A Confederacy of Dunces

Title: A Confederacy of Dunces

Author: John Kennedy Toole

Pages: 13 discs

Genre: Humor, Fiction

Grade: A

Synopsis: This book is a Picaresque novel (I had no idea what that was) that was published 11 years after the author's suicide.  The protagonist is Ignatius J. Reilly, an overweight, eccentric, clever and lazy 30-year-old man who lives with his mother Irene Reilly who is an alcoholic that has coddled Ignatius for years.  After an accident where Irene damages a building with her car, Ignatius is forced to get a job, first at Levy pants, then as a hot dog vendor in New Orleans, where he lived.

My Review: This book was awarded the 1981 Pulitzer Prize and a statue of Ignatius J. Reilly stands in the French Quarter in New Orleans.  It took me a while to get into this book, but once I had a feel for the author's style of humor, then I really, really started enjoying it.  The book is a bit irreverent and frankly quite hilarious at parts.

Disclaimer: There is some swearing, and discussions that are sexual in nature, although not vulgar.  As wikipedia puts it: "his masturbatory fantasies lead in strange directions. His mockery of obscene images is portrayed as a defensive posture to hide their titillating effect on him."

Quotes:
"I am at the moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip."
--Ignatius J. Reilly