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Jan 16, 2018Janice21383 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Samuel Butler's novel about the happy, united Victorian home, and how to survive it. Its themes are superficially dated, but conflict between parents and children will always be current until, as Butler hoped, we should all be born, wrapped in money, out of eggs, our parents having died a short time before. Butler worked on this book on and off for 20 years, and the friend who was helping him edit it passed away half way through. If she hadn't, perhaps the story would be more cohesive and Butler less apt to go off on tangential essays. Even so, The Way of All Flesh should be read by anyone who wants to be surprised, excited and challenged by a Victorian novel.