Well-written books with a broad message

Hello! I (28F) looking for a well-written book where the point is a message about the world or humanity. Nothing YA and I’m not a huge fan of contemporary fiction in general—social media, phones and modern slang take me out of the story. I would like to read more classics, but some of them have been tough for me. Rebecca, The Old Man and The Sea, and Pride and Prejudice were recent tries and failures.

I’ve also been on a dystopian kick lately where the last three books I finished were Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, and 1984, all of which I enjoyed, especially Fahrenheit. Obviously the messages of those books are quite…timely. However, now that I’m sufficiently hopeless, I’d like to get off the dystopia ride for a while. I don’t necessarily need optimism, though. Just something different.

My favorite book of all time is East of Eden, with honorable mentions for Still Life With Woodpecker (no more Tom Robbins though, you really do get diminishing returns the more you read him), and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which was so fun. Other favorite writers include Joan Didion and Margaret Atwood, and have read most things by the both of them.

What have you got?