
The book also deals a lot with loss. Theo carries his own pain, and I think part of the way he connects with other people comes from what he has already lived through himself.
At times the story can feel a little too sentimental, but I think that is exactly what it is trying to be. It is not a complicated novel built around constant twists. It is a story about ordinary people and about how a seemingly small action can have a much larger effect than we expect.
My main conclusion was simple: we do not always need to do something extraordinary to change someone’s day — or even a part of someone’s life. Sometimes simply paying attention is already a lot.