Devi Nair
š§ Listened in audio š¢ Narrated by David Morse ā± Duration: 13 hours š·ļø Publisher: Atria Books | October 11, 2023
This book has a way of reaching in and rearranging something in you without asking permission.
What Allen Levi has written is, at its core, a meditation on what it means to give without keeping score. Theo does not arrive in Golden with a plan or an agenda. He arrives with attention, the rarest gift anyone can offer another person. Watching him return each portrait, sitting with each person's story like it is the most important thing he has ever heard, is not just moving, but quietly convicting. I kept thinking about all the stories around me I have never thought to ask for.
What really got me was how this book leans into the idea of giving, not loudly, not performatively, but in those small, almost invisible ways that actually matter. The portraits, the conversations, the moments of seeing and being seenā¦ they build into something that feels both intimate and expansive. David Morseās narration adds an extra layer of warmth, making Theo feel even more real, like someone youāve met, or wish you had.
This isnāt a fast-paced read, and it doesnāt try to be. Itās deliberate, thoughtful, and deeply human. And somewhere along the way, without you noticing, it softens you. This is the rare book that is better out loud.
Would I recommend it? Drop everything. Clear your queue. Tell your book club you found the one. Theo of Golden is the kind of novel that restores your faith in people, in storytelling, and in the quiet, radical power of choosing kindness on purpose. It will not rush you, and it will not let you go. This is a five-star listen that I will be pressing into the hands, and earbuds, of everyone I know.
š§ Listened in audio š¢ Narrated by David Morse ā± Duration: 13 hours š·ļø Publisher: Atria Books | October 11, 2023
This book has a way of reaching in and rearranging something in you without asking permission.
What Allen Levi has written is, at its core, a meditation on what it means to give without keeping score. Theo does not arrive in Golden with a plan or an agenda. He arrives with attention, the rarest gift anyone can offer another person. Watching him return each portrait, sitting with each person's story like it is the most important thing he has ever heard, is not just moving, but quietly convicting. I kept thinking about all the stories around me I have never thought to ask for.
What really got me was how this book leans into the idea of giving, not loudly, not performatively, but in those small, almost invisible ways that actually matter. The portraits, the conversations, the moments of seeing and being seenā¦ they build into something that feels both intimate and expansive. David Morseās narration adds an extra layer of warmth, making Theo feel even more real, like someone youāve met, or wish you had.
This isnāt a fast-paced read, and it doesnāt try to be. Itās deliberate, thoughtful, and deeply human. And somewhere along the way, without you noticing, it softens you. This is the rare book that is better out loud.
Would I recommend it? Drop everything. Clear your queue. Tell your book club you found the one. Theo of Golden is the kind of novel that restores your faith in people, in storytelling, and in the quiet, radical power of choosing kindness on purpose. It will not rush you, and it will not let you go. This is a five-star listen that I will be pressing into the hands, and earbuds, of everyone I know.