Know this isn't a "classic" but it was assigned reading for my 16 yo daughter to do a book report. It won the Pulitzer Prize but I couldn't find a forum here for award winning books.-- A Thousand Acres

My daughter knew it would be  about an Iowa family living on farmland with lots of description of the landscape, but she was totally surprised that it was written like a Memoir on child sexual abuse.  I'm not saying we wouldn't have allowed her to read it, just that we feel the teacher should have warned parents ahead of time so we could talk about the issues. (No class discussion is being done, it was only assigned for a book report grade.)

I read the book a year or 2 after Jane Smiley won the Pulitzer.  I chose to read the book as it's an adaption of King Lear.  I was surprised, as well, about the child abuse when I read the book. 

I think the King Lear connection had the potential to make the book very interesting. When Smiley added the child abuse angle it seemed to muddy the ideas in the book and really just caused more confusion than anything. I only saw the movie but I have no desire the read the book.