Rating: 
Summary: hilarious and heartbreaking
Review: This is the greatest contemporary book I've ever read. It's a kaleidoscope of complicated characters, a bewildering city, and wisdom. While reading this book I found myself laughing-outloud and tearing-up simultaneously.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: This easily ranks up there with the work of Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor in its depiction of a weird and often-disturbing region of the country. Its wit is over-the-top, yet sublime. I can't understand the reviewers who need to LIKE the main character in order to enjoy the book! Of course you hate Ignatius! That's the point. Imagine how much great literature you'd miss out on if you had to feel some sort of kinship with the protagonist. The book, written when it was, is mind-bendingly terrific. It's like an Edith Wharton novel, written seventy years later, transported South, and injected with gallons of humor. I can't say enough good things about it. I really pity those who dislike it.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely not an Abortion!
Review: Normally I don't read books like this [or particularly enjoy them], but this book was FANTASTIC! The hero, Ignatius Reilly, is a big, selfish loser with amazing intelligence and a hilarious weltanschaang. This book is about him having to get a job due to a car accident his mother had, while attempting to write a book on the misery of the 20th century. This novel is full of side stories and irony. The characters are all remarkable, Ignatius most of all. I laughed until I cried many times when he expressed his opinions on his New Orleans environment. My favorite line is when he lies to his mother about injuries from a cat he received as a hot dog vendor, "I had a rather apocalyptic battle with a starving prostitute. But for my superior brawn, I would have been overpowered. She fled the scene, her rags askew." Isn't that a scream? This book is a must read, but for the less well-read, I strongly recommend building up a vocabulary, keeping an open mind, and to try to see past the vulgarity of Ignatius.
Rating:
Summary: Priceless
Review: This may be the best book I've ever read. I go back and re-read it every couple of years just to amaze myself, and each time I come away as astounded as ever. One warning: You may not be able to read anything else for a while afterwards. This novel is so brilliant it dulls everything by comparison.
Rating: 
Summary: double edged sword - tiresome
Review: Both camps are right about this book. It is both funny and annoying. The people who think it's funny, love the laughs and ignore the fact that there is virtually no story. The people who hate it, don't. I laughed for about a hundred pages and then the book falls into tiresome repetition- Surface activity with no point. The protagonist is someone none of the reviewers would spend five minutes with. I couldn't make it past page 150 or so. A more interesting story would inviestigate how the publisher used word-of-mouth about the authors suicide as a marketing tool, allowing fans to credit themselves with coolness for finding this "underground" hit.
Rating: 
Summary: VH1's Behind the Confederacy
Review: "A Confederacy of Dunces" gives the reader an interesting look into the life of Ignatius J. Reilly, the main character involved in a hilarious chain of events. Most readers will come to absolutely loathe Ignatius' mistreatment of his mother, pompous attitude towards blacks, homosexuals, and most humans for that matter, and his mannerisms toward his ventures in the working world. Set in the late 1950's in the seemingly blasé city of New Orleans, Louisiana, Ignatius, a disgustingly obese bringer of negativity, has a conflict with any other member of the human race, including Myrna Minkoff, an old beatnik girlfriend of Ignatius from his college days. Throughout the novel the two correspond via mail, describing the changes taking place in the country from their point of view, while hilariously exaggerating the events themselves. Ignatius also butts heads with his mother, who believes her son to be lazy and useless (and right she is indeed. The man is thirty!). Though understated, Ignatius has many insecurities, and though he has a college education, he has a conflict with himself and his correspondence with the social world. The charm and delight you'll find reading this novel is not within the hatred of Ignatius, but the underlying intrigues taking place amongst the antagonists, all of whom have come to know Ignatius in a rather unpleasant way. Patrolman Mancuso is forced to wear tacky costumes and work the dregs and ghettos of New Orleans when he attempts to arrest Ignatius in front of a local department store. The ball goes on rolling from there, creating many subplots that win the attention of the reader. Some people will find that they dislike the protagonist, which may keep them from reading further into the story. The author, John Kennedy Toole, does such a fine job creating memorable characters that you just may want to keep reading to see what lies ahead for the other characters, and how the vile Ignatius affects the paths of their lives. Using the Levy Pants company, Toole symbolizes the underpaid black workforce of America during the late 1950's, and uses New Orleans as a platform on which America is represented at the time. Though hilarious with dialogue, action, and personl musings, "A Confederacy of Dunces" won my heart because it is a truly great novel with an ambiguous message of the American culture and its acceptance of unorthodox protocol.
Rating:
Summary: It doesn't get much better than this.
Review: This is a true laugh-out-loud book. One of the funniest and cleverest books I've ever read, and in my top five all-time favorites in general. Ignatius taught me how to become an anarchist at my job, too. I was a secretary when I read this book. For several months after I finished it, I would just throw in the garbage various pieces of mail for my coworkers that I deemed to be worthless. A promotion for tickets to the football game? Organized sports is a racket and bad for society. In the trash it went. I loved living vicariously through Ignatius J. Reilly. He is an inspiration is a really twisted way.
Rating:
Summary: A great work and a good laugh
Review: This is the funniest piece of work I've ever really enjoyed. How did some reviewers ever found this book 'boring'??? If you are offended by JK Toole's humour, or don't find it funny at all, you're BORING! to say the least. Even those of you who have read any funny books in your lifetime, can you say honestly that this isn't the funniest you've read?
Rating:
Summary: ya gota love it or hate it
Review: I have a friend who calls this book the litmus test. If someone "gets it," you know they "get it" about life. I can't even tell you how many years ago I read this book, and to this day, if I'm in even the slightest of questionable moods, I can pick it up, fan to any page, and instantly be transported into paroxysms of laughter at the wonderful insanity of this character's insistance on his view of the world, and his unwitting (?) subversion of same. I wonder if it isn't the true test of great literature that it must separate us as 'Confederacy' does. My advice? Try it. If you love it, you are one of us "gifted' (read insane) on this journey. If not, perhaps you have been spared by the more sane of the gods. Either way, enjoy, and may Fortuna be with you! LM
Rating:
Summary: Is tacsat_guru joking?!?!
Review: Obviously, our friend tacsat_guru is an unintelligent, boring person. I'm sorry to say that, I am, but that is my opinion. I have other opinions, ones that seem to match those of the general public. A Confederacy of Dunces is one of the best, funniest and most exciting books I have ever read. I could not put it down. I got this book to read while traveling, and because of that I was in public places as I read. Everywhere I went with this book people gave me strange looks because of the countless times I laughed out loud. I was almost brought to tears on more than one occasion. Not only is the story funny, it has a lot of heart and a deep and poweful meaning and purpose. It is about dreams, aspirations, love, successes, failures, relationships. A Confederacy of Dunces is a spiderweb of captivating characters and situations. It is a MUST READ for anyone who has any sense of taste, humor and appreciation for the subtle beauty of life... unlike our friend tacsat_guru. Oh jeez, I insulted him again. I'm sorry. But he has insulted me with his review of this wonderful book.
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