A Confederacy of Dunces [Paperback]

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. 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. This book reminded me of another great piece of Southern literature-THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD,with its strange themes, settings, and colorful characters. DOGWOOD is almost the continuation of Toole's legacy and is somewhat of a cross between Toole and Truman Capote. I would suggest you check this one out also as it follows in that same southern vein of insanity. But then, that's redundant. Sorry.

There are very few books that I have read that hold up as well as this one has. Almost 40 years after it was written, almost nothing in this book reads stale or dated. Everything is as fresh and relevant now as the day it was published. The language, character, and place, are all uniquely New Orlean'. But the story, is one for all time. Ignatius Reilly, 30 years old, University educated, lives at home with his long-suffering mother. The dialogue in this book is spot on. One word of caution: Don't think of this book as a comedy. I did, expecting to find many laughs. There aren't. There was one laugh-out-loud funny moment (for me) when the Reilly character is fantasizing about what he would do while on a bus ride, but that's it. I found Ignatius Reilly to be a little frustrating as a protagonist, as were some of the supporting characters. In the end, however, the circumstances around every major character change, and I enjoyed their progressions. Read A Confederacy of Dunces if: You are a 30-something person who still lives at home with his parents and haven't held down a "real" job. OR if you can relate in some way to this situation. Do not read A Confederacy of Dunces if: You are expecting a laugh-out-loud belly-buster. It's not a barn-burner of a novel. But it rings true. And books like this are hard to come by. A shame the author only wrote two before taking his own life. 5/5

Ignatius J. Reilly is perhaps the funniest character in literature, and I don't say that lightly, because he has no idea that he is a complete loser. Horribly fat, lacking in any social graces, and oblivious to any consequences of his actions, he considers himself an educated scholar, immune to the mundane things the rest of us need to do, such as work. Unfortunately, he is forced into this world when his mother pulls the rug out from under him.

Every character in this book is a caricature to some degree, and ridiculous because of it -- yet, they are instantly recognizable as similar to people you've met in some part of your life. There is a Joseph Heller-esque humor here, but without the political overtones. I'd compare this humor to a Kurt Vonnegut or Douglas Adams, except that it is grounded much more in reality -- it's just that the humor within this text is silly humor in that same vein.

Much like many great books, this takes a few pages to get into, but it really is a laugh-out-loud book. It's the kind of book that when you see strangers reading it, you feel compelled to start talking about it with them. This is slapstick humor with an advanced degree -- it's silly event after silly event, but done so intelligently that you can't help but read this book with a wry grin on your face. Try this book! If you like slapstick you will enjoy it. Another book I need to recommend -- completely unrelated to Toole, but very much on my mind since I purchased it "used" off Amazon is "The Losers' Club: Complete Restored Edition" by Richard Perez, an exceptional, highly entertaining little novel I can't stop thinking about.