Rating: 
Summary: Terrible, terrible
Review: While I suppose this book is realistic, it is completely unreadable due to its main character, Ignatius Reilly. Most of the reviews I've read call him a hero and a misfit at odds with the modern world. That isn't true. He's a jerk. The character is a horrible person who I could hardly stand reading about. I have no idea what the author was thinking when he created him. In the story, things always go right for Ignatius even though the reader desperately wants him to suffer. Why would anyone want to read about such a loathsome character? Ignatius is treated as the hero because he's the main character, but he is no hero, to be sure.Why did this win a Pulitzer? I think it was mainly due hype over the complex story of the book's publication. The author killed himself ten years after writing the book and his mother spent the next few years after that trying to get it published. If only she hadn't tried so hard.
Rating: 
Summary: I know him, he's a character
Review: Having lived in New Orleans for nearly all of my life, I instantly had a connection with the book. I feel that those who do not 'get' the humor of the book are probably not familiar with the city of New Orleans... New Orleans is a city which honors and respects "characters." I do not mean character in the literary sense, but as an explanation of an eccentric personality. Every character in the book is such a "character". It is true that most of them are what society would classify as its lowest eschelon. There are no truly honorable characters in the book, with the exception of Burma Jones. (out of space) READ IT
Rating:
Summary: I'm curious. . .
Review: I would like to know what percentage of the people who gave this book a 5 also said that "There's Something About Mary" was the funniest movie they've ever seen. Both of these creations exist on a subcultural, subhuman level.
Rating:
Summary: Ummmm.....BEEFY!
Review: Loved this book. I love it so much I itch. Sure the humor is a little broad. Then again, so was Shakespeare. They still named a line of fishing poles after him.
Rating:
Summary: Yuk, this is funny?
Review: I found this book unfunny, uniteresting and unbearable. One of only two books that I couldn't force myself to finish reading. Save your time and money...avoid this book.
Rating:
Summary: Finished reading it for the 6th time- it just gets better!
Review: This book is all 10 on the list of my top ten favorites. There is nothing I can really add to all the adulation it has received - but I do think that the personal attacks on the people who 'don't get it' are uncalled for. This book, besides being very funny, touches the reader very deeply psychologically in a manner that I relate to but that others might find completely foriegn. My real reason for adding my voice is to let readers know that I have recently read another book whose protaganist is very reminicient of Ignatius. The book, Nevermore by Harold Schechter, is a mystery pairing Edgar Allan Poe and Davy Crockett who pool their very different talents to solve a mystery. As implausible as this seems, somehow it works. Poe (the teller of the tale) is a skinny, bibulous Ignatius and some of his conversations with his aunt could have come straight from Comfederacy. Poe could match vocabulary with Ignatius word for word and even possibly come out on top. It is a real challange to see how often you are forced to reach for the dictionary of the obscure. Davy Crockett is quoted as using my very favorite obscure word: absquatulate, which means, as far as I can remember, to leave hurriedly in order to avoid apprehension - literally to go off and squat elsewhere. Not only does the author use the word, which I have never seen ANYWHERE, he has Davy misprounce it as 'absquottleated.' Oh, I think I'm in love. In short, if you love Confederacy I think you will enjoy this book also.
Rating:
Summary: The Funniest Book Ever
Review: This book made me laugh out loud over and over again in many public places. Poor, pathetic Ignatius- so misunderstood by the public at large. Haven't we all been there at one time, or every day? I think the book itself is also misunderstood by the general populace. As for the people who don't get it, we on the other team know your type and could tell if you'd get it or not before you even picked up the book. Just kidding (a little)! I think John Ritter's character in Slingblade is carrying the paperback edition of this book in a brief scene. He answers the front door or something and I really think he's holding this book. Everyone should read this book- if you hate it that means something.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm back in Jackson Square again!
Review: Not only is Ignatius one of the most memorable characters to come off a page since Vonnegut was in his prime, the entire Crescent City is invoked in the patois of Jones, the cityscape (looking towards Algiers, the Lucky Dog carts, Canal St), the whole seedy, sensual, seductive wench that is New Orleans. The author had a gift for dialogue that has me green with envy. What a tragedy he took his life before his mama got his manuscript into Mr. Percy's hands. I wonder how much of Ignatius' misanthropy was autobiographical?
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book, but
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book in print; however, readers from Louisiana and especially the New Orleans area should beware of the unabridged recorded version. This city has many many idiosyncratic pronunciations of street names, etc., French as well as Native American, (e.g., Tchoupitoulas St.). The recorded version is rife with mispronunciations, which is a real distraction to readers from that area. The New Orleans accent is also unique to the South, and it is this reader's fondest wish that those who record books about southern Louisiana be more careful in recruiting native Orleanian or Cajun readers, or at least long-time residents of those areas in order to have the accent be more authentic.
Rating:
Summary: I read it for the smells!
Review: I am currently in the midst of reading this thoughtful and humourous novel. I am an avid reader and am reading other books at the same time. What I would like to mention is how I came to discover _Confederacy of Dunces_. It was mailed to me by a dear friend from Canada. In a letter she tells me how much she adores it and how she laughes out loud each time she re-reads it. The book was accompanied with a self-portrait photograph and a wonderful scent within its pages. Though it hasn't been very often, everytime I open the books a nostalgic and pleasant smell assaults me and makes me thinks instantly of the time we spent together. I love fiction, and attempt to write myself, but sometimes I have trouble accepting everyday life. I am enjoying the read but even more I am enjoying the momories it envokes. For if good literature succeeds in reinforcing the idea of a life-affirming ethics it can be the most gratitfying of all passions.
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