A Confederacy of Dunces

What can I say? It's the best.

Ignatius J. Reilly, Toole's main character in this hilarious tour de force, stands alone atop the heap of modern anti-heroes. After reading Confederacy, one never encounters the wackiness of life without asking, "What would Ignatius do?" This book, testimony to Toole's brave genius, takes aim at the twin inanities of multiculturalism and political correctness, years before they fouled our national consciousness. Don't get me wrong. Toole is absolutely fair and even-handed: everybody gets theirs in this fearless and funny book. The plot is tight. The action is fast-paced. The characters are memorable. The ending is madly happy. And along the way, every page is crammed with humor, insight and deeply appreciative humanity. Long live JK Toole! Long live Ignatius!

8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

One of a Kind.

I'll say it: Reading A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole wasn't always a pleasant experience for me. I was equal parts sympathetic, frustrated, and just outright incredulous at the actions of its main character, Ignatius J. Reilly. In truth, that is probably a testament to Kennedy Toole's unique voice and vision of a well-drawn character never before seen in the likes of literature. It's what Kennedy Toole doesn't say about Reilly and his thought process that becomes most frustrating and compelling. Is he just really very spoiled and sheltered? Completely out of touch? Mentally ill? It's all left up in the air like some of the best poetry, and spaces are left for the reader to bring their own meaning to the proceedings.

A Confederacy of Dunces isn't the most compelling read as far as plot development or symbolism. You're more likely to glean more meaning from Aesop's Fables, but it should be required reading to experience a unique voice and style, and just one more facet of American Literature.

The story, so detailed throughout, ends abruptly, and this reader thinks the story would've continued on or spawned a sequel, had the author not tragically ended his own life. Which begs another question, of course...how much of John Kennedy Toole lives in Ignatius?

6 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

A fitting memorial to a talented and tormented life

'A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once. Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs.' Meet Ignatius J. Reilly, the hero of John Kennedy Toole's tragicomic tale, A Confederacy of Dunces. This 30-year-old medievalist lives at home with his mother in New Orleans, pens his magnum opus on Big Chief writing pads he keeps hidden under his bed, and relays to anyone who will listen the traumatic experience he once had on a Greyhound Scenicruiser bound for Baton Rouge. ('Speeding along in that bus was like hurtling into the abyss.') But Ignatius's quiet life of tyrannizing his mother and writing his endless comparative history screeches to a halt when he is almost arrested by the overeager Patrolman Mancuso--who mistakes him for a vagrant--and then involved in a car accident with his tipsy mother behind the wheel. One thing leads to another, and before he knows it, Ignatius is out pounding the pavement in search of a job. Over the next several hundred pages, our hero stumbles from one adventure to the next. His stint as a hotdog vendor is less than successful, and he soon turns his employers at the Levy Pants Company on their heads. Ignatius's path through the working world is populated by marvelous secondary characters: the stripper Darlene and her talented cockatoo the septuagenarian secretary Miss Trixie, whose desperate attempts to retire are constantly, comically thwarted gay blade Dorian Greene sinister Miss Lee, proprietor of the Night of Joy nightclub and Myrna Minkoff, the girl Ignatius loves to hate. The many subplots that weave through A Confederacy of Dunces are as complicated as anything you'll find in a Dickens novel, and just as beautifully tied together in the end. But it is Ignatius--selfish, domineering, and deluded, tragic and comic and larger than life--who carries the story. He is a modern-day Quixote beset by giants of the modern age. His fragility cracks the shell of comic bluster, revealing a deep streak of melancholy beneath the antic humor. John Kennedy Toole committed suicide in 1969 and never saw the publication of his novel. Ignatius Reilly is what he left behind, a fitting memorial to a talented and tormented life

6 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

A Big Letdown

I find it very difficult to dislike books but this one has achieved a rare distinction. It's probably the first book I've read that didn't have a single positive. I failed to relate to the characters and the plot was mundane, writing banal.

I love authors like Wodehouse and Vonnegut. Catch-22 and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy are the kind of books that make me laugh every time I read them. In contrast, Confederacy of Dunces was torturous and mind numbing.

Think of the cheapest slapstick you've seen and imagine a prosaic literary version of the same or think of time when a joke that was funny in your head fell flat when you said it and imagine stretching it into a book.

I guess many people appreciate this book so there must be something in it that I've missed. My advice is - Check out the reviews in detail before spending some hard earned cash on this one.

4 out of 10 people found this review helpful.

Southern classic

There are a handful of Southern classics, and CONFEDERACY belongs right in the middle of them. This rollicking tale of twisted humor, with its underlying sadness contains by far one of the most memorable characters ever written--that of Ignatius. The 'plot' of this book is too complicated to go into, and as with all great books, they refuse to be defined by genre or time. Such is the case with 'Dunces.' By all means, read this book, but buy yourself several copies as you'll continuously be lending one out to friends. Highly recommended

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Society of Duces

Filled with satirical black humor concerning the usually overlooked 'characters' of society, John Kennedy Toole's Pulitzer prize winning novel The Confederacy of Dunces , captures a reality of our society that we like to disregard. In The Confederacy of Dunces the unique tempo and the slow pace of the overall development of the plot creates a feel of dreary, everyday life, while the immediate happenings tend to be absurd, ridiculous, or down right stupid. In many instances Toole will jump between a third person point of view subjective to different characters, or a objective point of view depicting the seen from many angles making the absurdity of the happenings or the actions and words of our hero Ignatius J. Riely painfully clear. Then the long tedious exchanges of letters between Myna Minkoff and Ignatius, or the journals of Ignatius, though still absurd, draws out the story and creates a weary response from the reader. Energetic, dreary, energetic, dreary.... The delicate mixture of excitement and dullness creates a parallel with life, a disturbing realization due to the fact that readers tend to think the actions of the characters in this novel 'not normal'. There are many 'characters' in this novel, to tell the truth all most all characters that appear in this novel are not what people would like to call 'normal'. Still, none can beat Ignatius J. Riely in uniqueness. 'Huge, obese, fractious, fastidious, a latter-day Gargantuan, a Don Quixote of the French Quarter' (Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun-Times), how did this complete slob of a man ever make it to the cover of a best seller? Through out the book he undergoes no mental growth (he does gain some pounds though), and his only reason for even considering moving is threats! What is the point of putting such a complete 'character' in the main role? When this combined with the earlier idea of the book paralleling with life, one sees that Toole is saying that these people, this society, maybe not in this extent, but still does actually exist. The Confederacy of Dunces captures vividly the society of 'queers', 'nerds', 'social-outcasts', and the 'sub-normal'. Then through the book he shows the readers the desperate reality that this is not 'sub-normal'. It is a depressing realization, but an important one. Knowing of a failure is the best way to start fixing what ever it is that is failing. If you feel in any way revolted by anything in this novel, understand that it is real, then think of how you can change things for the better.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Great book

The author has really captured something here...the mayhem of human life at it's funniest.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Funny, but irritating

In Confederacy of Dunces, 30-year old Ignatius J. Reilly is put upon to exit the safety of his snug (though trashed) bedroom of his mother's home and find a job. The result is a cause-and-effect satire which is (apparently) a monument of American Literature. I didn't really like it. It simply wasn't my kind of book. Don't get me wrong, I got a few laughs.and I can understand how people with a certain sense of humor (those who love cause-and-effect satires like Seinfeld or those who like laughing at the inadequacies and hypocrisies of humanity) would really enjoy this book. It also has a little Freudian satire in it. I just found the characters really annoying (I know I was supposed to). Couldn't get into it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A must read if you've ever lived in the Big Easy

I grew up in John Kennedy Toole's New Orleans. He brings back to life the D. H. Holmes clock, the bawdy and dirty French Quarter of days gone by, and the characters that have charmed the city for decades. Ignatius epitomizes the often greatly misunderstood characters that dwell in the city. And Toole conducts a great character study of the true 'characters' - Darlene the dancer, the city as seen through Jones's point of view, Mrs. Reilly and her wacky wardrobe, Ms. Trixie and her scraps, and of course the Myrna the minx upon whom Ignatius blames many of his troubles. The interlocking stories of the characters and the way they culiminate at the end makes this a work of pure genius - which makes it only more bittersweet that the author has so few works in his collection before his young death.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A very unusual plot and a very well-written novel

This book was extremely amusing while, at the same time, it had an underlying sadness running through the story.

Set in New Orleans, it described succinctly parishes of New Orleans in a way that allowed you to feel the pulse of the diverse population.

The extremely well-drawn characters made you feel as if you had met this person at one time or another and the mother of Ignatius was one of those characters. Her friend was so direct and the nephew of the friend, Patrolman Mancuso, is quite convincing living his quiet life of desperation. The reader finds himself/herself looking forward to Patrolman Mancuso having some good fortune.

As for Ignatius, the reader feels a mixture of pity, contempt and even more emotions that are hard to describe. It is somewhat difficult to be convinced that the ego of this man is large enough to dominate anyone and that his chicanery and browbeating of the average man was tolerated as long as it was. Fortunately, almost by accident, Mr. Levy eventually "got his number".

What has poor misguided Myrna gotten herself into? This, dear reader, is up to you to determine. You will have had some good, hearty laughs and some very pleasurable and memorable hours of reading by the time you finish "A Confederacy of Dunces".

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A book for those rainy days

It was an escape type of book. Interesting read.

1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Toole's Confederacy of Dunces is one of the funniest novels you could ever have the fortune of reading. Its characters, setting, and writing style are just perfect and will only push you to read on.

Confederacy of Dunces is one of those hilarious books that does not so much concentrate on a clear and definite storyline but relies on its characters and environments to attract readers. Ignatius J. Reilly is an amazing and magnetizing character who the reader cannot help but wonder about. The rest of the characters are just as dynamic. Its setting in New Orleans only goes to make the book more grabbing. The book is an unbelievable analysis of human nature and can only make one wonder about how true the book may be in its observations of mankind.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Absolutely pointless.....

Some of the internal dialogue is funny and his rants are amusing but the journey wasn't worth the effort....

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Book Review

'The Confederacy of Dunces is known as one of the funniest books ever written.'(The new republic) After reading the book ,I would have to disagree. The main character in this novel is a man named Ignatious,who is very annoying and was my least favortite character. This book was funny and interesting in the first few chapters , but then I lost interest completely. The novel is based on a forty year old man named Ignatious who still lives with his mother. Ignatious is oblivious to life itself but thinks he's better then everyone. Throughout the novel he does many inapprpriate things that eventually tick people off. This novel has a unique message that relates to life which you may find comforting or you may end up being fustrated with the characters in the novel. The title of this novel is perfect because it relates to all the characters because they are fools. This book should be recommended for the reader wth lots of patience and time. Other readers may find humor in this novel, but I was unable to.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

This one must be for the critics

While the premise is quite humerous, I tired of Ignatius pretty quickly. He is so unlikeable that, for me at least, the book became tiresome. He is such a ridiculous character, I had trouble taking him seriously or seeing the humor in his actions. Those observations don't necessarily make this a bad book, but I have trouble believing that there wasn't a better candidate for the Pulitzer Prize that year.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

John K.'s no Tool

This is the funniest book I have read. The novel is a dazzling display of comic language and timing. It is such a tragedy to realize that John Kennedy Toole never lived to see the success his second novel enjoyed. I highly recommend it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Best Book Ever Written

When someone asks me for my top five books, this is always number one. I've read it four times so far. A masterpiece.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Best book i ever read

Funny and witty! The characters were mesmerising. I highly recommend this book plus it is Billy Bob Thorton's favorite book. Love it!

Highly Recommended

I purchased this book when it was first in print. Since that time I had lent it out and did not get it back. I enjoyed the book so much that it was worth buying a second time. If you are from New Orleans, you will love the settings of times gone buy.

Hilarious

This is a perennial favorite of mine!