Theo of Golden

 

Theo of Golden, by Allen Levi (2023), 400 pages

Theo is an elderly Portuguese man that seemingly appears out of nowhere in Golden, Georgia. He quickly charms the locals and begins a quest to hand deliver portraits that are displayed in the local coffee shop back to the subjects of those portraits. Through the process, Theo gradually reveals a bit about himself while taking in the stories of the people behind the art. A deep narrative is revealed and secrets uncovered. 

In some ways, this is a lovely story of a long life, regrets, and renewed purpose. In other ways, it reads like "Chicken Soup for the Soul". I listened to the book and, at some points, had to stop because it just got too saccharine. I enjoyed the premise of the novel, but the perfect, continually heartwarming endings of each story put a damper on any sort of ability to connect with the characters. There is a "surprise" at the end of the book. Careful readers, though, will not be shocked.

Every Step She Takes

 Every Step She Takes by Alison Cochrun, 384 pages.

Sadie Wells doesn't have time for much of anything, but especially not for dating. And after a long list of dates with men with zero sparks (best not to think about why she's 35 and has maybe never been attracted to a man), she's desperate to get away from her life, and spontaneously agrees to take her influencer sister's place on a tour of the Camino de Santiago. When she is convinced the plane is going down she confesses all of her secrets to her seatmate, only to discover (to her horror) that said seatmate is named Mal, and is also on her tour. And also it's a tour specifically for queer women. Sadie has 100s of kilometers of self-discovery before her, whether she feels ready or not.

Alison Cochrun's books never miss for me! I really loved both Sadie and Mal, and the Camino itself wove its way through the narrative beautifully. That being said, I feel like the plot of this one was a little weaker than her standard. Mal agrees to help Sadie recapture the queer adolescence she missed out on, which ends up involving a lot of "practice" dating. Despite the fact that I feel like they were pretty upfront with their feelings at multiple points, the story still treated it like they were secretly pining, which I don't feel like made a lot of sense with what we had seen. Minor believability gripes aside, I still had a great time with this book, which I found both funny and sincere. 

Theory of Shadows

Theory of Shadows: a Novel / Paolo Maurensig, 179 p.

An exploration of the very real life of Russian chess master Alexandre Alekhine, who died under exceedingly mysterious circumstances in Portugal in 1946.  Alekhine, who survived the war by playing chess on behalf of the Reich and cozying up to high-ranking Nazis, was found dead in his hotel room, seated before a chess board,  cause of death unclear.  The author uses the form of the novel hoping that fiction will lead him to uncover truths that research does not.  The result is an interesting, creepy story about a brilliant but horribly flawed man.