Rating: 
Summary: Hilarious Genius.
Review: This book had me laughing out loud throughout.Ignatius' way of speaking, his mannerisms, his "valve"; it was all just brilliantly funny. What a shame that Toole has only two published works. What a great body of work we have been deprived of... I highly recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: An unheralded masterpiece
Review: This is the kind of book that a person rarely buys on his/her own inspiration. It isn't a New York Times bestseller. It isn't one in a series. It isn't by a well-known author. And the first character the reader encounters is loud, tremendously overweight, strangely dressed and possibly mentally ill man who doesn't immediately arouse the typical reader's sympathies. If you skipped the prologue and just began reading the first page or two while standing in a bookstore, you might not even be impressed. But read just a little while longer and author Toole will have sunk his hooks into you. This book is an odd masterpiece. It's a comic tour-de-force whose characters shine. It's Seinfeld set in the seedy side of New Orleans. It's what would happen if comedian Lewis Black finally snapped and moved from Manhattan to the Creole Capital. It's absurd, but it is even more funny. If you don't believe me, just read the prologue someday. Walker Percy recounts how this manuscript first came to his attention. He discusses how he tried and tried to get out of having to read it. Eventually he decided that he'd just read a few pages so that he could honestly say that it was no good and be done with it. But after picking up the script, he writes that he first endured a "sinking feeling" when he realized it was better than he thought; then later, he had a "prickle of interest"; finally, he writes, "surely it was not possible that it was so good." But it is that good: it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The tragedy is that John Kennedy Toole isn't a better known author -- he killed himself in 1969. This book certainly is a fantastic way of keeping his memory alive.
Rating:
Summary: The best - literally - I've ever read
Review: From the characterizations to the dialog to the wit - this is it. With lines like "The Smithsonian Institution, that grab-bag of our nation's refuse" to "the air conditioning... exhaled the Levi's carbon dioxide and cigarette smoke and ennui" you know this is no ordinary novel. Funny, serious, tragic, entertaining. You will simultaneously loathe and love the protagonist, one Ignatius J.Riley. I'll overlook some obvious plot loose ends, ...the book was published after his death.
Rating:
Summary: Playful and fun
Review: Just great writing. Great characters. A story about nothing before Sienfeld made it cool.
Rating:
Summary: hilarious and heartbreaking
Review: This is the greatest contemporary book I've ever read. It's a kaleidoscope of complicated characters, a bewildering city, and wisdom. While reading this book I found myself laughing-outloud and tearing-up simultaneously.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: This easily ranks up there with the work of Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor in its depiction of a weird and often-disturbing region of the country. Its wit is over-the-top, yet sublime. I can't understand the reviewers who need to LIKE the main character in order to enjoy the book! Of course you hate Ignatius! That's the point. Imagine how much great literature you'd miss out on if you had to feel some sort of kinship with the protagonist. The book, written when it was, is mind-bendingly terrific. It's like an Edith Wharton novel, written seventy years later, transported South, and injected with gallons of humor. I can't say enough good things about it. I really pity those who dislike it.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely not an Abortion!
Review: Normally I don't read books like this [or particularly enjoy them], but this book was FANTASTIC! The hero, Ignatius Reilly, is a big, selfish loser with amazing intelligence and a hilarious weltanschaang. This book is about him having to get a job due to a car accident his mother had, while attempting to write a book on the misery of the 20th century. This novel is full of side stories and irony. The characters are all remarkable, Ignatius most of all. I laughed until I cried many times when he expressed his opinions on his New Orleans environment. My favorite line is when he lies to his mother about injuries from a cat he received as a hot dog vendor, "I had a rather apocalyptic battle with a starving prostitute. But for my superior brawn, I would have been overpowered. She fled the scene, her rags askew." Isn't that a scream? This book is a must read, but for the less well-read, I strongly recommend building up a vocabulary, keeping an open mind, and to try to see past the vulgarity of Ignatius.
Rating:
Summary: Priceless
Review: This may be the best book I've ever read. I go back and re-read it every couple of years just to amaze myself, and each time I come away as astounded as ever. One warning: You may not be able to read anything else for a while afterwards. This novel is so brilliant it dulls everything by comparison.
Rating: 
Summary: double edged sword - tiresome
Review: Both camps are right about this book. It is both funny and annoying. The people who think it's funny, love the laughs and ignore the fact that there is virtually no story. The people who hate it, don't. I laughed for about a hundred pages and then the book falls into tiresome repetition- Surface activity with no point. The protagonist is someone none of the reviewers would spend five minutes with. I couldn't make it past page 150 or so. A more interesting story would inviestigate how the publisher used word-of-mouth about the authors suicide as a marketing tool, allowing fans to credit themselves with coolness for finding this "underground" hit.
Rating: 
Summary: VH1's Behind the Confederacy
Review: "A Confederacy of Dunces" gives the reader an interesting look into the life of Ignatius J. Reilly, the main character involved in a hilarious chain of events. Most readers will come to absolutely loathe Ignatius' mistreatment of his mother, pompous attitude towards blacks, homosexuals, and most humans for that matter, and his mannerisms toward his ventures in the working world. Set in the late 1950's in the seemingly blasé city of New Orleans, Louisiana, Ignatius, a disgustingly obese bringer of negativity, has a conflict with any other member of the human race, including Myrna Minkoff, an old beatnik girlfriend of Ignatius from his college days. Throughout the novel the two correspond via mail, describing the changes taking place in the country from their point of view, while hilariously exaggerating the events themselves. Ignatius also butts heads with his mother, who believes her son to be lazy and useless (and right she is indeed. The man is thirty!). Though understated, Ignatius has many insecurities, and though he has a college education, he has a conflict with himself and his correspondence with the social world. The charm and delight you'll find reading this novel is not within the hatred of Ignatius, but the underlying intrigues taking place amongst the antagonists, all of whom have come to know Ignatius in a rather unpleasant way. Patrolman Mancuso is forced to wear tacky costumes and work the dregs and ghettos of New Orleans when he attempts to arrest Ignatius in front of a local department store. The ball goes on rolling from there, creating many subplots that win the attention of the reader. Some people will find that they dislike the protagonist, which may keep them from reading further into the story. The author, John Kennedy Toole, does such a fine job creating memorable characters that you just may want to keep reading to see what lies ahead for the other characters, and how the vile Ignatius affects the paths of their lives. Using the Levy Pants company, Toole symbolizes the underpaid black workforce of America during the late 1950's, and uses New Orleans as a platform on which America is represented at the time. Though hilarious with dialogue, action, and personl musings, "A Confederacy of Dunces" won my heart because it is a truly great novel with an ambiguous message of the American culture and its acceptance of unorthodox protocol.
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