"The Way of All Flesh" is the best known of Victorian novels that thumbed its nose at Victorian novels. For this reason, it's frequently mentioned in talks of literary history, though it could also be praised from an artistic perspective. Though it may seem dry at first glance, readers may be surprised to find themselves caught up in the story and finding it actually very funny--though it may take a second read to catch the very best of the humor. Butler's novel is one of a genre intended to deflate the pompous bubble of Victorian morality. There is a maturity to Butler's writing, however, that is not present in other Victorian writers. This novel feels much more modern than anything else written pre-1900, and even feels more modern than some books written after. Unlike Dickens, whose characters are either all good or all bad and have about as much depth as the characters you'd find in a comic book, Butler's characters seem very much alive and flawed. The scathing criticism of religious hypocrisy and moral bombast exhibited by the majority of people in Ernest's life can be funny, especially if you agree with it, but the story itself is much more interesting than the social commentary. Though 'The Way of All Flesh' isn't a page turner, it can consistently hold reader interest. Just remember that it's supposed to be funny.
About the Author: Samuel Butler (1835-1902) was an individualistic Victorian era writer who published a variety of works. He is also known for examining Christian orthodoxy, considerable studies of evolutionary thought, studies of Italian art, and works of literary history as well as criticism. Butler even made prose translations of "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" which remain some of the most popular to this day. His authority on literature came through his posthumous novel, "The Way of All Flesh". Butler completed it in the 1880s but it was left unpublished until 1903 to protect his family. The novel was so modern in its time of release that it influenced a new school of writing, predominantly through its use of psychological examination and analysis of the fictional characters of the story. "The Way of All Flesh" is a satiric portrait of Butler's own childhood reflecting the worst aspects of Victorian family life: of extreme strictness, embellished godliness, and hypocrisy. It consists of mostly polemic essays in which Butler attacks the world of his childhood growing up in a clergyman's family and expresses his basic philosophy of common sense.