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Summary: AMAZING COMING-OF-AGE STORY!
Review: ....granted, our hero comes of age at 30? This is a terrific novel about a man nearly everyone fears and/or hates, and yet ALL reap great benefits from being around him. His intelligence, anger and frustration are something to behold - and the storyline weaves through, then ties up in a MOST satisfying manner - kinda like PULP FICTION circa 1967. Mr. Reilly champions and personifies the curmudgeon in all of us - a MUST-READ!
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Summary: The funniest novel of all time!
Review: This is simply the funniest novel I've ever read. It's BRILLIANT! Ok, I may be a bit biased because I'm from New Orleans. But if you ever have any plans to visit that city, then read this book. You'll learn more of it's quirky people and their colorful lives from this book than any other.
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Summary: This Could Not Be Published Today
Review: As Andrei Codrescu points out in his new introduction to the 20th anniversary edition, this book could not be published today. It's simply too offensive to contemporary feelings about sexuality, race, and politics. The same goes for several other beloved comedy classics of the '60's and '70's: Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles", the albums of Richard Pryor, you name it. And isn't that a sad comment on our paranoid, oversensitive popular culture of the "90's.
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Summary: Better Than All Books
Review: This is the most brilliantly funny book ever written in the history of the world. There are no other opinions to have of this masterpiece. And anybody who believes differently is wrong and ought to be punished. I weep into my horribly expensive 400 count Egyptian cotton pillowcase each time I think that the writer extinguished his life without ever making it into the Oprah Book Club. So much is wrong with life. This book, however, is something that is right. All must read it and be awed.
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Summary: Tourist in New Orleans
Review: This is one of the very best books I've read in a long time! You'll especially enjoy it if you're familiar at all with New Orleans.
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Summary: A Confederacy of DUNCES
Review: This is an amusing social commentary. The main character, Ignatius Jefferson Reilly, is a born loser. He is convinced that humanity was better off during the Middle Ages. Toole could not have chosen a more appropriate sletting for this novel: the seedy and licentious city of New Orleans. Reilly is humorous (I actually laughed out loud) not because he is fat and lazy, but rather he is acutely accurate, albeit morose in his judgement of human nature and personal character. He is also extrordinarily articulate. I hope they never try to make a movie out of this book because the Hollywood establishment would surely spoil it. Besides, Reilly would be furious. Highly recommended as an American classic.
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Summary: The book is oddly enjoyable
Review: "Confederacy" is a book about odd people (and thereby begins to point out how "odd" we all really are). Each character has some habit that is different from the "norm" of society and the main character, Ignatius, is in a different universe all together (all the while thining that he is the very definition of what "normal" should be). If you enjoy books that are character studies that reveal exactly how odd this world is then you will enjoy "Confederacy". Imagine a Douglas Adam's book about New Orleans with an American versus British sense of humor and you'll begin to understand the beauty of this book.
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Summary: a classic, but a bit outdated
Review: The publishing world has been shamelessly promoting this award winning book -- I enjoyed it, but I didn't think it was quite as much of a hoot as many critics must have. Sure, I laughed at Ignatius' over-active sphincter and his total loser personality, but after a few hundred pages of his manic thoughts, I begain to tire of him. yes, I think the book is a classic, but once you're over the main part of the story, I doubt you'll roll in the aisles laughing. Maybe I'm a heathen, but I laughed much more at every Dave Barry book.
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Summary: That's what I like about the South!
Review: "You know I can't stand books about the South," I growled when my friend handed me "Dunces" as reverently as though he were giving me Aladdin's lamp. And indeed, I did always give up on books with a Southern locale and cast of characters. Until this one. It stands apart in every respect from those depressing Southern books. Written in sparkling modern prose, this is a serious book which is bursting with raw, zany humor. I didn't like the protagonist at first, but he grows on you. Very much like the hero of the currently popular serious/funny novel here on the West Coast, "Love Songs of the Tone-Deaf" by Asher Brauner, which is not only a very good book but also small enough for you to take along in your pack for a quick read on a plane or bus ride.
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Summary: Caveat Emptor:Highly Explosive!
Review: As a veteran bookworm, who cannot be easily dazzled by books any longer, I experienced my greatest literary shock ever reading this amazing book. Maybe it is indescribable but I will try to do it. I think Ignatius is one of the most grotesque characters of world literature. His queer logic, the originality of people around him and the maddening course of events transfixed me for eight hours successively. One hour of that reading took place in a waiting room and I laughed so much that they had to force me out. Some of them called me "a special kind of mad" loudly. The overlapping events and the intelligently woven web of plots and subplots make one think this is the product of a great genius. Beneath the grotesque face of the novel lies a great tragedy. A tragedy that is no less striking than the comedy. And the dexterity of Toole in creating that second dimension is the proof of his unique place among all writers. Reading this book is a special experience that urges you to share it with another one. I gave the first copy to my friends and it soon became a source of in-jokes, endless conversations and the formation of a sect-like circle of friends whose only mission is to proselytize the views of Ignatius. I wish I could read this book in English but alas I had to read its Turkish translation (itself a masterpiece). I terribly envy people whose native tongue is English and have the chance to understand the linguistic nuances fully. After all, even a good translation is not capable of giving the whole taste of the original text. The only sad thing is the heart-rending suicide of a literary genius dying an unjustly premature death. If only he could see that many people around the world adored his opus magnum.
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