A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
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Book Reviews of A Confederacy of Dunces
Book Review: Laugh-out-loud funny with smarts
Summary: 5 Stars
Word is the Hollywood Suck Machine plans to turn this brilliant book into a movie. I have a little bit more faith in the taste and decency of movie makers since Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy became something that was the opposite of crappiness. Nevertheless, I'm nervous because A Confederacy of Dunces is something, like The Beatles and my Momma, that you DO NOT mess with.This book is ridiculously good on so many levels. Take, for instance, the main character:
Ignatius J Reilly is a colossus, a hypochondriac misfit Everyman put upon by a boozy simpleton of a mother and a cast of goofs incapable of understanding his worldview. Not to mention, he's funny as all get out and simultaneously absurd and real. Toole writes this guy so well that you could imagine him waddling into your bedroom, with a storm of stench laced with the scent of stale tea bags trailing behind him.
He's a momma's boy in a low-rent New Orleans neighborhood, a homebody who passes harsh judgment rooted in Medieval authoritarianism on crappy pop culture, modern politics and the dupes who surround him. He is plagued by panic attacks, hypochondria, indigestion and the memory of his long-dead dog, whom he remembers more fondly than his late father.
Tragic, right? Yes, but somehow John Kennedy Toole was able to turn this sad sack into a hilarious buffoon of a blowhard.
If he were real and living in the 2000s, Ignatius would be like one of those nerdy blogger guys who sit at home, fashioning themselves as a know-it-all talk show host, spewing venom and judgment on a world that doesn't hear them.
Ignatius is like a lot of dudes you know. He sits around talking about all the big stuff he's doing: Writing a "manifesto" that he thinks could be made into a movie one day, trying to start a political movement, becoming a voice for the great unwashed. But for all his passion, his short attention span and his half-baked attempts to put his big plans into action causes him to constantly defeat himself.
AND THAT's JUST ONE CHARACTER!
Toole, who was a white dude, does justice to the book's only black protagonist, Burma Jones. Somehow, this uneducated janitor/vagrant comes across as smart and insightful without being a dupe, a clod or what Spike Lee calls "The Super Dooper Magical Negro," the prototypical Hollywood and literary Black character in White stories who saves all the White people with mystical Voodoo insights or all-out magical powers (see most Coen Brothers' movies or Steven King books for examples of this phenomenon).
As far as the movie version of A Confederacy of Dunces goes: The rumor is that Philip Seymour Hoffman or Jack Black would play Ignatius. Both would be perfect, but to be believable even these chubbies would need to gain like 75 pounds to do Toole's king fatty justice. Also, Steven Soderbergh is behind the project. He's like the Midas of Hollywood, so as long as he's doing it, it could be done right.
Book Review: Pure Joy
Summary: 5 Stars
A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES will make you literally laugh out loud, until your sides hurt. It's one of those books that you can read over and over again, and appreciate it anew all over again. This depth, the capacity for rereading and reinterpretation, makes it a true masterpiece of world literature, comparable only to Don Quixote, Shakespeare's Falstaff, Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel, and Joyce's Ulysses.
The main character Ignatius J. Reilly is one of the supreme creations of the human imagination. He is obsessed with medieval culture and literature and interprets everything that happens in terms of Boethius's CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY and famous "wheel of fortune," personified as the goddess Fortuna. He rages against Fortuna for taking him on a downward spiral, even when his fate is mostly the result of his own perverse actions. "With the breakdown of the Medieval system," he writes in his Big Chief notebook, "the gods of Chaos, Lunacy, and Bad Taste gained ascendancy." While he rages against the decadence of the modern world, he watches every new hollywood movie several times (criticizing it out loud in the theater) and stuffs himself with hot dogs, jelly doughnuts, and "Dr. Nut" soda.
Igantius would be a medieval professor (and Toole based the character on an English professor he knew), but for his inability to leave New Orleans and adjust to any kind of normal job. He retells obsessively the story of one journey outside New Orleans on a Greyhound double-decker Scenicruiser as an apocalyptic journey into the "heart of darkness," culminating in the nefarious theft of his wool plaid lumber jacket from the bathroom of the college where he was interviewing for a teaching job.
His "girlfriend" is a Jewish liberal from New York, Myrna, who believes that sex is the answer to all problems everywhere, especially for minorities! while Ignatius finds sex repelling, preferring the comfort of his self-love.
In the novel, Ignatius comes up against a hilarious selection of characters that could only exist in the New Orleans of the early 60's. Jones, a black man forced to work for below minimum wage at the Night of Joy bar, is really just as funny as Ignatius. Told by his boss to hail customers from the sidewalk, he goes outside and calls, "Whoa! Come in, see Mis Harla O'Horror dancin with her pet. Guarantee one hunner percent real plantation dancin. Every mother------- drink got a guarantee knockout drop. Whoa! Everybody guarantee to catch them some clap off they glass. Hey! . . . Night of Joy got genuine color people workin below minimum wage. Whoa! Guarantee plantation atmosphere, got cotton growin right on the stage right in front of your eyeball, got a civil right worker getting his --- beat up between show. Hey!"
One of the great novels of the 20th century, right up there with Faulkner, Joyce, and Ellison.
Book Review: A read well worth the time.
Summary: 5 Stars
Every once in a while you happen upon a book by chance,
only to discover later that here, in your hands, is a
work worth more than you paid. A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES
is such a work.
Through A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES, John Kennedy Toole has created one of the greatest tragic anti-heroes of our time. Ignatious J. Reilly is a character among characters, a beomouth of a man, a wit and a fibber beyond all, the original slacker - one whose curious logic and outlook on the world can only be compared to Don Quiote. Having graduated from college, Ignatious' main goal is to live out his life in his tiny bedroom, away from society, writing passage after passage of brilliant verse for the very audience whose company he rejects. Ignatious despises all things, believing that the American Culture is thoroughly lacking in "theology and geometry" and that nothing short of a good lashing will save many a soul.
A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES takes place a short time ago in the outskirts of New Orleans, where the city's true character is hidden from our tourist eyes, and yet the New Orleans of Toole could easily be Brooklyn or Los Angeles or Boston. In fact Toole's world is an utterly American experience, with accents and characters that spring to life and echo in your mind as the words flow beneath your eyes. Here we are presented with a literary "Green Acres." And though the book introduces you to an assortment of individuals, Toole's mastery of dialogue keeps each one fresh in your mind, without the confusion or blandishment that other authors might show. Each character is just that, and no two could ever be confused. Along with Ignatious J. Reilly, we are presented with
- Mrs. Reilly, a souse of a mother whose voice and patter will resonate in your mind
- Officer Mancuso, a patrolman who is the embodiment of the Sad-Sackian cop
- Jones, a self made victim of sorts whose wit and comebacks kept me laughing out loud
- Myrna Minkoff, Ignatious' pseudo-ex-girlfriend and an activist who believes that through sex all problems can be solved
And yet with these and many more characters, it is the voice and the soul of Igatious who dominates this work. Reading it is to join him and his cast in one ill-begotten adventure after another.
The novel begins with Igatious waiting for the return of his mother, who has set off to buy the very item which he needs the least of - cake. Officer Mancuso happens upon Igatious, and based on Igatious' sloven, beomouth appearance, he decides to question Ignatious, with the possible intent of arresting him, for officer Mancuso has been assigned the very demanding task of arresting any suspicious "characters" he might find. It is with this pretext that we begin a journey into what I can only describe as an immensely enjoyable read.
Book Review: Boethiuss rota fortunae
Summary: 5 Stars
Twelve years after John Kennedy Toole committed suicide; he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for "A Confederacy of Dunces." Toole was truly deserving of the prize for his hilarious and captivating story that follows Ignatius J. Reilly's interesting adventures (and misadventures) through New Orleans during the 1960s.Ignatius J. Reilly is a thirty-year-old overweight man that lives with his mother in New Orleans. Ignatius is an interesting figure not only because of his stature, but because he enjoy wearing plaid shirts and a large green hunting cap. Because of the way he dresses, he draws much unneeded attention to himself, which gets him in trouble in more than one occasion. He retells all of his "traumatic" experiences to anyone absurd enough to lend him an ear. His favorite would be the time he rode along in a Greyhound bus that was traveling to fast for his liking.
Ignatius believes everyone has lost a "sense of decency" and are too caught up in the material world. He writes down his anger towards the regular dregs of society in his book "A Lengthy Indictment of Our Century." Ignatius never strolls too far from his room where he creates his masterpiece, which leads his mother to demand him to get a job. Ignatius however, believes he is unfit for conventional employment, which would be correct, but he finds a job anyways.
Toole exquisitely details Reilly's escapades as a workingman and is nothing short of hilarious. He first finds a job as a file clerk at Levy Pants, a clothing manufacturer. He befriends a elderly woman that has been working there many decades but has not retired because Mrs. Levy believes she would feel not welcome in society. Ignatius's stint at Levy Pants however was cut short when he tried to create an uprising for reforms. Shortly thereafter, he finds a job as a hot dog vendor. However when he his hot dog cart is stolen, he decides that, "The human desire for food and sex is relatively equal. If there are armed rapes, why should there not be armed hot dog thefts?"
Throughout this novel Ignatius meets many interesting characters. Mrs. Lee is a very strict and at times insane owner of the Night of Joy Bar; Police Officer Manusco, whose job was to find suspicious characters by dressing like one himself; Miss Trixie, the old lady who works at Levy Pants that tries to retire but is always stopped; and of course Myrna Minkoff, the closest thing Ignatius has had to a girlfriend. Each character at some point in the novel brings in comic relief.
A Confederacy of Dunces is a novel I believe everyone should read. It is a very humorous story in which Toole criticizes society through Ignatius. Toole however was incapable of taking his own characters advice: Boethius's rota fortunae. Wait long enough and the wheel of fortune will turn your way.
Book Review: A Brilliant Novel... That's Not For Everyone
Summary: 5 Stars
Looking over review after review of this book, I found two camps... and I wasn't the least bit surprised by their distances. First there are those that praise the book for being a literary milestone, an achievement of grand scope and memorable characters. The second group sees the book as wasted paper, a book with no redeeming qualities or characters, and no solid or memorable message.
I'm in the former category, but for an entirely different reason. First let me say that this book (which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1981) is NOT for everyone. If you enjoy upbeat, easily readable material with a smattering of bathroom humor, you'll need to look elsewhere. But if you like comedy that goes deep into character follies and Shakespearean-style astuteness, you'll probably love it.
The main character is one of the most memorable I've ever read, which is probably why it got the Pulitzer. Ignatius Reilly is an overweight, over-educated, underachieving loser who, late into his adulthood, still lives with his alcoholic mother in the colorful city of New Orleans. Every life that Ignatius touches - or even gets near - spirals out of control. He lies, he won't work (until forced to by his mother after she crashes her car and the threat of foreclosure on their home becomes evident), and has no real friends. A loner, a loser, a person bound for obscurity.
But little does Ignatius know that his depressing life will lead all those around him into a brighter place (even maybe himself). Even though Ignatius' "world view" and his "stomach valve" try to thwart any attempt at joining a "normal" facet of society, his errors and misdeeds will eventually lead "Fortuna" into a positive cycle. This is the message that John Kennedy Toole (the author) was trying to get across to us (for those who missed it). This is also my reason for enjoying the book so very much. The message is imbedded in the story so deeply, so inanely, that you have to take the story as a whole to enjoy it, not just its pieces. That and the fact that Mr. Toole gave us one of the most irritatingly worthless characters, added to the enjoyment of the overall narrative. Even now, I can't get Ignatius out of my head! I absolutely despise him! But then, I was supposed to. The author did a perfect job.
And speaking of the author, it is noteworthy to mention that John Kennedy Toole committed suicide in 1969, apparently ending his life of severe depression. Years after his death, his mother (Thelma) discovered the manuscript for "A Confederacy of Dunces" and thrust it under the nose of an unwitting agent who soon found out he had a literary gem on his hands. A shame Mr. Toole never lived to see such praise heaped upon his work.