A Confederacy of Dunces

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Summary: Surreal, funny, and so strangely disturbing; you'll love it
Review: Not since Vonnegut's "Player Piano" has there been such a dead on, satirical commentary on the American way of life. Toole's New Orleans characters are deftly crafted; comically absurd but not cartoonish. His masterpiece is Ignatius T. Reilly, a bloated, pseudo-intellectual gas bag, who pontificates endlessly about the evils of society while consuming vast quantities of junk food and pulp entertainment. Equally interesting is Jones, a chain smoking, hip talking, black man struggling desperately to stay on the right side of the jail cell door by maintaining a janitor position in a seedy strip club. Most entertaining for me was Jones' manner of expression; a dialectic and animated version of street talk that contained absolute nuggets of truth.

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Summary: My Favorite Book Ever
Review: This book is my very favorite book ever. It makes me laugh so hard every time i read it. For the people who don't like this book because the characters are obnoxious, I think that is weak criticism . Most of the people in great literature and most entertainers in general would not be welcome in my house -- it's their broad and outlandish behavior that makes them entertainers, not friends. But their flaws often, as here, create a hilarious comment on an individual's "worldviews", as Ignatius would say. I have given this book to numerous people and almost everyone thought it was absolutely hilarious. Of course, there is no work of art that is going to please everyone.

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Summary: loved this book!!
Review: i worked in a bookstore a number of years ago and each day i saw Confederacy of Dunces sitting on the shelf. the cover always intrigued me -- who was this obese man and what's with the parrot?? it wasn't until years later did i pick up a copy and read it. i began reading it in a little coffeeshop and couldn't stop laughing. i've been laughing ever since. others who reviewed this book have expressed my feelings about COD. i can't put into words how much i love this book. i haven't finished it yet and i don't want it to end.... it is truly a shame Mr. Toole did not leave us with more works. i do not think i shall ever find a book that made as much of an impact on me as COD.

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Summary: This book kept me reading non-stop!
Review: One of the best books I have ever read. Wait, I'm lying. It actually is the best book I have ever read! John Kennedy Toole embraces the culture and atmosphere of the French Quarter of New Orleans in this wonderful novel, enveloping the reader in his lavish and effective description and writing style. Not only does Toole take you there, but he gives you an eccentric guide by the name of Ignatius O'Reilly. Ignatius, while appearing to be socially inept and a babbling, egocentric, morbidly obese mama's boy, grows in front of the reader's eyes into a character that indirectly shares his view of the world, a view that by the end of the book doesn't seem that radical. To enjoy this novel, the reader cannot just sit back and let his or her eyes passively scan page after page; the reader must imagine himself or herself walking beside Ignatius, listening to his every thought. This kind of active reading makes this book fun, and once I got into the hang of it, I picked up on the subtle details that make this novel Pulitzer-prize winning material. It's a shame that this genius-writer never lived to bask in the fame this book received. In short, buy this book and be amazed.

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Summary: A good time with dynamic characters
Review: When I first picked this up at a used book place in Penn State, I read it, and read it, and read it, and I couldn't put it down. And being 13 (11 at the time I read it), the 405 pages were quite overwhelming to me but now it has become my all-time favorite book and it hasn't changed since I read "Inherit the Wind", "2001: A Space Odyssey" and other 'classic' books these last two years! It follows the mishaps and escapades of Ignatius J. Reilly, an intellectual thirty-year-old man who writes notes and numbers of reports explaining the trials and tribulations of life, constantly aggrivates himself with his pen pal Myrna Minkoff and her absurd attempts at sex education, his antics at finding the perfect job in the New Orleans area (with fate providing loads of misadventures in the Levy Jean racket and hot-dog vending! Ignatius is constantly ending up in great troubles (one with his eccentric mother who insists that he be put in the nut house which is an idea she gets from her friend lively named Santa)and having "stimulating" conversations with street derelicts. With good humor and old-fashioned American know-how, this is the great American novel that this country had been waiting for before Toole wrote it. Sadly, he commited suicide after he had written the book and thus providing no more novels of his satirical humorand cynical kicks.

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Summary: Simply The Greatest Novel Ever Written
Review: I have read this book 16 times, and laugh harder with each read. There are some passages which leave me with tears rolling down my cheeks. How anyone could read this and not laugh is beyond me. Actually, this is the book i use as my barometer for measuring the intelligence of a person. Those who don't get it are the problem. I have read this with my book club, and given perhaps 100 copies of the book to different people (students, friends) in need of a laugh or some intellectual stimulation. If you need either, grab the book, a hot dog, a Dr. Nut, and enjoy. To all of the wonderful people who reviewed this book in such a positive and amusing way, thank you. May your valve always be open. Have any of you read anything comprable to this?

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Summary: A wonderful adventure in New Orleans
Review: A Confederacy of Dunces is a truly memorable book. The almost surreal experiences and adventures are experienced by the reader as well as the characters. As a resident of New Orleans, I can say for sure that this is a truly hilarious parady of life in the Big Easy.

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Summary: The funniest, most original book ever written
Review: This book was written by John Kennedy Toole in 1963, while he was in his twenties serving in the U.S. Army. It was published a decade after the author's death and won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It is the most original, the most satirical, and the funniest book I've read. What John Kennedy Toole observed in 1963 New Orleans resonates with the U.S. thirty-five years later. The protagonist is so poignantly described that he can't be far from Toole himself. Bear with him for the first few pages and you'll be hooked on this unlovable character to the finish, where the story's perfect symmetry implodes on itself. I only wish that Toole had endured life to share his perception, wit, and writing with us for at least one more book.

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Summary: get this book
Review: This is the funniest book ever written. I don't have the words to describe it any further. Have you ever tried to tell a friend what the subject matter is? It's imp[ossible!

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Summary: Absolutely amazing
Review: It is a shame that an author of such amazing talents is not with us. Next to "Youth in Revolt", this is, without a doubt, the funniest book I have read. Be sure to read this and share it with your freiends