finished reading

This much-buzzed-about book is like a modern-day parable.  Friends of mine who've read it offered mixed reviews.  For me, it was all right.  I liked it well enough.  A gentle book.  And I'm a fan of a found family, so I enjoyed the secondary characters and their quirks.

From the publisher:

One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…

His name is Theo. And he asks a lot more questions than he answers.

Theo visits the local coffeehouse, where ninety-two pencil portraits hang on the walls, portraits of the people of Golden done by a local artist. He begins purchasing them, one at a time, and putting them back in the hands of their “rightful owners.” With each exchange, a story is told, a friendship born, and a life altered.

A story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen, Theo of Golden is a beautifully crafted novel about the power of creative generosity, the importance of wonder to a purposeful life, and the invisible threads of kindness that bind us to one another.