A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
A Confederacy of Dunces
John Kennedy Toole
ISBN: 10-0-8021-3020-8
1980
A more fitting title: Idiots on Parade.
Ignatius J. Reilly is a character not even a mother could love- unless she was severely medicated, or as in the case of his own mother, an alcoholic. He is repulsive in every way from his questionable appearance and hygiene, his vendetta against anything not in existence before the year 1450 to finally his antagonistic and lay-about lifestyle. Ignatius is what society would politely label a misfit, but the rest of us would call a loser.
At a point in his life when financial circumstances become dire, Ignatius’s mother sends him out to find work. He does, repeatedly, but the desperate people who hire Ignatius find themselves with even more problems than before he started. From teaching, to file clerk, to first mate in charge of boiled weenies, any and all lives Ignatius touches suddenly go to pot with a robust BANG!
A Confederacy of Dunces is an excellent book, in spite of the fact that I loathed each and every character save one: it is that good!
One of the most impressive aspects of this story is that the characters are so believable. They’re all morons to a certain extent, but I know they’re out there and that’s the disturbing part. The situations are a little dated as this was written in the sixties, and the ethnic language may take a little getting used to, but the themes are still valid: social revolution, the battle of the sexes, the need for a good pair of pants… all vital issues still under discussion in present time.
So much has been said about this book previously that there isn’t much more to add save this: if you’re having a bad day, you’re feeling down about yourself or even if you just need to feel superior, read this book. You can only go up from there.
