A Confederacy of Dunces

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Summary: loved the vivid characters
Review: Each time I read (and re-read) this book I am amazed by the vivid rendering of an unforgettable cast of characters - may they live forever!

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Summary: Disappointing abridgement
Review: Arte Johnson gives a wonderful interpretation of the characters' voices and accents. However, the development of Ignatious' personality suffers greatly due to the severity of the abridgement. The plot thread is retained, but many amusing asides and some of the more colorful vocabulary are missing. I would not recommend the audio cassette to anyone who has not read the original version of this exceptional novel.

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Summary: If You're From N.O.L.A...
Review: I am a New Orleans native and have read this book about a half dozen times, starting when I was 12 and I snuck my fathers copy away from his nightstand. I've observed an interesting phenomonon along the way: New Orleans natives, especially those who grew up when D.H. Holmes still existed and you could "Meet me at The Mouth" at Ponchatrain Beach, are often offended by the book's depiction of our fair city. They squeal, "We're not like that," and "No one in the city lives like that," convinced that they lived completely normal lives Uptown, in the Irish Channel, or in Metry. It's difficult to examine yourself in a mirror that magnifies to the intensity of A Confederacy of Dunces - every zit's exposed - and laugh. So, if you're not a native or a resident, read this book and laugh at the hilarity of a culture that is currently waning. And if you are a native, put your pretentions aside and stare at yourself, your parents, whoever, dead on and laugh. Do it for the memory of K&B. Oh - and don't forget to check out the recently unveiled statue of Ignatius - it's under the clock on Canal Street.

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Summary: Excellent Read!!!
Review: I started reading this book expecting to be in stitches with laughter. I was surprised that I found it very sad. All the sadder because we will never be able to enjoy more books by this author. The book is so well written that I could smell Ignatius's room. I could visualize the floor strewn with paper covered with words that only had meaning to Ignatius. I felt sad about the situation he and his mother found themselves in trying to keep ahead of the bill collectors. Sad because this overeducated man had presumably been protected from life by his mother. This is a wonderful book. I did find it humorous in parts, but for the most part I just felt sad.

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Summary: A "10" and "0"...all in the same book!
Review: I read the early reviews, then tried to read the book. I got angry after maybe 50 pages and threw it in a fire! The first and only book I ever burned. I felt manipulated and let down by the writer's postmodern refusal to give readers any reason to sympathize with characters. Then a couple years later I read it again and finished it. This time it was the funniest thing ever. It was so original. It has the oddest twists and some very deep holes. Comedy and tragedy are closer than we think. I came back because of a newfound love for outside artists and the unpublishable (Jack Saunders). Also, perhaps I like it so much better *in comparison to establishment books*. Sure, it's not the only wacky book, but it's just so accurate and wild. I liked the surprising unevenness, too. Maybe I also finally saw thru what real manipulation is like (the slick pros like Tom Robbins, Heinlein, Harrison, McGuane, Heller). I thought they were all fresh at first, then I realized they were often schticking with formula and cynicism. Toole was too far out for that. Toole hits formula over the head with a bat and I appreciate it. Others do too, but they have NO humility---Toole does pathetic like no one else. (His suicide was a great tragedy of our brown-nosing literary system, but I'm sure it's the same fate as most other attempts at honesty in a logrolling PC elitist cynical world.)

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Summary: You'll laugh so hard, your valve will close!
Review: From the opening paragraph, I was prepared to loathe Ignatius Reilly, the obese, pompus, over-educated, lute-playing sloth! After just a few pages of his hilarious mishaps, however, I was hooked. He and all the other lunatic characters made me laugh so hard while reading it on a plane that a flight attendant had to bring me a glass of water. Toole was a genius; who else could intertwine Ignatius among plot lines involving a bumbling rookie police officer, the heir to the Levy Pants empire, a sex-crazed activist, gays, bowlers, criminals, and sundry other kooks? You must read this book.

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Summary: This is the funniest book I've ever read
Review: Enough said. Buy this book and hang onto it for a very long time. Because you're gonna want to read it again and again. A masterpiece.

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Summary: Hideous.
Review: I enjoy farces when they reveal truths about life or if the characters arouse sympathy. I found none here. Toole's absurd whining grew tiresome quickly.

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Summary: Confederacy of Dunces portrays unique, believable characters
Review: This book was recommended as a "good read." Initially it seemed fatuous (pun intended) but after 20 pages I could not put it down. It shows a real, seamy side of New Orleans and real characters: the fat, spoiled, 30 year old Mama's boy, educated way beyond his common sense (if he had any). Yet his actions, philosophy, and intense emotional interaction with those around him ring true. A totally unique white whale, trying to swim upstream, but afraid to leave New Orleans. The Black vagrant is much more, and 3-dimensional, as are all others in the book.

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Summary: Read this book! You'll laugh, you'll weep!
Review: "A Confederacy of Dunces" was given to me as a gift. I was wary after reading the critical quotes on the cover proclaiming it "the funniest book you'll ever read!" Yeah, right, I thought. Feeling properly skeptical, I sat down to read. And read, and read. And then I started to laugh! By the last chapter, I was both laughing and weeping, and overcome with wonder at the brilliance, the oh-so-carefully plotted genius, of Toole's tale and his colorful characters. Never has critical opinion so UNDERSTATED the marvelous, entertaining quality of a work of fiction! Yes, New Orleans (and the rest of the world) have changed greatly in the thirty-odd years since this book was written, but that will not hold the reader back from stepping into that vanished, eccentric, delicious New Orleans that Toole conjures up so effortlessly. Igantius Reilly, his obstinately wacky anti-hero, well deserves a place among the truly unforgettable characters of Amercian Literature. The true trajedy of this novel is only that Toole, overcome by rejection and despair, killed himself before he could further enrich us with other creations as deeply satisfying and joyous as "A Confederacy of Dunces"!.