A Confederacy of Dunces

Rating:
Summary: Laff riot
Review: I read ten pages every time I go to visit my mother and sister. It is so good I do not want it to end. I am one-third through it. I have to stop from laughing out loud and disturbing the tranquility of the house. If I bought my own copy and read it in my own home, I would finish it too soon and the dream/nightmare would be over. Reading the reviews would open that valve wide on Mr. Ignatius. If only there were more like him. Funniest book I ever read. Catch-22 is not on this level of absurdity. And the crudity works.

Rating:
Summary: Good therapy?
Review: There are few joys more special than laughing uncontrollably in places you really shouldn't. This book wasn't just a great read, it was great medicine.

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Summary: Wonderful, Madcap, Insightful Characterizations
Review: Jones is my favorite character--Ooo-wee! Jones sees all, and tells it like it is. I found it interesting that our protagonist--the ultra-critical Ignatious-- held such disdain for Mark Twain, whose characterizations I find as insightful and engaging as those in this book. Definitely worthy of the PP.

Rating:
Summary: An hysterically funny, laugh out loud, truly memorable book.
Review: This is such a fabulous and funny book I bought it for all my close friends, wanting to share its specialness with them. Ignatius Reilly has to be one of the most memorable fictional characters ever invented, alternately physically gigantic and buffoonish but somehow strangely sad and pitiable. The supporting characters, from the "minxish Myrna Minkoff" to the watering hole "Night of Joy" are equally finely etched. The wacky series of adventures Ignatius experiences makes me wonder how John Kennedy Toole could think of such extraordinarily funny situations that finally dovetail in a hilarious conclusion. I was sad when the book ended because I wanted to keep sharing the lives of these amazing characters. If you haven't read Confederacy of Dunces, do so at once!

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary
Review: I have read 5 reviews of this book. the first four gave it five stars. The last, one. I cannot understand how anyone could not like this novel. It is past funny. It is delightful. John Kennedy Toole had a gift that was greatly wasted. Ignatius may have been crude and idiotic. That was part of his charm. He was more than entertaining. I had to love this book because it made me laugh harder than I had ever from any previous book I ever read. It is a work of genius and every portion is interwoven. Pure genius at work. I read it for a book club that I am in. Otherwise, I would not have bothered. Now, I am glad that I have. I have recommended it to so many people. I think it is a book that everyone should read. If you have a sense of humor, you WILL like it!

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious audio!
Review: My husband and I listened to the audio version of Confederacy of Dunces on a road trip and were laughing so hard we nearly ran off the road. Artie Johnson does a superb job of making all the characters come alive. I wish they would make a movie of this book!

Rating:
Summary: loved it
Review: It's not very often that I laugh audibly while reading. This book is one of the very few to accomplish that feat.

Rating:
Summary: masterful
Review: A masterpiece! This is the best book I've ever read. The book for the bums of America! The best book about a slacker pushed into the work force ever. Filled with hilarious results.

Rating:
Summary: Toole's Book is a Light Snack for Heller Fans
Review: One of the first things that popped into my head as I was reading "A Confederacy of Dunces" was the realization that I was essentially reading warmed-over Joseph Heller. Indeed, Toole's work, in the most general sense, is very much like "Catch-22" in its use of an outsider anti-hero and other eccentric characters wandering through a morally ambiguous and often absurd universe that is our own world reflected in the mirror of irreverent social commentary. There are even brief moments when Toole's prose gives the reader a whiff of Heller. Toole's anti-hero, however, is not imbued with the charm and savvy of a Yossarian. Ignatius Reilly is a tremendous, mad philosopher who suggests the image of Thomas Aquinas reflected in a concave funhouse mirror. His character switches from imperious to childish and from infuriating to pathetic. The reader will also find that Toole almost seamlessly unites the entire novel into a single intricate plot, which is a contrast to "Catch-22"'s interrelated and thematically similar, but largely independant sub-plots. In summation, any reader who has been hungry for Helleresque fiction and doesn't mind a relative lack of philosophical depth will probably enjoy this novel.

Rating:
Summary: Hysterical
Review: Well, judging by the other reviews, this is a love-it-or-hate-it book, which tends to signify how different and unusual it is, if anything else. Personally, I found the writing very clever and something very funny on almost every page. The only disappointment is that the author left this world before he could write anything else! Read this damn book!