A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Book Title: A Confederacy of Dunces
Author: John Kennedy Toole
Genre: Fiction
My Grade: A
# of Pages: 394
Week Read: Week #22 (5/28 - 6/4/10)
Summary: A Confederacy of Dunces is an American comic masterpiece. John Kennedy Toole's hero is one Ignatius J. Reilly, "huge, obese, fractious, fastidious, a latter-day Gargantua, a Don Quixote of the French Quarter. His story bursts with wholly original characters, denizens of New Orleans' lower depths, incredibly true-to-life dialogue, and the zaniest series of high and low comic adventures" (Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun-Times).
My Thoughts: Recommended to me by a fellow Sam I should have known that this was going to be a good book. I trust my taste in books, so why not a fellow bookworm named Sam? It was better than good, it was great. Not at all what I expected there's not a book out there like this and I highly doubt there ever will be. Some books kind of come close with the absurdity rampant throughout the book, but while totally out there it's also very real which is what made the book.
You question yourself being so devoted to following a character so... foul. Ignatius is not all that likeable. He has his okay points, such as he's intelligent, well-spoken and sticks to his guns, but everything else about this character is as disagreeable to everyone and everything as his stomach is to him. The characters he interacts with day in and out could be considered just as awful, but in comparison to Ignatius they practically come across as saint-like.
Toole's approach to his storytelling is one of my favorites for authors to do and one I try (not always successfully) to emulate, and that's just letting the story tell itself. He doesn't fill it with character background information, or lengthy discriptions of places. If it needs it to enhance the story, he'll do it, but for the most part he leaves that stuff alone. Therefore the reader now has free reign over the story, imagining and picturing things the way they want to picture them. Toole's writing is also some of the most articulate, clever and witty I've read in a while. With another author a passage may illicit a small smirk, with Toole I was laughing out loud and then reading the passage to whomever may be listening nearby.
I am now going to be leaving the book at home for my parents to read, and I'm going to tell you the same thing I've been telling them- this book is fantastic and a definite must-read. It's uniqueness may rub you the wrong way at first, but you'll find yourself quickly falling into it, and before you know it, you'll be completely emmersed.
Next Book: Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbot • review
Back to the Book List.
Author: John Kennedy Toole
Genre: Fiction
My Grade: A
# of Pages: 394
Week Read: Week #22 (5/28 - 6/4/10)
Summary: A Confederacy of Dunces is an American comic masterpiece. John Kennedy Toole's hero is one Ignatius J. Reilly, "huge, obese, fractious, fastidious, a latter-day Gargantua, a Don Quixote of the French Quarter. His story bursts with wholly original characters, denizens of New Orleans' lower depths, incredibly true-to-life dialogue, and the zaniest series of high and low comic adventures" (Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun-Times).
My Thoughts: Recommended to me by a fellow Sam I should have known that this was going to be a good book. I trust my taste in books, so why not a fellow bookworm named Sam? It was better than good, it was great. Not at all what I expected there's not a book out there like this and I highly doubt there ever will be. Some books kind of come close with the absurdity rampant throughout the book, but while totally out there it's also very real which is what made the book.
You question yourself being so devoted to following a character so... foul. Ignatius is not all that likeable. He has his okay points, such as he's intelligent, well-spoken and sticks to his guns, but everything else about this character is as disagreeable to everyone and everything as his stomach is to him. The characters he interacts with day in and out could be considered just as awful, but in comparison to Ignatius they practically come across as saint-like.
Toole's approach to his storytelling is one of my favorites for authors to do and one I try (not always successfully) to emulate, and that's just letting the story tell itself. He doesn't fill it with character background information, or lengthy discriptions of places. If it needs it to enhance the story, he'll do it, but for the most part he leaves that stuff alone. Therefore the reader now has free reign over the story, imagining and picturing things the way they want to picture them. Toole's writing is also some of the most articulate, clever and witty I've read in a while. With another author a passage may illicit a small smirk, with Toole I was laughing out loud and then reading the passage to whomever may be listening nearby.
I am now going to be leaving the book at home for my parents to read, and I'm going to tell you the same thing I've been telling them- this book is fantastic and a definite must-read. It's uniqueness may rub you the wrong way at first, but you'll find yourself quickly falling into it, and before you know it, you'll be completely emmersed.
Next Book: Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbot • review
Back to the Book List.