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Liked It9 of 9 members found this review helpful “I was drawn to this book by the title alone and the uniqueness of the cover. The brilliance of the satire did not set in until after the first couple of chapters. Ignatius, an unforgettable force, is clearly a genius. Yet, he has no desire to be self-supporting, is slovenly, and writes his gifted...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It2 of 3 members found this review helpful “Not the New Orleans I grew up in. Not the New Orleans my mother grew up in. Not very funny. Disappointingly mediocre.” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“This book is my book club's January selection. I'm on page 74 of 394. Our January meeting is the 11th. I guess I better get reading...”
Linda H wrote this review 3 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This Pulitzer-prize-winning classic is an epic and madcap romp among the lowlifes of 1960's New Orleans. It's not for everybody, but it is well written and very well thought-out.
ghost of a rose wrote this review 4 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
A Confederacy of Dunces appears to be more than a little autobiographical. The main character is a highly educated but lazy, obese, young man who lives with his domineering mother. The adventure begins when Ignatius' mother forces him to get a job. He messes up everything he tries, and the jobs get worse and worse.
There are numerous characters and plot threads, all of which interconnect and fit together in the end in the most deliciously elaborate but perfectly sensible way.
Toole's narrative writing is down-to-earth, but he gets a chance to show off his vocabulary and command of the language in both a potpourri of ethnic dialects, and especially in Ignatius' hilariously pretentious letters and journals. The reader gets the sense that Toole is laughing at himself in the conceit and arrogance of Ignatius' writings.
This book is definitely "Politically INcorrect" and some may find it offensive. It pokes fun at just about every race, ethnic group, gender, age, and sexual orientation imaginable. But I think that anyone with an open mind who is willing to give it a chance will realize that there is no malice in Toole's portrayal. And I think that is the genius of the book - that Toole is laughing with, not laughing at, his characters and whatever groups they might fit into.
For one thing, he is an Equal Opportunity bigot. He makes fun of everyone, and his own "groups" most of all: Irish, fat people, career failures, middle-aged men who live with their moms, those of uncertain sexual identification, etc. With one possible exception, a Hispanic office manager, everyone in the book is a loser. But even Mr. Gonzalez, as reliable and responsible as he is, is still weak and insecure enough to be easily manipulated by Ignatius. And Gus Levy, the only rich character, is a loser in every other way - in fact, he is literally losing the wealth he inherited, through disinterest, neglect, and irresponsibility.
Yet as eccentric as the characters are, and as funny as their failures are, the reader never gets a sense of superiority from the author. It's clear that he sees himself as belonging right in there with them. He looks at all the myriad ethnic and lifestyle stereotypes and focuses not the ways that they are different, but the ways in which we are all alike, all part of the human condition. And however much we laugh at his characters, each of them has dignity and is intelligent in his or her own way. There is a strong sense of understanding and compassion, while at the same time keeping a sense of humor about it all. And I think it is this difficult-to-pin-down-or-describe quality of Toole's writing that won him the Pulitzer Prize. What a tragedy that he died (of suicide, after the book was rejected by a publisher) thinking of himself as a loser just like one of his own characters. He never knew that his book would not only be published . . . but would go on to win the most prestigious award in literature.
(462 pages)”
“Haven't read it yet? Go buy it.”
Chris K wrote this review 4 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Highly entertaining, a must read fictoin”
Walt R wrote this review 9 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“If you like Shakespeare's Falstaff then this modern day version, Ignatius J. Riley, will leave you in stitches! A very clever and funny book with a hysterical cast of characters. ”
stephen r wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“ 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.
North Shore Country Day School English-10 wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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. --Alix Wilber ”“I was surprised by the ending. I knew that Ignatius was dellusional, but I didn't fully realize how aware he was of it until "the minx" rescued him. Though uncomfortably reminiscent of my own life at times, I found the book hilarious and endearing from the first page to the last.”
Tyler wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Non-stop hilarity ensued. Fabulous characters! Fantastic plot! Super stellar - most certainly out of this world, and of galactic proportions!”
Liza wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I've met a lot of people who have read this and loved it. I am now among them. I wish the author had lived to write more books like this one. It's hilarious. I hope it gets made into a movie some day. The character development and intersecting plot lines are really well done, I thought.”
Craig T wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | view 1 replies | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
