Theo of Golden by Allen Levi is the book everyone is talking about.
Some books take the publishing world by surprise. Theo of Golden is the latest example of this. While self-published years ago, the story really took off in 2025 as word of mouth quickly grew, and the book became a huge success, finding its way on the New York Times Bestsellers list for weeks.
I finally got a chance to read the story, and I quite liked it. But I wasn’t as enamored with it as others, and there were times I thought it even dragged a bit. Some of the storylines even blended a bit together.
However, there is no denying that the central message behind the story of kindness and giving back is something that is always appreciated and important. Especially with the technology overload, it was nice to read a rather simple story about doing the right thing.
What’s the Story About
Theo is a man who comes to a town called Golden, a small city in the south. He visits the local coffeehouse, where he sees portraits of the people of Golden drawn by a local artist. Theo decides to purchase each one and give the portrait to the rightful owners.
With each meeting, Theo learns more about the person, and they come away inspired by his kindness.
Theo’s Story
Something people have wondered about this novel if it’s based on a true story. But it’s not. Theo and the town of Golden are all fictional. But the novel features very real themes of loneliness, heartbreak, kindness, serving others, closure, and more.
I wouldn’t call this a Christian book, but it does feature religious elements throughout the story, and Theo himself is quite religious as well. But he doesn’t judge and is both outspoken and at times quiet about his faith.
Theo does not show all his cards to the people of Golden, not even those he becomes close with. So there’s always an air of mystery to him. Eventually, all is revealed, and we find out why he chose Golden to distribute the acts of kindness.
Feel-Good Messaging
Reading that the book went through an interesting publishing journey made the writing style a bit more sense to me. As you can imagine, I read a lot of traditionally published novels, as many book clubs choose those reads. So I can get a sense of when a book feels a bit different.
For instance, I feel the current writing style in novels doesn’t allow for as much introspection as maybe an author would want. You do get it some with the big-time literary fiction authors, but I don’t feel like new authors get as much wiggle room.
So it was refreshing that after Atria Books acquired Theo of Golden, they kept the author’s same style and left much of Theo’s introspective thoughts. This isn’t a book of action, or really much happening if you’re thinking of plot-driven fiction.
But at the same time, through Theo’s kindness, lives are changed forever. It really is a nice message all around.
However, because it had so many of the same plot beats: Theo buys a portrait, meets the person behind the portrait, they talk, lives are changed forever, did start to feel a bit repetitive to me at times. Even with the kind messaging.
Verdict
Despite some criticism of story choices, Theo of Golden is a lovely book. When you think about it, how often do we talk about a work of fiction like that? I can see why people wish it were a true story, as it truly is inspiring in many ways.
While I did feel the narrative got repetitive, it does eventually pick up more steam, and all the questions are answered. I think it’s well worth your time, but also it’s okay if you don’t find it the best book of all time. Sometimes, extremely hyped books unknowingly put pressure on the reader. Just go in and enjoy.
For book clubs, check out my discussion questions here.
