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Summary: smart!
Review: Very funny book! I enjoyed reading Ignatius's comments in particular. He uses the most complicated terms to say one simple word! This brings up some of the problems in modern society with the touch of humor and comedy. Very smart!
Rating:
Summary: Extremely funny AND real!
Review: This is one of those books which has everything to be consider a classic! It was wonderfully written, the description of the characters and places where the story takes place is brilliant. And the best part is that you can't but laugh out loud all along while you're reading this book. This kind of humor can only be found in great authors such as J.D.Salinger himself. This book has everything...a great plot, lovable characters, and madness all over it.
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Summary: Classic Confederacy
Review: This book should be considered a "classic!" I have never laughed out loud as hard as I did while reading this book. Everything from the characters to their series of comedic events had me in hysterics. The story focuses on the pathetic "dunce" of a man, Ignatius J. Reilly. This thirty year old (well-educated) man, who is completely dependent upon his mother, is forced to get a job. Every job he has, somehow, seems to interfere with his very busy life of doing nothing. Although he has a master's degree, he finds thoughtless, thankless jobs that he can't hold onto. His on-the-job blunders and his desire to change society as well as his interactions with the other characters make this the funniest book I have ever read. I would definitely recomend it to anyone who wants a good laugh!
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Summary: a great read!
Review: I discovered this book by a friend's recommendation. Once I started it, I couldn't put it down. I laughed and laughed! Twelve years later, I am still rereading it and still laughing. The book is a brilliant blend of comedy and tragedy, a 180 proof distillation of the human spirit. I haven't read anything better, although I know a dozen books I'd rank with it, including Catcher in the Rye, Catch-22, The Fountainhead, The Last Detail, Breakfast of Champions, and In Watermelon Sugar. If you don't try this one, you're missing a great chance. Obviously some people don't get it, don't like it, etc. Those of us who do like it, love it. It's worth a try, believe me.
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Summary: A shame Toole isn't still around
Review: As funny as this book is, as dead-on as the dialogue is, as fascinatingly complex as the supporting cast is, the centerpiece of this fantastic novel is (of course) Ignatius Reilly. But perhaps Toole's greatest accomplishment is in carefully tempering Ignatius' buffoonery with a profound sense of sadness. With his thunderous, pretentious, hilarious and desperate lamentations on Modern Society, Ignatius is at once the Town Cryer, the Royal Hero and the Village Idiot.
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Summary: Will prolong the life of many (but not all) people
Review: One of the reasons this book made it into my top 25 list (see homepage) is that I found it very funny.I stopped laughing when I read the true story that the writer himself never got to see his book published and that in fact no one wanted to publish it. His mother had to sit down in the office of a a literature professors at some small university demanding that he should read the manuscript, or she wouldn't leave his office. He liked it and helped get it published and it won the Pullizer prise the year it came out. Does anyone know how difficult it is to write good humour. There are billions of suspense novels, zillions of contemporary novels, thrillions of science fiction and fantasy books, but only a handful of really funny books (Mark Twains short stories, The witches books of terry Pratchet, Calvin & Hobbs cartoons, the Topper books). John Kennedy Tool is a genius who died to young and his hero, "Ignatius J. Reilly is a grotesque, a gargantua, who lumbers through New Orleans leaving chaos in his wake" and he also leaves chaos among the reviewers in Amazon.com and why? Because humour are so difficult and so individual. Either you love it or you don't. Either or is normal. A deeply funny book, that will prolong the life of many people.
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe I Just Didn't Get It
Review: I've been accused of having a sense of humor outside the mainstream. Reading all of the reviews below makes me believe this may be true. I don't know why, but I just didn't get it! I thought the story was stupid and boring. I got about 2/3 the way through and just couldn't bring myself to finish it. Oh well, different strokes, as they say...
Rating: 
Summary: A Difficult Look at Ourselves
Review: This is a novel people either love or hate, a one star or five star book. Those who give it one star often state they don't understand why others think it so funny. I won't pretend to answer for everybody, but I can give one or two possible explanations for my rating. As revolting as we find the notion, many of us see a little bit of ourselves in Ignatius J. Reilly. All of us can be critical of others, thinking ourselves or the organizations we belong to better than, at least, SOME other person or individual out there, in a variety of areas(race, religion, politics, intelligence, morality). Also, many of us have compromised our ideals and our future hopes & directions as Ignatius has (although he thinks of himself as a profound writer, his longest-lasting job is as hot dog vendor). One of the funniest scenes of the novel is when Ignatius is negotiating his salary as file clerk. Believing himself better than the $60/week salary offered, his interest changes when he finds out his employer will include bus fare in the offer. Besides the reasons stated in the pop psychology above, I also enjoyed the novel because of the flow of the language, the glimpse into an "other class" side of life we may not be familiar with, and the idiosyncrasies of the characters brought to life by the author.
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Summary: Quixote, Bergerac, Schweik, REILLY...
Review: When I first saw the cover of this paperback in a Georgetown, DC, bookshop a few years ago, I was hesitant to buy it. Simply put, the cover is goofy, and does not do this masterpiece any justice. I am so grateful that I ignored my initial instinct, as I don't remember ever reading a funnier book in the English language than the late John Kennedy Toole's life achievement, nor is there a more memorable character in American literature than I. J. Reilly. The work deserves a 6 star rating! "A Confederacy of Dunces" is more than just incredibly funny, however. It is unusually poignant, gut-wrenchingly sad, and an admirable observation piece on a rather decadent and seemingly lost segment of our society sitting at the mouth of the Mississippi River. I have visited New Orleans three times since 1994 for varied reasons, and the city apparently has not changed in the least since Mr. Toole's late 1960s rendition. His characters continue to stroll and struggle along Bourbon Street and Canal Street, and their troubled spirits infuse every alley and cave of the French Quarter. Just like the district surrounding St. Peter's Square in the city of jazz, Ignatius J. Reilly is out of step with the rest of America. In spite of his repulsive and grossly comical physical presence, he believes in aesthetics and real meaning, in what he perceives to be the truth. For this reason, he is a true literary hero, like Don Quixote, Cyrano de Bergerac and the Good Soldier Schweik before him. One final note: before you buy this book, think about cancelling all your appointments and engagements for the two or three days that follow. They, along with eating and sleeping, undoubtedly will be totally neglected until you finish this 400 page tour de farce.
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Summary: Dear Elmo Gallen, poor ignorant
Review: I'm sure you are the typical John Grisham's fan, or even a nobody's fan. Please stay away of Joyce, Cervantes, Kafka, Proust, Borges (I'm shure you are). And don't stop, commit suicide whenever you want it, but in the place you should go, you are not going to see John Kennedy Toole. Dear Melinda Harrison, you just put it clear. tdaneri@hotmail.com
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