Rating: 
Summary: Slapstick with a long, protracted slap
Review: Was this book funny? Yes, at times, it was outright hilarious. Other times, it strained, falling flat on its face -- but most often it wasn't enough to elicit a reaction either way.The book read to me like an old slapstick film -- Laurel & Hardy or the Three Stooges -- full of a lot of physical humor, some cheap shots and some Rube Goldbergian interactions between the characters. This isn't to disparage it -- I like these films for what they are, and thought that if used well, the use of these "low brow" influences *could* have made for a really interesting work. But it didn't, and that's what's so disappointing about it. The problem is that there are so few ideas, and what themes it contains are so disordered, that the work ends up saying very little. Much of the first three quarters of the novel felt, to me, like setting up all the pieces in an elaborate game of "Mouse Trap," quirky characters each with their own peculiar motivations put in situations that would bring them closer and closer together, but when the ball was dropped and one thing tripped another, which tripped another, I found myself saying, well... was that it? Though a fast read -- the 400+ pages are deceptively quick -- the book would have benefitted had the author had the opportunity to pare it down and streamline it. The intro is right, Toole has a great ear for the voices of the characters in his novel -- but the book has its fair share of awkward, even poor, writing.
Rating: 
Summary: 10 STARS IS NOT ENOUGH!
Review: This is the funniest book I have ever read in my life! Ignatius is stupendous, in more ways than one! An intellecutal trapped within the confines of his own body and an evironment he cannot escape (his "valve" won't allow it!) The cast of characters includes some of the zaniest people you will ever be introduced to. How Toole manages to incorporate these diverse individuals, introduced to us one by one in sub-plots, and leads them on his merry, maniacal way into the most hilarious finale imaginable is sheer comic genius. I've read this book many times and I can guaranty you that you won't be satisfied with just one reading either. Sadly, Toole committed suicide before this book had even been published. In fact, he, himself, never did attempt to do so. After his death, his Mother took a moth-eaten manuscript she found among his effects to an individual . . . and the rest is posthumous Pulitzer Prize history. Had Toole lived, Ignatius had been set up for the sequel to end all sequels. Alas, it is not to be. All the more reason for you to buy this book and cherish what the author has given us. Warning: Do not read this book while standing up - it is that much farther from the floor, where you will also immediately find yourself rolling in laughter.
Rating:
Summary: Very funny piece of good literature
Review: Confederacy of Dunces is laugh-out-loud funny. It also has some of the best-written characters I have read, although the portrayal of African-Americans is rather dated. The story line winds around a series of absurd situations that lampoons a whole swath of society, from intellectuals to criminals and law enforcement, as well as many of the ideas coming into fashion at that time. Absolutely Delightful!
Rating: 
Summary: funny enough, but a mess
Review: When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. -Jonathan Swift, Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting There's always a danger, when the story of a book's publication or an author's biography is really compelling, that our natural fascination with the background elements will effect how we judge the novel itself. I believe John Kennedy Toole's very funny, but badly flawed, Confederacy of Dunces, to be an instance where this happened. For anyone not familiar with the circumstances surrounding the book, Toole's mother, Thelma, pestered Walker Percy until he consented to read her dead son's "great" novel. Percy, to his great surprise, found the huge manuscript, which was presented to him on badly smeared carbon paper, compulsively readable. As it turned out, Toole had committed suicide in 1969, and his frustration at his inability to get the book published may have been a contributing factor; at least, such a supposition makes for an even better story. Percy helped to get the book published, by the Louisiana State University Press, and it went on to become a surprise best seller and won a posthumous, by 12 years, Pulitzer Prize. The novel tells the story of thirty year old Ignatius J. Reilly of New Orleans, an eccentric medievalist, living at home with his mother, whom he torments, and of his one man war against modernity. Ignatius, who is an undeniably original comic creation, is a hugely fat bundle of body functions, paranoia and obsessions, topped with a green hunting cap, who spends all of his considerable free time eating, attending movies, and locked in his disgusting room committing his various demented thoughts to his stacks of Big Chief writing tablets. The story opens with Ignatius being arrested by the hapless Patrolman Mancuso, an arrest which soon goes awry and sends Ignatius and his mother in search of liquid comfort, which they find at the Night of Joy bar. While Mrs. Reilly tipples, Ignatius regales her and various dumbfounded listeners with the story of his ill-fated trip to Baton Rouge aboard a Greyhound Scenicruiser for a job interview, a trip which was apparently so traumatic that it has kept him from working ever since. But later that night Mrs. Reilly backs into another car and in order to pay for the damages Ignatius is forced to seek work. The misanthrope, turned loose on the work a day world, proceeds to do hilarious damage to various employers, coworkers and customers, while using his experiences as the basis for a memoir titled : The Journal of a Working Boy, or, Up from Sloth. His misadventures at Levy Pants are particularly funny, as he sends abusive letters to clients and tries leading a revolt by the firm's largely black workforce, marching beneath a banner, actually one of his badly stained bedsheets, declaring the "Crusade for Moorish Dignity." From there he goes on to a job as a hot dog vendor, an attempt to found a new political party, and all the while carries out bitter vendettas against his mother, Patrolman Mancuso, and Myrna Minkoff, a supposed girlfriend from college. All of this is quite funny, but at the same time it's fairly easy to see why it was not considered publishable. In the first place it is much too long and loses its focus as it goes along, before rallying at the end. Secondly, Ignatius, though amusing, is just too far over the top to command our sympathies. His fascination with body functions and his erotic dreams of a departed pet collie are less shocking now, when even Disney movies are filled with fart jokes, than they were twenty and thirty years ago, but it still gets to be a little much. Lastly, and most importantly, Ignatius is so screwed up himself, and his various screeds are so contradictory, that his general opposition to the modern age, which could have served as a badly needed unifying theme for the whole novel, and have given it some intellectual heft, ends up being pretty incoherent and hypocritical. A great novel might well have been made out of these raw materials, had Toole lived and a good editor gotten ahold of him. But we'll never know. What we have instead is a very amusing, sometimes even laugh-out-loud-funny book, which adds up to less than the sum of its parts. The tragic fact that a talented author killed himself before he could make the changes necessary to turn this into a first rate novel should neither diminish, nor make us overstate, what he did achieve. GRADE : B
Rating:
Summary: One of the three funniest books ever published.
Review: One of only three books that have made me laugh out loud. The sad fate of John Kennedy Toole adds to the aura surrounding this masterpiece of modern American literature. Why hasn't this been made into a movie? Perhaps because Fellini's dead?
Rating:
Summary: Full of ludicrous situations
Review: I'm still not sure what to make of "A Confederacy of Dunces." I read it in part because it won the Pulitzer and in part because a reviewer compared "To Say Nothing of the Dog" (a favorite novel of mine) to it. This book has nothing in common with To Say Nothing of the Dog; and I don't know what makes A Confederacy of Dunces (or any book) win the Pulitzer. The main character, Ignatius J. Reilly, is articulate. That is about the only thing he has going for him. He is rude, obese, condescending, masochistic, disgusting and deluded. Believing himself better than everyone and everything he comes across, Ignatius finds himself in a series of odd situations. He sees every movie that comes out, only to shout at the screen "What is this filmed abortion?!" His "valve" closes and causes bloating every time he is faced with something he doesn't like (which is all the time). Ignatius' long-suffering mother tells him to find a job. Despite his odd Oedipal attachment (he is 30 and still lives with his mom), Ignatius screams that she should be lashed for such a suggestion. His first job is at the failing Levy Pants, to do filing. He spends his time creating signs and crosses from cardboard and "files" papers into the garbage. Ignatius' second job is as a hot-dog vendor; he refuses to sell them and eats them all himself. He writes diatribes about the world around him, and progressively gets more and more crazed. His rude, articulate speeches are hilarious in his delusion of self-importance. "A Confederacy of Dunces" is filled with other crazed characters: Ignatius' mother, a policeman forced to go undercover in silly disguises, the ancient Miss Trixie and a professor who doesn't quite seem to fit in to the story. As someone else noted, several characters rely on out-dated stereotypes (a gay man and a black man). This, unfortunately, detracts from otherwise fascinating charaterization. All the characters are linked by Ignatius -- and the complete havoc he wreaks on their lives. Everything Ignatius leaves in his wake comes crashing together in the end. Was this book well-written? Definitely. Was it fast-paced and interesting? Yes. Was it funny, witty and sarcastic? Yes. My only problem is that it's difficult to separate my feelings toward Ignatius from my feelings toward the book. I couldn't stand Ignatius. John Kennedy Toole did a brilliant job creating Ignatius (someone so preposterous yet so believable). Ignatius made me groan and laugh at the same time. I loved the characterization, but I hated Ignatius.
Rating: 
Summary: From Sir Ignatius J. Reilly himself!
Review: Heresy! This book regarding my important life is full of half-truths! And gives me valve trouble. Burn it. Burn every copy.
Rating:
Summary: A Confederacy of Dunces
Review: I was interested in reading this book due to the positive comments and information I received about it and the intriguing information I had heard about the author. I had been told that the book was hilarious and that the characters were quirky and indiosyncratic creations reflecting the absurdity of the world itself. I could not wait to open the pages and to begin the journey. Upon cracking open the first pages and entering the world of Ignatius Reilly, I perceived something very different indeed. Ignatius is an intellectual and selfish individual that is as highly sterotyped and stylized as a character of this nature might ever be. The same goes for the other characters of the book. Jones speaks in an expected ignorant southern "black" style of the period. Myrna is a picture perfect rendition of an off-the-wall, political, independent thinking, student, and Dorian and his gang are the ultimate pictures of a stereotyped flaming gay social group. The story starts out a bit slow but picks up as the reader covers the first few chapters. What happens as the story develops, one might ask? It develops into a slapstick and absurd comedy of a total loser and the subplots of those around him. One stupid act or lie leads to another and before you know it, or as you might suspect, Ignatius has created a giant nasty snowball of nothing but trouble. Loose ends begin to tighten as the characters finally collapse, one on top of another, in front of a trolley that has come to a screeching halt. If you are a reader that enjoys the Three Stooges then this is the book for you, no underlying meaning, no symbology, just pure slapstick with a touch of grease and filth. Jones, the ignorant vagrant, is the only character with any redeeming qualities in the entire novel. He thinks. He questions. He has the capabilities to learn and to want more for himself. He is the only virtue to the book. And talk about unsatisfying! Does this sound unsatisfied now? Wait until you reach the end of the story! All of the things you could have accomplished in the time it took you to read this book - mopping the floor, paying bills, picking up that gallon of milk...
Rating:
Summary: This is THE litmus test
Review: You either "get it", or you don't. Some people will walk away from this great book shaking their heads with incomprehension, "how is this a great book?", they'll mutter to themselves. Like parents from 35 years ago who couldn't understand what the attraction was with 4 guys with long hair from Liverpool- those "who don't get it" will be puzzled at joy of those who do. This book is a great way to make friends- those who "get it", not only share a love at poking fun at the absurdities of life, they are simply more aware of what the true absurdities are. I am tempted to suggest that the like or dislike of this novel is the best indicator of one's intellectual and emotional acumen. If you truly think you're brilliant or wise- read this book. If you don't like it, let me be the first to tell you that you are either an intellectual midget or a PC zealot, or both.
Rating:
Summary: The funniest novel ever written
Review: It is certainly the funniest book I have ever read, and one of the best books ever written.
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