Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Crazy!
Review: This book is a genre of it's own! Every single character is millions of miles away from an "average person". Ignatius J. Reilley, the protagonist, is not an overweight bumbling moron. Rather he is a overweight, bumbling, thirty-year old with a masters degree and a fixation with Medieval philosophy. He is a mogul in his own mind and a persuasive one at that, with a sort of midas touch. Anyone who comes near him somehow gets dragged into this twisted, all-too-believable plot which is his life. John Kennedy Toole deals so frankly with a side of human nature that so many authors seem to neglect. The strength of this book is not only in the plot but how the characters interact with one another and how they all become tied together in a massive web of occurences. I was given this book by my English teacher and I'm glad he shared it with me. This is a must read for everyone who needs a rollicking good laugh now and again.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best pieces of literature ever written
Review: I read many years ago the Spanish translation of this book in Argentina, and after finishing it I gave it as a present to my friends, relatives, pofessors, etc. Was a quite diverse group, but they had something in common: they agreed that this book is a work of a genious. It is almost like reading Borges.
However it seems that many of the reviewers try to judge the book as a book of history, sociology, or whatever, which in turns probe that is superlative, since made them forget that they were reading fiction (which for they information, it doesn't need to be sociologically accurate, politically correct, and so on).
If you take time to read many reviews, specially the ones that rated the book quite low, you will see hilarious things like "the portrait of African-American is dated"; the one who wrote that also forgot to say that the portrait of Italians in Romeo and Juliet is dated too, or that the portrait of Greeks is dated in the Illiad, so Shakespeare and Homer were not good! Come on, what do you expect of a book written in the beginning of the 60's? A guy using mobile Internet, and praysing that the new Secretary of State is African-American?
Or you can enjoy one review saying that he/she took more than one month in reading the book, and that the book was really bad...What can you expect of somebody who takes more than one month in reading a book of a little more than 400 pages?? (pages smaller than A5 size, and with a quite big font)
I do understand that people have different tastes in literature too, but when you read a review, you have to keep in mind what are they talking about: in some part they forgot that they were reading a fictional book and started to blaim the caracters for what they do (or don't do), or the author for using his real life as inspiration (what even if is true or not, who knows, it doesn't matter at all; what matters is the story, and that's all).
I still believe that is a really good book, but after reading many reviews I understand why Sydney Sheldon sells so many books!
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant Characters, Colorful Humor, Deserved Better Ending
Review: A grand ball of entertainment. It's real flavor comes out if you've been through the Big Easy and the Quarters. I can well imagine how much New Orleans natives would enjoy it. Each character was pathetic enough to catch your attention, and kind of feel sorry for them. The way Toole relates each one to our tragicomic "hero" is the author's forte in this book. Looking at life through Ignatius's "worldview" was quite disturbing and comical. However, it seems like Toole hurried with the ending, as the book ends rather abruptly, and - I don't believe I'm saying this but - too happily.
Rating:
Summary: Ignatius Reilly, Navel-Gazing Slob Poet!
Review: The second greatest novel ever written . After Catch-22. Toole topped himself after seven fruitless, frustrating years trying to get this published. His mother however didn't give up so easily. She pressed the book on every publisher, agent, and college prof she could find and finally, 11 years after Toole killed himself, CONFEDERACY won the Pulitzer Prize. Which just goes to show: mothers know best.
Rating:
Summary: Laugh Out Loud Satire With Social Message
Review: While the book as a "comedy" is worth the read alone, its satire of race relations, civil rights, and the stereotypical New Orlenian are perfect. The book has a wonderful array of character: the Civil Rights crusader M. Minkoff, Ignatius' discouraged mother Irene, the obese and condescending Ignatius J. Reilly, and many more. As a Louisiana resident, I particularly enjoyed reading about places which I have frequented often; nonetheless, this book is a must read for all.
Rating:
Summary: my 2 cents
Review: I have been reading all of the reviews, and I must say...I did not expect there to be so much controversy surrounding this book. It seems that people either love it or hate it; I didn't see the words like and dislike used much. I happened to be one of those who loved it. The characters are colorful and memorable. It seems to me that a person who can read into things would appreciate this book more. I think that much of the humor is merely Toole's commentary on societal faults. If you laugh, you are laughing at our, American society...which is often quite funny. If you haven't read this, you should definitely give it a try. At least then you can choose your side of the war.
Rating:
Summary: A true original
Review: I must admit: I have never read a book like Toole's Confederacy of Dunces, or encounted anything like its protagonist, Ignatius J. Reilly. Though I felt the second half of the book dragged somewhat, there are few books that have made me laugh so heartily so often as this one. The book is simultaneously philosophical reflection and a sprawling, intertwined comedic masterpiece. The characters are truely original, the diversionary plots pure madcap, and the ending is perfect. A great summer read.
Rating:
Summary: Come possiamo non amare Ignatius J. Reilly?
Review: Centinaia di recensioni in inglese, per questo libro scombiccherato ma perfetto (o viceversa), e una media eccellente (4 e mezzo su cinque). Allora e' il caso di rivolgersi agli amici italiani. Cominciate dall'inizio, per favore. Dalla scena in cui Ignatius fa' la fila assieme alla madre. Vi si apre davanti un mondo nuovo, fatto di pensieri lucidissimi ma, come dire, sconvenienti. Non e' un folle, quello che abbiamo di fronte, un imbarazzante grassissimo folle scoreggiante (ahimè, fa anche di questo!), è semplicemente un uomo che non fa sconti a nessuno e troneggia su un egoismo perfino commovente...ma tutto ciò non è forse ciò che potremmo osservare in gran parte dei nostri simili? Forse sono meno inclini alle flatulenze, tutto qui... Pertanto, il mondo offerto dal libro è nuovo solo perche' non l'abbiamo mai visto così, ma è proprio quello che attraversiamo ogni giorno. Solo, abbiamo - in genere - visioni meno radicali di Ignatius. Il libro tocca punte di comicità piacevolissima, pian piano le assurdità che propone ci sembrano però...meno irragionevoli. Ha ragione, Ignatius, a restare quel che è? O per farsi amare, accettare, per inserirsi - problema che avvertiamo solo noi, osservandolo all'opera, perchè lui ha sempre ragione! - dovrebbe rinunciare ad una delle sue mille sgradevolezze? Ora io ricordo una storiella: un uomo guida la sua auto e sente alla radio un allarme "attenzione, si avvisano gli automobilisti che un pazzo sta percorrendo l'autostrada in senso contrario!" l'uomo spegne la radio con aria infastidita e commenta "see, uno, sono migliaia!". Che dovrebbe fare Ignatius, allora, darla vinta a quella banda di idioti? Epperò mai avrei pensato che quell'automobilista pericoloso mi avrebbe tanto intenerito...qui a mio avviso emerge la maestria di J.K.Toole: quasi spiamo Ignatius mentre sta da solo (è sempre solo, dannazione!), sistema le sue cose, i suoi fogli bisunti in cui riscrive la storia del mondo partendo, guarda caso, da ciò che più lontano si pone rispetto alla nostra luminossissima modernità...l'oscuro Medioevo! ed è così affettuoso con le proprie cose, con le proprie fissazioni...un bambino, davvero, che si chiude da solo nella stanza dei tesori... Non so se è solo bravura, quella di Toole, o se c'è qualcos'altro che gli permetta di farci alla fine commuovere per il suo magnifico e ributtante personaggio...non so, mi viene in mente un'altra madre, quella di Toole stesso, che per anni si presentava a scrittori ed esperti di scrittura per sottoporre il manoscritto del figlio morto suicida, un ammasso di fogli bisunti, appunto...fino a trovare chi sapesse finalmente leggerlo e farlo arrivare a noi. Grazie, signora Toole, ha fatto bene ad essere ostinata come suo figlio Ignatius, anzi Kennedy, ha fatto bene a non arrendersi a quella banda di idioti!
Rating:
Summary: A masterful job of describing the delusional
Review: As if there weren't enough reviews of this book, I'll add mine: In a word, wonderful. The "protagonist" is one Ignatius J. Reilly, a fat, pompus windbag who is over-educated, but refuses to work, preferring to stay home and drive his mother nuts while writing his never-ending treastie on the awfulness of the modern world -- "modern" meaning anything since early Medieval times! Thanks to his mother running into a building while under the influence, Ignacious has to go to work. You can just about imagine the kind of worker he is, versus the kind of worker he really is! You wouldn't want to leave this guy alone with a typewriter, or even a hot-dog cart, for a minute. John Kennedy Toole does not just depict Ignatius's delusions, but brilliantly depicts everyone else's delusions, too. His novel shows us that none of us operate in a concrete reality -- our perceptions are deluded because of our beliefs, worldview, past experiences, etc. This book should be assigned, or at least recommended, reading for any college course dealing with post-Modern thought.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant! Just plain brilliant!
Review: Like the best of art, this is a book that can be enjoyed on a low-level pure-entainment level, and can be enjoyed at five stars. But it is also that great art kind of book that can be enjoyed at whatever high level you might like - this is fantastic literature that be deconstructed, critiqued, torn apart, and otherwise delved into to find layers and layers and layers of life meaning in it. What's the highest level/compliment any piece of artwork can achieve? That it either entertained me greatly, or that it changed my life in some way. This book works on both levels. I read a lot on the subway, since I get about an hour a day riding the rails of NYC, and I read this book mostly on the 1/9 line. Even though this is a public space, I laghed out loud numerous times. Some of this book is just plain outrageously funny - the gut-crunching painful kind of laughter-inducing humor of Gallagher, Toy Story 2, or the Beavis and Butthead movie. But other parts of the book are full of emotion and ennui - the main character of the book is not altogether psychologically with-it, but yet, he has a profound and honest insight into a lot of the supidity and cultural BS and killing-oneself-and-one's-world behavior that so many "sane" people go after - consumerism, nationalism, idealism, ego gratification, etc. And that's the genius of the book - a very intelligent "hero" who is also a fat, lazy, neurotic can't-hold-a-job still-living-with-mom loser. I hate to say anything more, because I hate reviews that tell the story of the book but never comment on the story and thus ruin all the fun for the reader. I can't begin to tell you how much I love this book, and how often while I was reading it that I said to people "YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK!!" What more do I need to say? Read this book! It should be in the library of everyone, and is one of those rare books that I really wish everyone in the country would read. We'd be a better society if everyone knew it. But alas, 98% of Americans prefer crap to well-written thinking literature, so this pulitzer winning book is forever relgated to the bowels of the used bookstores. Shame on you America, and kudos to those of you who will actually be intelligent to take this book into your hands and let it change you.
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