Finished: The Way of All Flesh (Butler). A book I wanted to like more than I did. There are a handful of these books that are on my list that I've been so anxious to read...books that I've heard alot about and hope that I'll instantly be mesmerized by. The Way of All Flesh was one of those books, but I can honestly say that I just wasn't blown away. It is high on a few "Greatest Books" lists, but it just didn't resonate so highly with me. Set in the early 1800's of England, it's about four generations of a family, mostly focusing on the last two generations. The only decent parents seem to be in the first generation. After that....the parents turn into physically and emotionally abusive bullies that were perhaps prevalent in the Victorian society of England where it was the birthed child's duty to become something which would reflect well upon his or her parents? And not just well, but untarnishedly so. In The Way of All Flesh, Theobald Pontifex, the grandson of the original patriarch had been beaten into submission by his own father and made to go into the clergy. In turn, he did the same to his first son, Ernest, expecting him to follow in his footsteps, but degrading him, hindering his progress, and shattering his self-confidence all along the way. His wife, Christina, lived to serve her husband before her children, and therefore did nothing to stop the severe punishments Ernest would receive at the hands of his father if he didn't get his lessons quite right. The narrator of the book takes the form of the godfather of Ernest, and is one of his few friends and protectors as he goes through his teen years and young adulthood. And, Theobold's youngest sister, Alethea, is one of Ernest's few other protectors. She ends up leaving him a hefty estate to be held in trust by his godfather until Ernest reaches the age of 28. She wants to be sure he goes through sufficient knocks in life and comes into his own as a person, knowing what he wants to do with his life before handing over all that money. And, boy does Ernest go through some harsh knocks. It's hard to read at times, but in the end, he does finally beat the odds and knows what kind of a person he is, and that being inherently good is better than being a clergyman who just preaches the Christian teachings, but doesn't have the goodness in his heart. Throughout the book, the author goes on several rails both for and against religion to the point that I'm not sure what exactly his opinion is. However, he uses the clergy professions of his characters to interject sermons and pontifications along the way that are a bit too far off the path of the story for me. I had such high hopes, too, when right under the title and author on the title page of the book was my favorite bible verse, Romans 8:28 "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God." When I read that, I thought it was a positive indication that I was really going to love this book, but it was not meant to be. I can, and will, however, add Theobold and Christina Pontifex to my list of least favorite literary characters! I would venture a guess that many of the characters on that list are unloving, cruel parents. I just can't tolerate that or understand it at all.