Confederacy of Dunces

[Hosnon]

I have been recommended this book by many people and saw it today in the "Five Fav. Books" thread. However, I can't find it anywhere.

Anyone read it and if so, what is it about; should I order it?

[Taverner]

1. It's funny

very Non-PC however. I loved it, but more sensitive readers might not like it so much.

Even still, it manages to bash stereotypes.

[Hosnon]

3. Hehe, cool...I can't imagine a reader being too sensitive for a book

though. Seems to defeat the purpose of reading:)

:shrug:

[LisaM]

2. It's good. Try Powell's Books Online

it's maybe a little dated and it's fairly impossible to summarize the plot, but it's a really worthwhile read.

[musette_sf]

4. it's about a really weird guy

who lives with his really weird mother in a really weird city. Really, really weird things happen to him.

It takes place in the early 60s, which just reinforces what a weird, weird place New Orleans has always been.

I love this book. It is wonderful. And Ignatius Reilly is the role John Belushi was born to play... actually, near the time of JB's untimely death, I understand that he was looking into this.

[Richardo]

6. I agree about Belushi - would have been perfect casting.

I like the book, but it's not an all-time favorite.

Very impressive that it won the Pulitzer as a first novel, however. :wow:

Too bad Toole did not live to see that validation. :(

[Taverner]

15. I think Will Ferrell will do a good job tho

[Felix Mala]

5. It's okay. It never got any editing attention because the

author was dead before it was published. That, in itself, sorta cast a pall over the book. Many passages go on forever, as though the only point of the prose was to grasp at a few more jokes. A good editing job would have tightened up the narrative considerably. The characters are well drawn and the over-arching theme is good, too.
However, there's a movie coming out and if it can capture a lot of the book's spark, you can save yourself a few evenings of reading.

[Hosnon]

7. Ah a movie...sounds good. Have to read it first though.

[Merrick]

17. The movie's been canned

slated to be directed by David Gordon Green and star Will Farrel (uh, yeah... love the guy, but please. Personally, I would've thought Philip Hoffman would've been perfect) never got off the ground. Not enough funding, or something. Probably a total blessing as it likely would've been a desecration of a great book IMO

[A-Schwarzenegger]

23. They woulda fucked it up bad.

Just read a few pages ...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0802130208/ref=sib_dp_pop_ex/102-6401470-6221727?%5Fencoding=UTF8&p=S00K#reader-page
...they woulda fucked it up ...

[XemaSab]

25. I can't imagine

a film capturing the subtleties of the book.

It would have been an offense against taste and decency, theology and geometry. In short, an abortion.

[XemaSab]

8. That's an excellent book

It's about this dude living in "modern" New Orleans ("modern" meaning the 60's, but it could easily be today), and he's sort of a wastrel who writes scathing diatribes on modern life. Just like a lot of people on DU. That's about all the plot summary I can give.

It's satire, and it's very funny.

[The White Tree]

9. It is an excellent read.

Mostly It's about New Orleans in the 60'2 or 70's, when it was really seedy, and the misadventures of one extremely flamboyant character named, Ignatius J. Reilly

This is from Amazon.

Meet Ignatius J. Reilly, the hero of John Kennedy Toole's tragicomic tale, A Confederacy of Dunces. This 30-year-old medievalist lives at home with his mother in New Orleans, pens his magnum opus on Big Chief writing pads he keeps hidden under his bed, and relays to anyone who will listen the traumatic experience he once had on a Greyhound Scenicruiser bound for Baton Rouge. ("Speeding along in that bus was like hurtling into the abyss.") But Ignatius's quiet life of tyrannizing his mother and writing his endless comparative history screeches to a halt when he is almost arrested by the overeager Patrolman Mancuso--who mistakes him for a vagrant--and then involved in a car accident with his tipsy mother behind the wheel. One thing leads to another, and before he knows it, Ignatius is out pounding the pavement in search of a job.

Over the next several hundred pages, our hero stumbles from one adventure to the next.<stop>

This book won the pullitzer prize but was, I beleive, the only book written by the author who committed suicide. The book was actually discovered and published posthumously. It is beleived that portions may be semi-autobigraphical.

Basically it is a kind of serio-comic commentary on life in all it's foibles. I thought it kind of petered out at the end a bit and was hoping for a more satisfying ending (though I'm not sure what I would have wanted) but all in all an excellent book.

One last note: In New Orleans there is a bronze statue of the main
character on Canal Street.

[XemaSab]

11. He also wrote

"the neon bible" which wasn't nearly as good. I thought it was short on plot, frankly.

[ovidsen]

10. A really good book!

It's the tragicomic story of a 30something Momma's boy in New Orleans forced to get his first job. It's ridiculously funny, although the book may be offensive to people who don't like allegedly stereotypical portrayals of overweight people, gays, New York Jews, blacks, alcoholics... I could go on and on....

The author, John Kennedy Toole, should have written an autobiography, but unfortunately he offed himself before he was ever published.

[XemaSab]

14. Not to mention

Capitolists, trophy wives, Puerto Ricans, strippers, Catholics, cops, red-baiters, middle managers, etc.

It would be offensive if only the blacks, gays, New York Jews, etc. got satirized, but Toole TAKES NO PRISONERS.

[ernstbass]

12. It's a marvelous book

Poignant and hilarious. Try your local library - they should have it.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

13. I've tried to read that book several times

On various people's recommendations.

Haven't ever been able to get very far into it.

[myrna minx]

16. I loved the book so much that I chose my

DU name from a character in the book.

[warrens]

18. Yer all a pussy comminiss

That's from perhaps the funniest scene in the book.

[myrna minx]

22. Good old Claude.

Gawd, Dunces is the funniest book I have ever read.

[musette_sf]

26. and Santa licking the potatiss salad spoon

before carefully placing it by the bowl for all to use...

Big Chief tablets...

Crusade for Moorish Dignity...

God I love me some Ignatius!

[XemaSab]

27. that minkoff minx....

n/t

[Saphire]

19. I have read it several times.....one of the best IMHO

[Reverend_Smitty]

20. all this praise for this book is really making me want to read it

Now I'm going to have to pick up a copy somewhere

[A-Schwarzenegger]

21. HERE are the FIRST 6 PAGES for you ...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0802130208/ref=sib_dp_pop_ex/102-6401470-6221727?%5Fencoding=UTF8&p=S00K#reader-page

[Hosnon]

24. Thanks everyone. nt

[RedCloud]

28. It's a riot.

Too bad about the author though.