“Books give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.”—Plato
Some books should come with a warning label. You know the ones that tear you apart and stitch you back up? (Think Transcendent Kingdom or The Snow Child.) While others should come as a total surprise—the kind that develop a reputation for exceeding all expectations. Think about the last time pages unexpectedly gripped you. I have yet to recover from The Silent Patient’s massive twist. Years later, Project Hail Mary still grabs my heart. (Long before Ryan Gosling got involved.) O Hamnet, O Hamnet, wherefore art thou? Let’s be honest, the wheels on Doig’s bus make the world go round and round. It’s hard for me to explain the way books like All the Glimmering Stars or The Nightingale, doused in deep raw emotion, give more essence to my tiny but personal universe. Books like Theo of Golden are a million tiny sparks. They’re All the Light We Cannot See. I do not exaggerate when I say Allen Levi just molded my soul some.
If Rae gets her wish and a required reading list for life materializes, Theo of Golden should be on it, no question. Here are the bones of this blessed book: an enigmatic elderly Portuguese man shows up in a small Georgian town named Golden. Theo is private but pleasant. When he visits the local coffee shop, he’s enchanted by the framed pencil portraits that line the shop’s walls. All 92 of them. His inspiration to purchase the renderings and gift them to their rightful owners leads to sincere, meaningful exchanges where the transformative power of kindness is on full display. Theo embodies Levi’s belief that, “The best portion of a good person’s life is the little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.” To witness it is to feel wonder. Theo shakes the world in the most gentle way. By time you close the cover, you’ll want to be like Theo. You’ll want to do the same.
There’s much more to the story than I’ve described. Things I didn’t anticipate. I just can’t stop basking in pages fraught with real wisdom. Wisdom about sadness. About friendship. About how to treat people who are vastly different than you. About what marks success. About beauty and stillness. About the pure unadulterated magic of kindness. About how to live life. I shudder to think of a world void of books that give soul to my universe and wings to my mind. And, more importantly, clarity to my heart.