what we read: September 2026

Title: Theo of Golden

Author: Allen Levi

Let's begin with a brief summary from the publisher:

"One spring morning, a stranger named Theo arrives in the small Southern city of Golden. He doesn’t explain much about where he came from or why he’s there—but when he visits the local coffeehouse, where pencil portraits of the people of Golden hang on the walls, he begins purchasing them, one at a time, and giving each portrait to the person depicted. In exchange, he asks only for the person’s story. And so portrait by portrait, person by person, secrets are revealed, regrets are shared, and ordinary lives are profoundly altered."

Getting Organized

Waiting for all parties to assemble gave us some extra, welcome minutes to catch up with each other and talk about things like memoir-writing, how everyone has been spending the summer, and how tickled we were that Lois brought each of us a Pearson's Nut Goodie to mark the fact of this venerable old company's demise.

Digging In -- Almost

Unlike our usual discussions, which focus entirely on the book and our analysis thereof, this one started with an exchange of facts about the author. Clearly, after reading the book (and in some cases, during reading), each of us went in search of answers to questions like: Who is this writer? Why is this book a breakout hit? Where are the reviews? A lengthy piece in The Washington Post tells us Levi is 70 years old, a first-time author who lives alone on 1,600 acres of family land in Georgia where he keeps bees and makes music, and that he has a limited social media presence. Inspired by portraits he'd seen in his favorite cafe, he wrote a manuscript with no intention of publishing it. A group of close friends, who meet every year to talk about old times and pray together, convinced him to publish it.

Self-published, the book was promoted by Levi and a friend by telling all of their friends, working their respective networks, and posting on Facebook. Somewhere along the line, sales took off. As of this writing, the book has sold 2.5 million copies.

Insights and Opinions

+ Blanche kicked off the discussion, finding the book "great reading for somebody post-surgery. I found it very accessible, mildly entertaining and with no deep insights. I wanted to come to book club just in case the group could point me to the deep insights."

+ Chris, who read it on two flights, "felt like I was reading the script for a Hallmark movie, so I didn't think too deeply about it."

+ As Theo meets with each person whose portrait he is presenting, he tells them what he sees in the face. This telling inspires each gift recipient to open up and tell him things about themselves they may not have disclosed to others. "He is making people ask their own questions about who they are, because they aren't willing to look at themselves," Lois said. Linda noted that Theo recognizes each person's hunger to be seen and how important that is. And Vicky pointed out that Theo himself was the most mysterious of all of the characters. He never discloses anything about himself.

+ Margy felt that Levi's wide circle of eccentric characters made for a colorful story. "That's one of his messages. You are made better by your exposure to a diverse group of people." She also cited the author's habit in an interview of turning the interviewer's questions back on the interviewer. "He is a kind of Theo, in a way."

+ To Linda, all of the characters were interesting, although she deemed the golf ball scene that results in a lifetime case of post-traumatic stress disorder, unbelievable. "As I was reading the book, I just read the book. I felt like it was heartwarming and that the author did not write it to be a bestseller. He wrote it for himself." She also noted that "This should be a heads-up to New York publishers. This is what people want to read."

+ To Blanche "That was my problem with it. He is such a good writer and the characters are so interesting, and I kept waiting for the payoff or something important. But now I'm thinking a lot of people who don't read love this book, and that's a good thing."

+ Steve asked if any of us were bothered by some of the writing that could be deemed proselytizing. "As long as it was the character and not the author speaking, I was okay with it," he said. "But at the end, there is a full-on sermon." Discussion on that point landed squarely in the middle. While the author states this is not a Christian book, the text is clearly informed by his belief system.

+ Having a hard time completing the book midway through reading, Liz searched for reviews. "I felt like it was manipulative and preachy so I wanted to see what the reviewers had to say," she said. She found no reviews by major publications, but many reviews by individual people on Reddit and Goodreads. These reviews were universally positive. Many of them used phrases like "just what I needed now" and "finally something uplifting to give me hope." She acknowledged that clearly, the story of Theo and his gift-recipients is filling a generally unmet need for comfort during a horrific time. Liz said she was grateful for this book club conversation "because the shrift I gave this book was very short."

+ Several of us felt that what had happened between Theo's early life and his time in Golden was a big missing piece. Margy said she thought she would find out he was atoning for something and Linda assumed the same. But that turns out not to be the point.

+ Both Linda and Steve felt the ultimate appearance of Willa and then, wham, the end, was problematic. "For such a well-developed plot, that was a real letdown," Steve said.

+ Is it a happy ending? Some say yes and some say no. Levi is now writing a sequel and the book has been optioned to become a feature film, so there's clearly much life left in Theo.