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liberrydude's review against another edition
3.0
As a boy I loved Robert Louis Stevenson stories and as an adult I have enjoyed the works of Brian Doyle so this literary fusion of the two was a recent discovery and the prospect for some zen was high. It’s a homage that meanders too much. Still a tantalizing, fascinating, and enjoyable read but one I was all too eager to see end.
It’s really a sort of chain letter of stories. Doyle is telling the story of RLS who is telling the stories John Carson tells RLS, and JC is telling us about all the stories of a Polish seafarer (Joseph Conrad)in Sydney Harbor. Should title this book “The Story Chain.”
It’s really a sort of chain letter of stories. Doyle is telling the story of RLS who is telling the stories John Carson tells RLS, and JC is telling us about all the stories of a Polish seafarer (Joseph Conrad)in Sydney Harbor. Should title this book “The Story Chain.”
debbiecuddy's review against another edition
5.0
Summer bingo-By an author who died last year
I don't know how to describe just how wonderful this book is. It's a book that drew me into the world of San Francisco in 1880, to a boarding house, next to a fire listening to John Carson tell his stories to a young RLS. These stories are not simply adventure stories, but are about journeys, life, friends, faith, love, and all the things that make for a full and meaningful life. Although it isn't a long book, I read it slowly because I wanted to savor every word and image.
I'm sad that Brian Doyle is no longer with us to write more of his wonderful stories and I am grateful for all he has written.
I don't know how to describe just how wonderful this book is. It's a book that drew me into the world of San Francisco in 1880, to a boarding house, next to a fire listening to John Carson tell his stories to a young RLS. These stories are not simply adventure stories, but are about journeys, life, friends, faith, love, and all the things that make for a full and meaningful life. Although it isn't a long book, I read it slowly because I wanted to savor every word and image.
I'm sad that Brian Doyle is no longer with us to write more of his wonderful stories and I am grateful for all he has written.
jasonfurman's review against another edition
4.0
A decent entry into the books about writers and the fictional stories behind the books they wrote--in this case Robert Louis Stevenson. And a decent entry into the imitation fiction genre, in this case writing a book in the mode of Stevenson based solely off the title of a book Stevenson appears to have planned to write but never did. Not outstanding at either, like much of this type it made me want to go back and read South Sea Tales yet again, but decent. If anything my biggest objection is that this was essentially a linked set of stories that promised more as a unified novel than it ultimately delivered. But the writing was perfectly good, most of the chapters interesting enough, and it made a tiny slice of Stevenson's life come vividly alive--the year 1879 that he spent roaming the streets of San Francisco before he wrote Treasure Island or any of his other significant fiction.
toniapeckover's review against another edition
4.0
Not what I expected...lovely and kind and good-hearted.
"I hear the disconsolate reviewers say, who so wished for headlong adventure, and a narrative arc, and dark villains vanquished, and tumultuous hearts, and mysterious heroes and heroines slowly becoming aware of their deeper selves...Are we to read all the way through these pages and find nothing but the brave and courteous Mr Carson, and the gentle and remarkable Mrs Carson, and the idyllic Fanny Osbourne across the bay...Trust me, I feel as you do...But I cannot make this account into that sort of wonderful novel; for I wish most of all to capture something of what is, right around me, right now, in this house..."
"I hear the disconsolate reviewers say, who so wished for headlong adventure, and a narrative arc, and dark villains vanquished, and tumultuous hearts, and mysterious heroes and heroines slowly becoming aware of their deeper selves...Are we to read all the way through these pages and find nothing but the brave and courteous Mr Carson, and the gentle and remarkable Mrs Carson, and the idyllic Fanny Osbourne across the bay...Trust me, I feel as you do...But I cannot make this account into that sort of wonderful novel; for I wish most of all to capture something of what is, right around me, right now, in this house..."
briface's review against another edition
2.0
Long winded, repetitive, boring. I should have given up on it. Waxed on about storytelling but the story kept getting interrupted and was not compelling enough to make me want to continue reading. The conclusion was disappointing and rushed although at that point I was reading pretty quickly. Meh.
jhbandcats's review against another edition
5.0
I thought this book was charming, clever, beautiful, and unique. A novel about author Robert Louis Stevenson, it’s told in Stevenson’s first person as a series of rambles through San Francisco that culminate each evening in front of the fireplace with his landlord John Carson. They talk and Carson spins tales of his many trips around the world, and after dinner Stevenson rushes upstairs to his room to jot down as much as he can remember in hopes of turning the stories into books some day.
It’s a lovely homage to San Francisco and Stevenson told in lyrical language. Some examples: Stevenson compares Carson’s storytelling style with a river as it eddies and swirls, faster and slower. The winds of San Francisco are so strong that he imagines the inhabitants attaching sails to themselves to speed their way through the city. The book is full of such descriptions, both smart and whimsical.
A beautiful book. Definitely not for everyone - it’s slow and soporific but I loved it nonetheless.
It’s a lovely homage to San Francisco and Stevenson told in lyrical language. Some examples: Stevenson compares Carson’s storytelling style with a river as it eddies and swirls, faster and slower. The winds of San Francisco are so strong that he imagines the inhabitants attaching sails to themselves to speed their way through the city. The book is full of such descriptions, both smart and whimsical.
A beautiful book. Definitely not for everyone - it’s slow and soporific but I loved it nonetheless.
brentfernandez's review against another edition
3.0
I love Brian Doyle, but this one wasn’t my cup of tea. There are some amazing passages, but the book doesn’t compare to his essays or even his other novels.
katebelt's review against another edition
5.0
Wonderful read; quintessential Brian Doyle with descriptions of places and peoples from all around the world
inkletter7's review against another edition
4.0
I loved the way the story about the Carsons unfolded slowly, how Mr. and Mrs. Carson's seemingly unrelated adventures stitched together into a greater narrative about meeting each other. Loved also the meditations on the importance and meaning of stories. Beautiful book.
mohogan2063's review against another edition
4.0
It took me a while to get into this book. Perhaps because in the words of Brian Doyle, speaking as Robert Louis Stevenson, "I have been at pains in this account to be as accurate as I can, with the soaring stories and rhythms of speech I heard in Mrs. Carson's house, during my months there; but I am well aware that this is not the sort of book many readers want--it is a tide of competing voices, is all it is!, I hear the disconsolate reviewers say, who so wished for headlong adventure, and a narrative arc, and dark villains vanquished, and tumultuous hearts, and mysterious heroes and heroines slowly becoming aware of their deeper selves, slowly becoming more self aware--slowly, perhaps, maturing. And what about love stories, a staple of our literature, rightly so? The love stories in this account are already launched, and where is our desperate fellow yearning for a woman who loves another, or our innocent girl pining for a preening cad, or the good woman gone bad by virtue of her own inflexible ego? (Doyle 166-7)."
"Trust me, I feel as you do; and this is all the more ironic, for I dream daily and nightly of the books I want so fervently to write, filled with headlong escapes across Highland meadows, and ferocious battles on remote islands, and terrifying chases and hauntings on icy moors, and spirits emerging from fantastic bottles, and black-hearted nobles outwitted by noble woodsmen whose arrows unerringly find their targets. No one loves a dashing tale more than I do, and O!, how I yearn to write one after another, as fast as I can get the words from my pen, and shiver and delight readers of every age from nine to ninety! And I will, too--I will, if He who spoke the stars alight grants me ten more years, or twenty (Doyle 167-8)." Delightful book. I highly recommend it. Read the Afterword at the back of the book, first, for more insight into Doyle's tale of "The Adventures of John Carson."
"Trust me, I feel as you do; and this is all the more ironic, for I dream daily and nightly of the books I want so fervently to write, filled with headlong escapes across Highland meadows, and ferocious battles on remote islands, and terrifying chases and hauntings on icy moors, and spirits emerging from fantastic bottles, and black-hearted nobles outwitted by noble woodsmen whose arrows unerringly find their targets. No one loves a dashing tale more than I do, and O!, how I yearn to write one after another, as fast as I can get the words from my pen, and shiver and delight readers of every age from nine to ninety! And I will, too--I will, if He who spoke the stars alight grants me ten more years, or twenty (Doyle 167-8)." Delightful book. I highly recommend it. Read the Afterword at the back of the book, first, for more insight into Doyle's tale of "The Adventures of John Carson."
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