Rating: 
Summary: Highly original, highly enjoyable.
Review: One of the most original and mind boggling novels I have read. It takes on a bit like, dare I say it, a Quentin tarantino movie in the way that it tells the story from several viewpoints that converge in the end. Enraptures you and once it has you in its grasp it never seems to let you go. It follows the tirades of Ignatius J Reilley, a failed intellectual, but a genius in his own right, who lives with his aging mother and a vast quantity of 'Dr Nut' Recommended for anyone who has the ability to read.
Rating:
Summary: Fantsastic
Review: There has never been, and will probably never be, a book as well-written and entertaining as this. This is easily one of the greatest books ever written. And I've read a lot. From the lowest dreck to the "finest" literature. And this one damn near beats them all.
Rating:
Summary: A skillful blend of humor laced with melancholy.
Review: This is one of the books that sticks in my mind, like Love in the Time of Cholera, because of its last lines: Innocuous on their own--you can skip to the end if you want and spoil nothing--yet they hit with a surprising force: the novel has a subtle momentum, steadily gained through the preceeding pages, that you only see in retrospect.
Rating:
Summary: Darkly comic indictment of modern society.
Review: Perhaps one of the funniest books I have ever read. While there have been a few negative reviews of the book, one has to fault the reader for that, not the writer. The real tragedy is that he is no longer around to favor us with more of his books. It is also a book one can recommend to almost anyone who has a brain.
Rating: 
Summary: Save Your Money and Time
Review: Like another John Kennedy (JFK), Toole has been immortalized for nothing more than dying young. Abusing one's widowed mother, eating everything in site, undermining one's employer just for kicks, yelling at strangers, threatening one's teachers, and dismissing blacks and homosexuals as manipulable minorities; are all not funny. If Toole had written a true farce, I could see the praise for this little book's little humor; but as it stands- with it's awful climax and resolution- this is nothing more than a waste of time and money.
Rating:
Summary: An indictment against the century...
Review: "...the complexity of my worldview, the decency and taste implicit in my carriage, the grace with which I function in the mire of today's world..." The dolts such as those immediately preceding this review cannot comprehend the profound wit that Toole utilizes to mold his main character Ignatius, and his story in general. It is my opinion that those who love this book do so on two levels: (1) no other "literary" novel exists with a funnier story and prose style, and (2) the book connects with many readers with high feelings of joy that is somehow ironically accompanied by comcomitant feelings of melancholy. I believe that the latter sentiments are due to the fact that most intelligent people find many things in this world, including society, to be baneful in nature due to common idiocy and mediocrity - and resultingly are cloistered within themselves, ever hopeful that there might be others out there who think and act like they do...Ignatius is a ! laughable idiot that can only be created as such from an intelligent, humorous, and unfortunately cynical individual such as Toole. In sum, I find comfort that this book is either hated or loved by those who read it - it would be an "insult to proper theology and geometry" if everyone loved Toole's story.
Rating:
Summary: One of the worst books I've ever read.
Review: Confederacy of Dunces is one of the worst books I've ever read. It certainly did not live up to its billing. I found the book dated, and lacking humor in today's society (that of course assumes it was humorous when it was written). The humor is distasteful and offensive. There is nothing madcap about the adventures of Ignatious Reilly--he is simply a pathetic overweight individual. I am sorry that I wasted money buying this book.
Rating:
Summary: So funny and so sad and so wonderfully done
Review: You'll wish intensely that the author would have stayed with us longer and given us more of his brilliant perspective on life, love, sanity, loneliness and family. Alas, this and a short novel written as a teenager are all there are to indicate John Kennedy Toole lived and observed a section of life never revealed so well before or since. Without question, Ignatius is one of the great characters of American fiction. There is a little (only a little, thank God) of Ignatius in all of us and recognizing him will make you laugh uproariously at times and shake your head in pity at others. His long-suffering mother, his dazed and bewildered co-workers and the floatsam and jetsam of New Orleans are truly unique characters. How many books by white authors feature a truly wise and truly independent African-American character? You'll never forget meeting Ignatius. He'll creep into your thoughts, your humor and your language. You'll hear him whenever you feel outraged a! t being forced to live with the rest of us heathens or cheated for someone's inability to see your genius. Finally, you'll recognize that the hilarious and sad life of Ignatius probably mirrored Toole's; and you'll understand why he didn't stay to write more novels. In a way, that's alright. He did it right with this one.
Rating:
Summary: By far one of the greatest satires of this century.
Review: The Confederacy of Dunces is one of the best satires I have ever read. All though the rumors suggest that perhaps J.K. Toole was, in fact, a fictional persona created by W. Percy, this book is a work of art.
Rating:
Summary: A Modern Comic Classic
Review: I must have read this masterpiece a dozen times and still laugh out loud. If the movie chapter doesn't crack you up you definitely need therapy. You'll never look at a hotdog the same way after you read Dunces. Too bad there will never be a sequel. Read this book!
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