Rating: 
Summary: I guess you have to have been there
Review: If this book was awarded the pulitzer for generating emotion in the reader then it deserves the award. Unfortunately, for me it was nausea. The lead character embodied everything about modern America that I find repulsive. Grossly fat, completely self indulgent, narrowly educated, blaming all on others, and completely disfunctional. Yuck! This book will appeal to those who enjoy the pratfalls of the Three Stooges. No joy, no hope, no sense. Stupidity and insanity are not funny.
Rating: 
Summary: Without a doubt, the best book I have ever read!
Review: To review it would be to ruin it. It is a masterpiece
Rating:
Summary: It was soooo funny
Review: Confederacy is set in Toole's native city of New Orleans and revolves around one Ignatius J. Reilly, a character Percy describes as "without progenitor in any literature I know of -- slob extraordinary, a mad Oliver Hardy, a fat Don Quixote, a perverse Thomas Aquinas rolled into one." A morbidly obese 30-year-old with an M.A. in Medieval Studies, Ignatius is unemployed and lives with his widowed mother, whom he treats bominably. He has a love-hate relationship with the 20th century, spending his days watching junk TV and going to movies, obsessing about his overtaxed digestive system and writing florid denunciations of modern culture: "Were Hroswitha with us today, we would all look to her for counsel and guidance. From the austerity and tranquility of her medieval world, the penetrating gaze of this legendary Sybil of a medieval nun would exorcise the horrors which materialize before our eyes in the name of television." Ignatius also carries on a long-distance relationship with Myrna Minkoff, an obsessively Freudian social activist from the Bronx he met at Tulane University. "Myrna was decidedly masochistic. She was only happy when a police dog was sinking its fangs into her black leotards or when she was being dragged feet-first down the steps from a Senate hearing." A drunk-driving charge and fine puts Mrs. Reilly in the unenviable position of convincing her indolent son to get a job to help pay it off. Ignatius, protesting loudly all the while, does find work of sorts; first as a file clerk at Levy Pants, a disreputable garment factory, then as a hot-dog vendor in the French Quarter. He also becomes the epicentre of an increasingly bizarre chain of events that blunders to a surprisingly just conclusion for all concerned. I know this sounds insane, but though it be madness, there's method in it. There are people who might find Ignatius too grotesque and misanthropic to be sympathetic, but discerning readers should see the core of truth in his rantings against the modern world. Ignatius' rationale to his mother for staying unemployed has a seductive logic to it: "Employers sense in me a denial of their values. They fear me. I suspect that they can see that I am forced to function in a century which I loathe. That was true even when I worked for the New Orleans public library." "All you did was paste them little slips in the books. " "Yes, but I had my own esthetic about pasting those slips. On some days I could only paste three or four and at the same time feel satisfied with the quality of my work. The library authorities resented my integrity about the whole thing. They only wanted another animal who could slop glue on their bestsellers." His mother, nearing the end of her patience, suggests at one point Ignatius try a "rest" at a public hospital psych ward, over strenuous objections: "Do you suppose that some stupid psychiatrist could even attempt to fathom the workings of my psyche? They would try to make me into a moron who liked television and new cars and frozen food. Psychiatry is worse than communism. I refuse to be a robot!" What really propels A Confederacy of Dunces, though, are Toole's strong characterizations. Working-class Italians, members of the French Quarter's thriving gay subculture, bumbling rookie cops, black factory workers, wannabe strippers, Toole captures them all perfectly. In the end though, I can only echo Walker Percy's lament: "It is a great pity that John Kennedy Toole is not alive and well and writing. But he is not, and there is nothing we can do about it but make sure that this gargantuan tumultuous human tragicomedy is at least made available to a world of readers."This is one of the funniest and most entertaining novels I have ever read. The entire novel swirls around the character of Ignatius Rielly, surely one of the most inventive creations in literature. When most adults would be out making their way in the world Ignatius still lives with his widowed mother, and spends his days writing on paper tablets copious dissertations of his intellectual views on life. Dissertations that no one will ever see or have the slightest interest in seeing. Ignatius only ventures out into the real world at the insistence of his mother, or to obtain sustenance for his enormous bulk. Yet even these infrequent forays into society invariably result in his madly disrupting the lives of those he meets. Yet all the while Ignatius remains convinced that only he has the true picture of things. The novel is set in New Orleans in the 1960's. I grew up in the Gulf Coast area during that period and can say the Toole did a wonderful job of creating the look, feel, and I would swear even smell of New Orleans at that time. It is unfortunate for all of us that Toole died at an early age (this novel was published posthumously) as he obviously had a real gift for creating outrageously funny, but still believable characters. It's been hailed as a masterpiece and reviled as trash, but A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole has never been lightly dismissed. By creating Ignatius J. Reilly, a bigger-than-life bag of wind stuffed with some of the most comically outrageous and disturbingly insightful opinions ever put to paper, Toole made an indelible mark on the landscape of American literature--a feat recognized with the posthumous publication of this novel, followed by a Pulitzer Prize. Forced to wade the lower depths of New Orleans society, the gargantuan Ignatius, his poor mother in tow, Takes us on a tour de force through the back alleys and juke joints of the French Quarter as he implores the gods, railing against the hypocrisy of contemporary politics and the crushing weight of late capitalism. "The luminous years ... dimmed into dross; Fortuna's wheel had turned... Having once been so high, humanity fell so low. What had once been dedicated to the soul was now Dedicated to the sale." Toole's suicide at 32 silenced a uniquely promising literary voice, denying his critics and fans alike the opportunity to determine whether his talent was a flash in the pan or a first spark of genius. Read A Confederacy of Dunces and you'll no doubt have formed your own inflexible opinion, which you'll defend tenaciously against all reason.
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Summary: Read this book!
Review: I will now add to the long list of praise for this masterpiece of contemporary American literary humor. However, in addition to finding it hilarious, I found it to be a poignant tale of a dreamer locked into an unaccepting world. I thought that Ignatius could represent anyone striving for greatness in a world that does not understand him. I also found the other characters to be quite realistic and well-developed in their own silly ways. This story stereotypes everyone, and it does it well. When we laugh at Ignatius, we are really laughing at ourselves and the world around us.
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Summary: Ignatius,unique among all characters, ever!
Review: I read this book when it was first published and and haven't gotten over it yet! I have given it to all of my friends and am jealous each time, knowing they are going have the incredible experience of reading this book for the first time. I am to A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES what middle-aged, beehived, pointy boobed women are to Elvis! I've read thousands of books in my life, but this one will stay with me forever. It's a tragedy that Toole did not live to receive the acclaim he deserves.
Rating:
Summary: Pure genius
Review: Amazon does not provide enough stars on the scale for this book. A true American literary masterpiece. Goodman or Candy as Reilly does his character no justice. I think Robin Williams (admittedly in a fat suit) could better convey the underlying poignancy associated with the character. I pray they don't King Ralph it.
Rating: 
Summary: Hilarious Satire
Review: It's Ignatius J. Reilly versus the French Quarter. It's Ignatius J. Reilly versus the erotic Myrna Minkoff. Ignatius is a severely overweight man with an intolerable problem with his pyloric valve. One wrong emotion and it clasps shut and traps odoriferous gases inside his gigantic body. A wheel of fortune spins to define Ignatius' next move. He is forced, for the first time, to work for his money in lieu of sponging off of his poor mother. The real world is cruel to him, but eventually he finds his calling as a hot dog vendor, pushing a cart with the words "Twelve inches to paradise" scribbled on it. This is the story of man who cannot be accepted and therefore cannot except. John Kennedy Toole was a genius of the novel. He writes as a contemporary Charles Dickens. His satirical style is serious yet hilarious at the same time. A Confederacy of Dunces is by far the greatest representative of society in the United States of America. One can do nothing but laugh out loud.
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Summary: ho-hum humor
Review: Can't resist adding a note of dissent to the overwhelming chorus of praise this book has received over the years. "Humorous," I suppose, but in a very broad, Vaudevillian way, where you see the joke coming from so far away that when it lands it causes a groan of impact, not a laugh. If you enjoy slapstick--the verbal equivalent of "Police Academy" movies--this may be the book for you, but I found it tired, strained, banal.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious!!
Review: I have just finished reading this book for the second time (back-to-back), and found it even funnier the second time around! I LOVED EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER portrayed in the book, and I only wish Mr. Toole had lived long enough to have written a sequel. Can you just imagine the trouble poor Ignatius would have gotten into while trying to adjust to life in NEW YORK?! BOY! HIS POOR VALVE WOULD HAVE CLOSED UP ON HIM PERMANENTLY! A movie version of this book, with the late John Candy in the starring role as Ignatius would have been GREAT! I recommend this book highly!
Rating:
Summary: A FANTASTIC JOURNEY INTO THE DEPTHS OF NEW ORLEANS!!!
Review: This book is GREAT. But, to fully appreciate the location and the characters go to New Orleans. I would suggest that those who have given low ratings to "Dunces" have not made the travel. Walk the streets where Ignacius prowled. See the statute of him on Canal Street at the site of the D. H. Holmes department store. It doesn't do him justice. And how many times have we read this book and said "I know someone who is just like that guy". Folks-this is a FUNNY book-very entertaining.
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