A Confederacy of Dunces (Evergreen Book)

Another reviewer wrote that this book was the funniest he'd ever read and I totally agree with him. The characters, starting with the bizarre Ignatius P. Reilly, are to die for. Knowing some of the characters who hang out in 'The Quarter', I realize that Toole used character-types that he had encountered in Louisiana and especially odd-ball New Orleans.

After over 900 reviews I won't even make a stab at summarizing this wonderful book but, as most of you know, Toole unfortunately committed suicide before publication or even acceptance. I heard that his mother, on finding the manuscript in his apartment, haunted agent/publisher offices until she found someone who would actually read it. The rest is history.

Toole wrote another book, "The Neon Bible", when he was only 17. I recommend that those who love 'Confederacy' pick up 'Neon.' It is a very different book than 'Confederacy' but the insights about human nature that Toole had at only age 17 are awesome, even a little frightening. When I think about Toole's suicide, I think about these two books...maybe Toole knew too much and what he knew, killed him.

Ron Braithwaite, author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Conquest of Mexico

I'm hoping I'll find a funnier book - life can always be a little bit better! But I'm not greedy. Between the cast of characters, each a gem, to the almost unbearable richness of the odiousness of the main character himself, to sentences like "Patrolman Mancuso's love of the motorcycle was platonically intense.", I don't know what else I could ask for. Oh, I know. Amnesia. I could ask for amnesia.

The story in A Confederacy of Dunces revolves around Ignatius J. Reilly, a hypochondriac former grad student living in New Orleans with an obsession with modern culture and the Middle Ages. The book made its way to press by Toole's mother sending it to Walker Percy (author of The Moviegoer) with a request that he read her late son's work; sadly, Toole committed suicide a couple of years earlier.

Most of the book concerns the utterly unemployable Reilly's attempts to join the working world. As you can imagine, hijinks ensue, but everyone is different for having made Reilly's acquaintance. The conclusion of the book is both completely fulfilling and, considering the weirdness of many of the characters, surprisingly hopeful.

The bottom line: A Confederacy of Dunces is a great novel; parts of it made me laugh out loud, which is something of a rarity these days. And it's not funny in a conceited, "look how smart I am that I get the in-jokes" kind of way; it's just a great story about the kind of person every English major in the world is one quirk away from becoming. It's the classic tale of a person over-educated and sent into the world armed and dangerous.

A Confederacy of Dunces is readable, funny, and has something to say about the human condition. I highly recommend it.

funniest book i have ever read. i have recommended this book to friends and co-workers. no one is
disappointed. i have given up trying to get my original copy back. i now own one that i refuse to lend.
a true must read.

Ignatius J. Reilly is quite an interesting character. At times, I wanted him to succeed so badly that when he finally mucks things up, I wanted to ring his neck. It's just this kind of love-hate connection to the character that made this book so funny and such a quick page-turner. The author also gets New Orleans just right, from the locations to the accents of the various characters. The dialogue is never boring, trite or hokey, it flows well and even makes the odd and dissonant Ignatius read as a flesh and blood person and not a fictional hodge-podge of opinions. A great pleasure, highly recommended...