Reviews

An interesting book that's tone is as ambiguous as the way it's suppose to make you feel. I found myself cringing, crying, laughing and mourning the many situations Harley the protagonist finds himself in as he deals with the many challenges of 18th century London life. I very much enjoyed the experience of reading it, but found it a bit outdated. A great book for understanding the age of sensibility, the Scottish Enlightenment and British literature in general.

ed_moore's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Henry Mackenzie’s ‘A Man of Feeling’ is regarded one of the most important works of sentimentalist literature, and if such is the case I can’t say sentimentalist literature is likely to be a literary movement I fall in love with. It was a movement focused on understanding the feelings of other people, and this book couldn’t match such genre better as its only plot is the protagonist Harley meeting someone, hearing their problems and then crying about them, often giving them money in which there is no explanation to why he is able to give sad people so much money either.

‘A Man of Feeling’ was really hard to follow as Mackenzie wrote it in a fragmented form with many missing chapters. A prologue explains that a fictional curate put together the story from Harley’s papers scattered across his office, though I think Mackenzie simply couldn’t find a way to link his unrelated vignettes of grief and moments of Harley crying so just decided simply not to bother and publish a completely incoherent plot.

Though the sentimentalist movement portrays a unique type of character that defies patriarchal stereotypes at the time, Harley had no further characterisation other than being an empath to the point that it is unhealthy. My enjoyment of the book also wasn’t helped by my copy being 50 years old and the pages falling out as I turned them causing a very stressful reading experience. I am just thankful the story wasn’t a particularly long one, being just over 100 pages.

emilygray4's review against another edition

Go to review page

reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

aliteralfield's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

Not a huge fan of this book. What I’m taking away is that Harley cries alot which you know is good, not conforming to those masculine stereotypes but other than that nothing good. Hopefully when studying it I’ll find more appreciation for it

m0rb's review against another edition

Go to review page

reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

chairmanbernanke's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

A sentimental novel of one gentleman’s trials. Makes you feel like a real 18th-century reader!

More...