The Way of All Flesh

Samuel Butler, 1903 Date Read: 11/16/22

Synopsis: [spoilers] this novel is about generational abuse. I don't think that's what the author thought it was about, but that is what he wrote. It starts with a man, and ends up chronicling the life of his great-grandson. Each generation is awful to their children until this final character, Earnest. Earnest does have children, but he farms them off to another couple to raise because, by his own admission, he doesn't know how to be father and is afraid he will do to them what was done unto him. [end spoilers]

I spent the first half of the novel wondering what the fuck it was about. It settled on a protagonist for a while, then moved on to one of his sons, then his son, then his son. Finally it stuck with Earnest and the story went forward. I feel like he could have illustrated the generational trauma more succinctly than covering each individual from childhood to adulthood. It made the book much longer and more boring than it needed to be.

I am not surprised this novel was published posthumously given the atheistic prejudice of the main characters. Google says this novel is a critique of Victorian hypocrisy. I don't know any Victorians so I can't say anything about that.

I did relate to Earnest's relationship - or lack thereof - with his parents, and that he eventually had to cut contact. I have contact with my parents but on a very superficial and limited level, for much the same reasons as Earnest. Loving someone isn't enough to solve relationship problems, and when two people are very, very different, some problems can be insurmountable.

In all, I did enjoy the majority of this novel.

Length: read on Kindle

ReReadability: probably not, because most of it is exposition and not plot

Classic: yes, because it illustrates issues that are timeless, such as intergenerational trauma