FROM BARNES & NOBLE: Written between 1873 and 1884 and published posthumously in 1903, The Way of All Flesh is regarded by some as the first twentieth-century novel. Samuel Butler's autobiographical account of a harsh upbringing and troubled adulthood shines an iconoclastic light on the hypocrisy of a Victorian clerical family's domestic life. It also foreshadows the crumbling of nineteenth-century bourgeois ideals in the aftermath of the First World War, as well as the ways in which succeeding generations have questioned conventional values.

I don't know what I thought this book would be about from the title; I thought it could have been about the will being weaker than the flesh. It's not about that --it's about a boy whose father was a clergyman in England, and who of course shoved all his hypocritical beliefs down his throat, along with his mother. The boy, because of a family friend and his aunt Alethea, ends up having his eyes opened to reality as to his father and mother, and to the teachings of his religion. I loved that Butler shows the Bible's story of Jesus' resurrection to be malarkey. if you are like me and was brainwashed by the (Catholic) Church, you know what a battle it is to unbrainwashed yourself and open your eyes. I could have used well this book years ago, but maybe it will do it's good work to other minds that need enlightening. ( )

A hellscreen in the form of a bildungsroman, flecked throughout with wonderful humanist musings on religion, literature, education, economics, and ethics. Samuel Butler is a truly great thinker. ( )

Fiction

A huge book following lots of people leading boring lives; almost redeemed by its historical flavor but unfortunately let down by its self-righteous, intrusive narrator.

Just like the Bible, and just as (un)interesting. ( )