When it comes to the older literature on the “1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die” list, I've at least heard of most of the titles. Here's one of the exceptions.
Published in 1771 by the Scottish author Henry Mackenzie, this novel concerns a man named Harley whose parents die within the first few pages. He gains several guardians, none of whom can agree on what's to be done with him. Adding to this difficulty is the undeniable fact that Harley is as naive as they come, which translates to his apparent inability to lie his way into any kind of prosperity, as was the typical way to make it in society. As you might guess, although his innocence does him no evident favors, he eventually finds people who find it worth loving and celebrating.
Before that, though, Harley goes through a number of difficult adventures, such as trying to gain the attention and respect of a wealthy aristocrat, falling in with a group of sharpers (which we would call “con men” today), and spending all the money he has on him to get an honest man out of debtor's prison. As you can see, the novel is rather disjointed, with event following on event with little connection between them apart from Harley's presence. Many novels of the time are like that, but that doesn't make them any easier to read, particularly as written in late 18th century English.
Critical opinion tells us that Harley was intended to illustrate the sort of person whose virtue lies in his (or her) willingness to help those he meets, regardless of his own advantage. To my mind, that point would work better if Harley met mostly people of the opposite type; those motivated mostly by greed or avarice or something like that. Harley does indeed meet several people of that type, like card sharpers, or already rich men who want to cut down all the trees in his former neighborhood to get even richer. On the other hand, most of the people he meets seem to be as generous and kindly as he is himself, so the contrast is missing.
That means, if you ask me, that there's not much to learn from this book. Nor does Harley seem to learn very much himself. We read in, for example, Wikipedia that by the time “The Man Of Feeling” was published, novels of sentiment – those in which characters are motivated by emotions rather than reason – were not as popular they had once been. If this is an example of the sentimental type of novel published in and around 1771, the decrease in popularity is not too surprising.
In other words, I've long said that I have a low tolerance for sap. Here's good example of why. It's well-written and well-constructed, but so are a lot of other stories. If I were you, I'd spend my reading time on something else.
Benshlomo says, Not every classic is for everyone.
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