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A Confederacy of Dunces

John Kennedy Toole,

Walker Percy (Foreword)

3.88 · Rating details · 238,271 ratings · 15,448 reviews

A monument to sloth, rant and contempt, a behemoth of fat, flatulence and furious suspicion of anything modern — this is Ignatius J. Reilly of New Orleans, noble crusader against a world of dunces. The ordinary folk of New Orleans seem to think he is unhinged. Ignatius ignores them, heaving his vast bulk through the city's fleshpots in a noble crusade against vice, moderni ...more

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Paperback, Penguin Modern Classics, 338 pages

Published March 30th 2000 by Penguin Classics (first published May 1st 1980)

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Sep 20, 2007 Nathan rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Recommends it for: People who think unreasonable whining is funny.

Shelves: books-i-hope-die, fiction

I know I'm out on my own on this one, but I detest this book. I really think it glorifies whining to an extent never before seen in the human condition. Everyone I know loves this book, and I know I am in a minority here. But Christ... That this book is so popular with people in my age bracket and not so popular with people older or younger really makes me wonder if it is part of the problem or a reflection of the boring, whiny apathy of my generation. But if this book has any redeemable aspects ...more

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Feb 09, 2009 Megha rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: reviews

One fine morning Fortuna spun my wheel of luck and put me on a flight to NYC. The person who was sitting next to me, refusing to indulge in modern day perversities like movies, pulled out his book and sat down reading. He must have been enjoying it immensely, because he kept laughing out loud every now and then. Soon he realized that some people had started turning around to give him weird looks. Poor guy didn't have an option but to put the book down. But Fortuna being the degenerate wanton tha ...more

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Mar 18, 2011 Jeffrey Keeten rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: southern

Read for the group On the Southern Literary Trail

Bounce
BOUnce
BOUNCE
Oh man ughh ooohhhhh.
BOUNCE!
BOUNCE!!
ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

Oh thank goodness my pyloric valve finally opened. I didn't know I even had a pyloric valve until I met Ignatius J. Reilly. I had no idea that little valve could be so pesky. I can only hope it stays open long enough for me to write this review.

When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
Jonathan Swift

Ignatius is ...more

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Apr 05, 2007 sarah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Best friends, cool uncles

There are a lot of ways to judge people, but I find that opinion of this book is one of the most accurate and efficient. With very few exceptions, I've found that how much I like someone is strongly correlated with how much they enjoy the book. Is it their favorite book ever, omg? Well, they're probably either a best friend, a comrade whom I hold in worship-approximating esteem, or my cool cousin or uncle or something like that. Do they not "get" it or find it boring? You aren't my type, sorry. ...more

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Dec 29, 2007 Mary Catherine rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I hated this book. I almost gave up after the first 20 pages, but I decided to stick with it and give it a chance. Wrong. My first instinct was correct!

The only thing that might have saved this for me was if the main character Ignatius faced a long, slow, painful death. There was absolutely nothing about him that I found redeeming or appealing. Has there ever been a more annoying, obnoxious character in literature? If so, I don't want to know.

I had heard that this was supposed to be an hilariou ...more

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Sep 29, 2014 Matt rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: classic-novels

This is the book that almost broke my book club.

John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces is as famous for its back-story as it is for its content. It was published posthumously in 1980, over a decade after Toole ended his own life by carbon monoxide poisoning. Despite having been earlier rejected by publishers, the book went on to win the Pulitzer Prize.

A Confederacy of Dunces is a rambling, aimless, comedic novel centered on Ignatius J. Reilly, a buffoonish overweight man-child with poor ...more

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Sep 30, 2007 Paul Bryant rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Authors who commit suicide find their Lovelybones-eye view from the afterlife brings them no comfort:

David Foster Wallace : Oh my God - look at that dreadful biography of me... and it's selling too... it's like they're murdering me all over again ... oh if I could only commit suicide all over again - but up here, you can't!

John Kennedy Toole : Oh shut up you preening self-regarding self-annotating depressing pedant, what about ME?? My God, if I'd only persevered for another year or so, I'd have ...more

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May 12, 2008 Michelle rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, disappointments

I thought the book was ok. One of my old boyfriends recommended it to me, and while I was reading it I told him what an asshole I thought Ignatius J. Reilly was, and that I was sick of hearing about his valve. He got pissed off at me and told me that I didn't get it. He said Ignatius was a misunderstood genius stuck in a shitty town with no one who understood him. To be honest, my eyes kind of glazed over and I don't remember the rest of his rant, but I finished the book anyway. I think the most ...more

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Jul 16, 2016 Michael Finocchiaro rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, classics, american-20th-c, pulitzer-winning-fiction, novels, pulitzer-fiction, favorites, posthumous

This was my second read of this unbelievable masterpiece from John Kennedy Toole who committed suicide 21 years before this book was rediscovered and published by his mother (he was thus the only person to receive a posthumous Pulitzer in 1981). Ignatius P Reilly is so incredibly unforgettable. I laughed from cover to cover. The parrot on his shoulder reminded me of the Mexico episode in Bellow's Augie March (which I also loved and reviewed here). There is never a dull moment here and the implic ...more

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Dec 15, 2012 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: humor, united-states, classics, contemporary, 20th-century, literature

A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole

A Confederacy of Dunces is a picaresque novel by American novelist John Kennedy Toole which reached publication in 1980, eleven years after Toole's suicide. Published through the efforts of writer Walker Percy (who also contributed a foreword) and Toole's mother, the book became first a cult classic, then a mainstream success; it earned Toole a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981, and is now considered a canonical work of modern literature of A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole

A Confederacy of Dunces is a picaresque novel by American novelist John Kennedy Toole which reached publication in 1980, eleven years after Toole's suicide. Published through the efforts of writer Walker Percy (who also contributed a foreword) and Toole's mother, the book became first a cult classic, then a mainstream success; it earned Toole a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981, and is now considered a canonical work of modern literature of the Southern United States.

The book is famous for its rich depiction of New Orleans and the city's dialects, including Yat. Many locals and writers think that it is the best and most accurate depiction of the city in a work of fiction.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: یکی از روزهای سال 2014میلادی

عنوان: اتحادیه ی ابلهان، اثر: جان کندی تول؛ برگردان: پیمان خاکسار؛ تهران، نشر به نگار، 1391؛ در 467ص؛ شابک 9789646332836؛ چاپ چهارم تا ششم 1392، چاپ دیگر تهران، زاوش، 1392؛ شابک 9786007283189؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، نشر چشمه، 1393؛ شابک 9786002292742؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان امریکایی - سده 20م

سبک نگارش اتحادیه ابلهان، رندنامه یا همان «پیکارسک» است؛

چکیده: داستان زندگی پسر جوان عظیم‌ الجثه‌ ای به نام «ایگنیشس» است، که با مادرش زندگی می‌کند، و روحیه آرمانگرایانه دارد؛ در عین حال فردی تنبل است، که مدام برای خانواده و شهر خود دردسرساز می‌شود؛ او از جامعه مصرف‌ گرای آمریکایی بیزار است، و جهان امروز را سیرکی سیار میبیند؛ یک مأمور مخفی دست و پا چلفتی، که برای تنبیه به مستراح ایستگاه اتوبوس تبعید شده، پیرمرد عاشق‌ پیشه‌ ای که فکر می‌کند همه پلیس‌ها کمونیستند، یک پیرزن فقیر دائم ‌الخمر، رئیس بی‌انگیزه ی کارخانه ی در حال ورشکستگی تولید شلوار، و کارمندان و کارگرانی بدتر از او، زنی که به سبک بیمارگونه و مسخره ‌ای نظریات نوین روان‌شناسی را بلغور می‌کند، و در حقیقت به هجو می‌کشد، هات ‌داگ فروش متقلبی که برای ادای دین به سنت و تاریخ «نیواورلئان» لباس فرم دزد دریایی، بر فروشندگان خویش می‌پوشاند؛ این‌ها و شخصیت‌های دیگری از این دست، در ماجراهایی موازی کنار و دوشادوش قرار می‌گیرند و در نهایت همانند تکه‌ هایی از یک پازل، به هم می‌پیوندند، تا اتحادیه‌ ای از «ابلهان» را در جامعه ‌ای که نمونه ی عصر کنونی است، تشکیل دهند؛ آنها همچنین با کارها و حرف‌های بی‌معنی خویش، همانند دلقکها، بر باور «ایگنیشس»، قهرمان محوری رمان، که جهان امروز را سیرکی سیار می‌بیند، صحه میگذارند

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 27/07/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Lyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Confederacy of Dunces is a masterpiece of satire and irony, a worthy recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for best novel.

It is funny, sometimes uproariously so, and I smiled and chuckled throughout. Toole’s depression and loss was not just of himself and his family, but also of us all, a genius who can create this comedic virtuosity might have written a folio of great work, and perhaps Confederacy was not even his greatest. Or perhaps, the spark that drove him to so bitingly observe our culture and Confederacy of Dunces is a masterpiece of satire and irony, a worthy recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for best novel.

It is funny, sometimes uproariously so, and I smiled and chuckled throughout. Toole’s depression and loss was not just of himself and his family, but also of us all, a genius who can create this comedic virtuosity might have written a folio of great work, and perhaps Confederacy was not even his greatest. Or perhaps, the spark that drove him to so bitingly observe our culture and time was also the flame from within that ate him away too, I guess we’ll never know.

Ignatius J. Reilly is to literature as Homer Simpson is to our later culture, a grotesque more than a picaresque, a satirical slap in the face of who we are, a fool’s loving but damning foil to the king. The comparisons to Don Quixote are unavoidable, but whereas Quixote was roguish and loveable, Ignatius never achieves the heroic, even mock heroism. And he is never loveable. And perhaps that is a mark of Toole’s true, painful vision, that our idiosyncrasies need to be made fun of, but there is no gentleness left, that only a rough and stinging rebuke will show through the neon and carnival barkers.

Maybe Ignatius was most timely amidst Toole’s own insanity, in the mid sixties, and by the time of Walker Percy’s “discovery” some of the edge had already worn away, or perhaps even, it was still just poking harmless fun at the products of society. Thirty years later, and the grotesque center stage with spotlights on Ignatius have become as common as reality TV shows, the characters no longer charicatures because of familiarity. So while Confederacy of Dunces is a modern classic, some of its stinging comment has been lost amidst too frequent of the same targets and too many opportunists to admonish gently. Thirty years later, Ignatius is no longer a caricature but a portrait.

But to its credit, Dunces has some redemption, some easy to find, other examples more subtle. By the end, Mrs. Reilly can stand her own ground, while still being a mother who loves her son, Gus Levy has excorsied the demons from his past and seems able to meet future challenges head on. And the true hero of COD, Burma Jones, who, by a lucky stroke of PR savvy, will be a vagrant no more.

Good book.

** 2018 addendum - it is a testament to great literature that a reader recalls the work years later and this is a book about which I frequently think. Ignatius is the memory and this portrait that Toole has given us is not just of this man, but he is a microcosm of a time and place, but in another sense, timeless.

description

...more

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Sep 30, 2007 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: oh-my-nola, owned, humor, american-as-apple-pie, 1001-must-read, pulitzer, book-club-rg, recommend-to-friends

Dear Reader,

Fortuna evidently was smiling upon my being when I endeavored to undertake the consumption of this philosophical masterpiece. How amusing to stumble upon a comic homage to Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, an homage that not only mirrors its source of inspiration in both content and structure, but moreover employs said source as a plot device of the most humorous kind. Certainly it was no mere accident; indeed it must have been a result of afflatus imparted by the goddess herself Dear Reader,

Fortuna evidently was smiling upon my being when I endeavored to undertake the consumption of this philosophical masterpiece. How amusing to stumble upon a comic homage to Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, an homage that not only mirrors its source of inspiration in both content and structure, but moreover employs said source as a plot device of the most humorous kind. Certainly it was no mere accident; indeed it must have been a result of afflatus imparted by the goddess herself in collaboration with the muses Thalia and Calliope. Oh, what genius has the world lost with the tragic demise of John Kennedy Toole?

Through his quixotic anti-hero, Ignatius J. Reilly, Toole is disposed to explore the ideas of predestination and game theory. Is Rielly a misunderstood genius, surrounded by intellectual inferiors and thus a victim of their nescience? Or is it his own distorted reality, paranoid delusions, and ineptitude that is the impetus of his misfortune? It is for you, dear reader, to decide.

I found the descriptions of New Orleans particularly diverting. Such a cast of eccentric and delightful characters could only be found within the borders of the Crescent City (or Stars Hollow). Like Proust's madeleine, the wonderful references to NOLA summoned to my mind memories of a happier, pre-Katrina time in one of my favorite municipalities.

I must say that the numerous references to various and sundry bodily emissions offended my delicate feminine sensibilities somewhat. Perhaps this was the plan of some devious alpha-male, to thus corrupt the otherwise sheltered and virginal innocence of my mentality. As Ignatius said, "This subject deserves the attention of a profound thinker who has a certain perspective on the world's cultural development."

(If any perceptive film producers are interested in buying the movie rights to this Review, I might here make a note about the filming of this critique. A song performed by The Preservation Hall Jazz Band would provide excellent background accompaniment. Perhaps the actress playing your humble reviewer could be seated at a table at the Cafe du Monde, enjoying a cafe au lait and plate of beignets.) ...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Madeleine rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: head-in-the-clouds-nose-in-a-book, our-libeary, maybe-it-s-time-to-live, 2012, tooting-my-own-muted-horn, blogophilia, books-with-buttons

ETA: I recently came across a physical copy of this at my favorite used-book store. The eagerness with which I grabbed said copy--and the disappointment I felt in its previous owner for the lack of annotation I found in its pages--suggests that I liked this book far more than I hated its main character. Also, I am gleefully drunk at this particular moment so please forgive me for any logical or grammatical inconsistencies currently present in this preface. I might get around to fixing them once ...more

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Nov 17, 2015 Perry rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: stela-eða-láni, books-most-loved, gothique-ou-du-sud, a1-americansouth, mina-favoritböcker, credshelf

Side-Splittingly Funny Literary Novel: Ample Abderian Tomfoolery
The Big Easy's Mensa Motley Fool, its Baissière Barbare

oh boy oh boy oh boy...

When I first picked this up, it seemed too odd. Hell, the cover illustration shows this to be grotesque humour. I put it down not to pick back up for more than a year at which point I decided to read up to page 75.

What followed was not at all grotesque or surreal humor, but instead the funniest literary novel I've ever read. I LOVED IT. The 2016 Man Booker/Book Critics' Circle winner, The Sellout, is almost as funny at times. For my money though, no one holds a candle to Ignatius J. Reilly as the funniest character in a literary novel.

It's hard to describe the novel or Ignatius with sufficient detail to justify/explain the hilarity. The author John Kennedy Toole, a tortured soul, was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize 12 years after his 1969 suicide at the age of 31.

My best stab at a description of Ignatius is a brilliant bigoted buffoon in New Orleans (the Big Easy), and to give some quotes, though they are much funnier when read in context:

Ignatius: “I suspect that beneath your offensively and vulgarly effeminate façade there may be a soul of sorts. Have you read widely in Boethius?"

N.O. Denizen: "Who? Oh, heavens no. I never even read newspapers."

Ignatius: "Then you must begin a reading program immediately so that you may understand the crises of our age," Ignatius said solemnly. "Begin with the late Romans, including Boethius, of course. Then you should dip rather extensively into early Medieval. You may skip the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. That is mostly dangerous propaganda. Now that I think of it, you had better skip the Romantics and the Victorians, too. For the contemporary period, you should study some selected comic books."

Denizen: "You're fantastic."

Ignatius: "I recommend Batman especially, for he tends to transcend the abysmal society in which he's found himself. His morality is rather rigid, also. I rather respect Batman.”

****

Mother Reilly: “It smells terrible in here.'

Ignatius: "Well, what do you expect? The human body, when confined, produces certain odors which we tend to forget in this age of deodorants and other perversions. Actually, I find the atmosphere of this room rather comforting. Schiller needed the scent of apples rotting in his desk in order to write. I, too, have my needs. You may remember that Mark Twain preferred to lie supinely in bed while composing those rather dated and boring efforts which contemporary scholars try to prove meaningful. Veneration of Mark Twain is one of the roots of our current intellectual stalemate.”

I recommend this winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize if you enjoy high-brow humour involving friends in low places. ...more

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Feb 24, 2011 Ian "Marvin" Graye rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviews, read-2011, toole, exert-yourself

A Whiff and a Sniff and I'm Off

Well, I finished and I'm glad I persisted.
You know how dogs sometimes sniff each other for ages before deciding to hump?
I was like that for a few years before I read the book, but more importantly I sniffed around ineffectually for the first 100 pages and could easily have blamed the book for my lack of engagement.
I read the last 300 pages in a couple of sittings.
I had to get on a roll.
But once you commit, the book pulls you, rather than you having to push the book ...more

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Jul 30, 2007 Steve rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Am I being unduly harsh giving this a mere “It’s OK”? Maybe. To hear some people describe it (even people I usually correlate well with), this book is a laugh-scream riot. Hopes grow even higher when you hear the story about Toole’s mother who, after his suicide, finally gets the thing published, then sits back to watch the prizes pour in. What I viewed as a miss may have been because the bar was so high. It could be, too, that I’m just not predisposed to dysfunctional characters, all bloated wi ...more

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Mar 24, 2007 Conrad rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, fiction, abandoned

Ugh. Most overrated book ever. What a smug pile of overripe garbage.

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Feb 13, 2017 Lisa rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: pulitzer, 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die

Have I lost my sense of humour?

Everyone seems to love this piece of writing, and I was highly motivated when I saw the Jonathan Swift quote in the beginning, giving the novel its name:

"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."

However, all I could discover in the story were the dunces, engaged in never-ending dull dialogues, showing off their vulgarity and stupidity without an ounce of fun. Slapstick, not irony or ...more

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Jul 30, 2007 Gregory rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: my enemies if I had any.

This so-called "farce" and "classic" was more frustrating to me than entertaining. I dislike leaving a book unfinished and the only reason I continued to read it was the hope that my effort would be paid off in the end. Alas, no such reward awaited me. This further cemented my belief that the only reason classics are called so is because some committee agreed and the public thought the committee must be right. I'm afraid my lingering disillusion with this book prevents my ability to form any mor ...more

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Jan 01, 2010 Lawyer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Anyone

Recommended to Lawyer by: New York Times Book Review

Shelves: 20th-century, boethius, satire, new-orleans, the-consolation-of-philosophy, fortuna, popular-culture, comedy, mothers-and-sons, humor

A Confederacy of Dunces: John Kennedy Toole's Novel of What it Means to Miss New Orleans

A Confederacy of Dunces was chosen as the first group read of On the Southern Literary Trail in March, 2012. Now, a few months after "The Trail's" FIFTH Anniversary, the readers have chosen this novel as one of it's group reads for July, 2017. Come join us!

"Miniver cursed the commonplace
And eyed a khaki suit with loathing;
He missed the mediæval grace
Of iron clothing.

Miniver scorned the gold he sought,

...more

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Nov 26, 2007 Joe S rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

What a colossal waste of my life. Nothing happens. Literally. That's what's wrong with this book. It's a freshman-level fiction workshop gone horribly awry. And it won what? ...more

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Jan 17, 2018 R.K. Gold rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I think I have a new favorite book. Certainly a book I will read again and one I didn’t want to put down my first go around. The story of Ignatius and his crusade against the world, making the long term lives of those he touched better off once they survived his initial destruction, was one non-stop laugh for me.

What made this book work so well was the lack of perfection. Though Ignatius was a total prick he was in a world of people just as bad (just better at hiding it) and though they all loat ...more

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Jan 15, 2014 Glenn Russell rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

“I am at the moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip.”
― John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces

A laugh-out-loud picaresque, a story chock-full of satire and unforgettable humorous detail as we follow the adventures of our larger-than-life rascal-hero, Ignatius J. Reilly, floundering and farting his way through New Orleans in the 1960s.

If you think of a novel-length R. Crumb cartoon you wou ...more

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Jan 25, 2013 Szplug rated it did not like it · review of another edition

The story of Toole, and the novel by which he apparently vented the demons that lurked within his existentially unhale self, is a sad one, and that foreknowledge endows A Confederacy of Dunces with a patina of melancholy before the first page is turned; a lacquer directly at odds with the immensely high expectations and consequent eagerness I brought into its reading due to the superlatives I had discovered ere I opted to take the plunge: most prevalent, its status as being rife with hilarity an The story of Toole, and the novel by which he apparently vented the demons that lurked within his existentially unhale self, is a sad one, and that foreknowledge endows A Confederacy of Dunces with a patina of melancholy before the first page is turned; a lacquer directly at odds with the immensely high expectations and consequent eagerness I brought into its reading due to the superlatives I had discovered ere I opted to take the plunge: most prevalent, its status as being rife with hilarity and having posthumously earned Toole the Pulitzer. So it may be that my own mental state wasn't configured for the proper appreciation of this sour brew of absurd, misanthropic humor, but I pretty much disliked it from the outset. An author who hates through his creations needs the darkly comic graces of a Céline, or convictions of a Bernhard, or striations of a Houellebecq; whereas Toole, in my opinion, managed to drain these daffy people of any ballasts sufficient to counter the (self-)loathing passed down from author through pen and pushing them all to irritating extremes. It just sounded all of the wrong notes for me. Indeed, I pitched it and moved on to greener (and funnier) pastures before the halfway mark, a deed which, at that time in my life—and so long ago that I can barely recall any specifics of what took place—was simply unheard of. But that, alas, is how it transpired. You would think that a splenetic outing with a crew of misfits and morons possessed the potential for delivering a pot of gold, but this southern-flavored Confederacy turned out for me to be naught but an ugly crock of who-gives-a-shit?

I am tempted to take it up again one of these days, that I could determine whether an abundance of books and years under my belt may have inclined me to chortle and marvel at what previously had induced mostly pursed lips and impatient grunts—but then there are all of these one and two star reviews, by people whose opinions I respect and value, lending weighty support to my more potent determination that life is simply too short, and there are far too many books, to give up the time required for that particular Toolean experiment. Yet, on the other hand, there exists a greater number of GR friends or familiars who exuberantly loved this book, thought it was fantastic, forged connexions with one, some, or all of the characters and situations, Toole's ironic jiggling of life's antennae and slippery dispensations of a hob-nailed boot—and then I'm left puzzled inside at my own inability to appreciate what just simply worked for so many others. It's a conundrum, is what it is—and one that, knowing myself as I do, will likely be resolved in favor of apathy—for this book still needles me at times when I detect its lonely, dusty presence up upon a distant corner shelf, and gets me to pondering Was I wrong?... ...more

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Dec 18, 2019 Jenna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Jenna by: Judith E

Shelves: humour, classic-of-the-month, satire, classics

"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 I loathe. This was true even when I worked for the New Orleans Public Library.”

I think it's safe to say that Ignatius J. Reilly is the most repugnant, belligerent, disgusting, and reprehensible protagonist of any book I've ever read. There is not one redeeming quality about this oafish, belching, bellicose, self-aggrandizing character. And yet he made me laugh "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 I loathe. This was true even when I worked for the New Orleans Public Library.”

I think it's safe to say that Ignatius J. Reilly is the most repugnant, belligerent, disgusting, and reprehensible protagonist of any book I've ever read. There is not one redeeming quality about this oafish, belching, bellicose, self-aggrandizing character. And yet he made me laugh my ass off! He is unkind to everyone; he is arrogant and insulting and belittling to everyone. He is the perfect character to despise. He would remind me of trump except that he is educated and intelligent. He is even rude to his mother though she's not exactly a nice character either. I would feel sorry for her after his tirades and then she'd open her mouth and that was the end of any pity I felt for her.

All of the characters are exaggerated and over-the-top. Toole's depictions amplify human faults to a degree that becomes hilarious. His characters, though awful, are so well depicted and real. There is a lot of dialogue and Toole writes the accent. That made it even more fun to read as I could hear the distinct New Orleans patois.

It is sad to know that John Kennedy Toole was unable to find a publisher for this or his other books and ended up committing suicide. The books were published posthumously and this one even won the Pulitizer Prize for fiction.

A Confederacy of Dunces is not for everyone, especially not if you are easily offended. However, if you enjoy picaresque novels and/or satire, you will love this book. The humor is at times bawdy and always offensive but oh the intellectual depth of those insults!  This book is not politically correct so again, it's not for everyone. For me, because he included just about everyone (including gay people of which I am one) in the insults and didn't single out any certain groups of people, it was funny. The author does not come across as hating on anyone. Instead, he shows how despicable people are when they do stereotype and hate others.

(December 2019 classic-of-the-month) ...more

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Nov 23, 2010 Fabian rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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A Confederacy of Dunces

John Kennedy Toole--perhaps the least prolific of all The Greats--is a wonderful teacher of theatricality, of stage production. He would have been a perfect stage director for an ensemble cast. He is very much aware of the “actant” complexes referred to by narratoligist N. J. Lowe: subject/object, helper/opponent, and sender/ receiver complexes, which fill the narrative with much Oscar Wilde-like frivolity and wit. His poetics are quite attuned to the novel, seen as a Game ...more

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Jan 03, 2008 RandomAnthony rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, may-make-you-laugh

How much do I love A Confederacy of Dunces? This much.

I've read the novel at least ten times and this edition (which a friend rightfully noted displays an uglyass cover) became my glove compartment book through a few years of waiting-in-the-carpool-lane-after-school stretches. I re-read the novel late this past May and it still holds up. Genius structure, brilliant dialogue, dark as hell, and funny over and over. Mr. Toole,I don't know what demons haunted you, but when you exhaled this novel ...more

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Mar 17, 2008 Nathan Marshall rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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 ma ...more

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Mar 31, 2014 Barry Pierce rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, read-in-2014

Ignatius J. Reilly. Oh my sweet motherfuck. I think I have a new favourite character in literature.

I don't know why I was so reluctant to pick this up. It was on my TBR for far too long, god I've been missing out on so much by not reading this novel. This is a brilliant book. Ugh god I loved it so much that I'm actually finding it hard to write anything coherent because all I can think of is superlatives and hyperbole. Eh, superlatives and hyperboles never hurt anyone. This is amazing and you s ...more

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Oct 10, 2017 Mutasim Billah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

“You could tell by the way he talked, though, that he had gone to school a long time. That was probably what was wrong with him.”

John Kennedy Toole had committed suicide over a decade before this book had eventually been published, and thereafter won a posthumous Pulitzer. This book is one of the rare ones that made me laugh at every turn of a page. The dark comedy and the constant ridicule of American consumerism make it equally thought-provoking and hilarious. There were so many times I guffa

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About John Kennedy Toole

John Kennedy Toole

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John Kennedy Toole was an American novelist from New Orleans, Louisiana, best known for his novel A Confederacy of Dunces.

Toole's novels remained unpublished during his lifetime. Some years after his death by suicide, Toole's mother brought the manuscript of A Confederacy of Dunces to the attention of the novelist Walker Percy, who ushered the book into print. In 1981 Toole was posthumously awarde ...more

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“I am at the moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip.” — 495 likes

“Apparently I lack some particular perversion which today's employer is seeking. ” — 255 likes

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