A weird and wonderful book. Truly, I've never read anything like it. This novel has some of the crispest, most well-painted characters I've ever read, and although I wasn't "laughing out loud" as much as the reviewers on the back cover promised, it is definitely funny as hell, and a completely cringe-worthy story. The character of Ignatius Reilly will haunt me. We all know people like this -- the over-educated, miserable, socially dysfunctional outcast who is so cut off from the world that he manages see everyone else through some sick, distorted prism in which he is only sane person, and everyone else is simply beneath him. In this case, the character also weighs 300 pounds, and alternates between selling hotdogs, screaming at his mother, and lying around on stained, mildewy sheets as he writes his manifesto besmirching the modern world. Wow. The real sadness is the story of the author, who wrote this book and never showed it to a soul before committing suicide when he was 32. His mom discovered it, and later gave it to an English professor who got it published. In 1980, it won the Pulitzer. Poor guy. I'm very curious about how close this book was to his own life, as you could not draft these characters without some very specific models.

I wouldn't recommend this book to just anyone, but if you have a sense of humor and an appreciation for New Orleans culture, crazy characters, or super-dorks, you may love it. I am definitely glad I read it.