2026-07-25
POPULAR FICTION
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Theo of Golden
by Allen Levi
Publisher Note:
Questions linger about Theo, a pleasant but mysterious stranger, after his arrival in the southern city of Golden. Who is he, and why is he here?
He arrives early one spring and by chance - or is it? - he visits a coffee shop where 92 framed pencil portraits are on display. Inspired, Theo sets out on a mission of purchasing all the portraits one at a time and quietly bestowing them on their 'rightful owners.' Stories are told; friendships are born; and lives are changed.
Theo of Golden is a beautifully crafted story about the power of creative generosity, the importance of wonder to a purposeful life, and the far-reaching possibilities of anonymous kindness.
Troy Note:
multiple people recommended this book to me. then a friend who was leaving town gave me the physical book as he was heading out.
after i started reading it, i told marty i was trying to figure out why so many people thought i should read it. marty asked what it was about. i said, so far just an old guy giving money and things to a bunch of people. marty told me to give her the names of each person who recommended it because i'm already giving away all our money AND we don't even have any money to give away.
another curious aside is every summer i pick a subject to study (during my month in michigan). this year's topic is the meaning of life. to prepare, i did a bunch of research and selected a ranging body of books to read about the topic. they were all the usual suspects and nothing too ground-breaking. but none of them landed for me, and i was actually pretty frustrated at my lack of progress (and understanding). so i put those down and read Theo, since a friend was thoughtful enough to gift me his copy. after i finished it, i think this unexpected work, the author's first work it is worth noting, did more to move the meaning-needle than all the ballyhooed tomes I lugged up north.
Passage(s) of Note:
"Simone, I'm telling ya', get rid of that damn cello. Yo-Yo Ma has the market sewn up. Why you throwing your life away on that thing? Get yourself a guitar. You can make a living with a guitar. I've heard of people making literally hundreds of dollars a year playing guitar. Then you'd have some money to buy a book. And you'd at least have a chance of getting yourself a girlfriend. And guitars're a lot easier to carry, Simone. Look at you. You look like you got a damn hockey player on your back. You're going to kick yourself someday. I'm tellin' you."
Junior pointed to the fountain. "Mr. Theo, you might already know this, but this fountain is called the Fedder. You want to know how it got its name?"
"Yes, thank you, please tell me."
"OK. Well, a long time ago, like in the 1880's, they had a big dedication ceremony when the fountain was built."
Theo's eyes studied the impressive structure in front of them. It reminded him of the Bethesda Fountain in New York's Central Park. That one, too, featured an angel with open wings.
"A preacher was saying a prayer, and there was a little kid on the platform--I think it was the mayor's grandson. While the prayer was going on, a pidgeon flew off the statue, and a feather fell onto the preacher's robe. So the little kid hollered, 'Papa, look a peeth a fedder fell off the angel.' He said 'peeth a fedder', but he meant 'piece of feather.' That ended up in the newspaper and everybody started calling the fountain the 'Peeth a Fedder,' but now it's just called 'the Fedder.'"
How is it, Theo wondered, that a piece of paper--a letter, a photo, a ticket stub, a sketch, a painting--is suddenly transformed by placing it in four bits of wood beneath a pane of glass? What does it mean that we place permanent boundaries around transient moments? What does it say of humankind that we take such trouble to freeze specific memories, that we devote such energy to capturing and preserving the "minute pariculars" of our lives?
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