This is an unusual book for Brian Doyle. He is imagining a novel that Robert Louis Stevenson never wrote, so he's writing in Stevenson's voice. This novel takes the form of a memoir: Stevenson is living in San Francisco, waiting for the love of his life to get divorced from her abusive husband so that he can marry her. He lives in a boardinghouse run by Mr. and Mrs. Carson, a couple who have lived fascinating lives and traveled all over the world. He recounts the stories that Mr. and Mrs. Carson tell him.

There isn't much of a plot here, and the eponymous adventures of Mr. Carson play a pretty small role in the book. There are several storylines, and no real conflict-resolution arc. Instead, it's a kind of kaleidoscopic view of San Francisco, a budding author, deepening friendships, world travels, and delightful people.

I am not a particular fan of Robert Louis Stevenson, so maybe I would have appreciated the book more if I were more familiar with his writing.

A lot of Brian Doyle still comes through: the book has his typical exuberance and love of the small things that make life delightful, and celebration of the many different ways that people can care for each other and enrich each others' lives. ( )

There is another story, untold in this book of picturesque tales. That of the author, Brian Doyle, who considered Robert Louis Stevenson a lifelong hero and his greatest influence. Who published a book in March 2017 paying the greatest compliment by mimicking the voice and spirit of Stevenson. And who two months later, in May 2017, was dead. It's a sad story indeed, but poignantly symmetrical, Stevenson also died young.

This is a must-read for any fan of Stevenson. It's full of allusions to his life and stories. The writing is top notch, I am amazed at the craft, particularly late 19th century antique vocabulary. It's no small thing to mimic a great writer but Doyle mostly pulls it off. For all it's too-self-consciousness about being a book of stories, I found many of them to be forgettable, or at least not as good as Stevenson - an unfairly high bar. But this was more than made up for by the quality of writing and positive mood. ( )

I don't know how I came across this book, but is is an absolute jewel. Set in a boarding house in San Francisco in the 1800's, Robert Lewis Stevenson is a struggling, ill young author madly in love with an older woman who has two children. The boarding house on Bush Street is run by Mary and John Carson, a loving couple who have many stories to share.

After supper, by the fire, John Carson tells Stevenson of his many adventures as a seaman around the world: Australia, Ireland, South Pacific. Mary also has her story to tell of surviving the Irish famine and finding her way to American as a stowaway on a ship and a trip across Canada to San Francisco. Some of the stories are hardly believable, but all are told with such authenticity. Easy to see how Stevenson worked many of these adventures in his later works.

This is also a book about friendship. John and Mary Carson are the most genuinely admirable characters I have met in fiction. There is so much food for thought: "I think there are many more true things than we know, or will ever know, and the wisest man among us is the one who is first to say 'I do not know, and will never know, and everything I do knos is one pebble among the unacountable pebbles wrought by the sea.'" ( )

The Adventures of John Carson of Several Quarters of the World: a Novel of Robert Louis Stevenson. Brian Doyle. 2017. I did not discover Doyle until after his death. He is one of the most lyrical writers I have ever read. This “biography” is the novelized story of the brief time Stevenson spent in San Francisco as he waited for his future wife’s divorce to be finalized. It is really a story within a story as Stevenson relates stories from the life of Carson and his wife. Read it and become turned on the life and writings of Robert Louis Stevenson; read it for the sheer beauty of Doyle’s writing; read it a morn that Doyle died so young. ( )

I liked this book so much and I really wanted to write a review to say that. But then I think the review is really hard to write simply because I don't really know how to describe the book. In the Forward the author explains that Robert Lewis Stevenson lived at a boarding house in San Francisco for several months, writing and struggling with his health and finances in preparation for his marriage. During this time he had indicated he wanted to write a novel THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN CARSON. John Carson was the name of his landlord. Not a trace of this book has ever been found but the author of the current book was intrigued and felt he wanted to write this book for RLS. The book is part biography of Robert Lewis Stevenson, part adventure stories and most of all stories of the humanness of us all. Doyle's writing is lyrical and easy to read. There is no tightly constructed plot. One story runs into another easily. The story telling is interrupted by the call to dinner. The reader has to wait for the next installment - often with other stories in between. For Brain Doyle fans this book will be a treasure. If you are new reader of Brian Doyle it very consistent with his style. I like the book a lot and will read it again. ( )