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A Confederacy of Dunces Paperback – 1987

by John Kennedy Toole (Author), Walker Percy (Foreword)

2,348 customer reviews

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A Confederacy of Dunces is an American comic masterpiece. John Kennedy Toole's hero, one Ignatius J. Reilly, is "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).

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once. Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs."

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. His stint as a hotdog vendor is less than successful, and he soon turns his employers at the Levy Pants Company on their heads. Ignatius's path through the working world is populated by marvelous secondary characters: the stripper Darlene and her talented cockatoo; the septuagenarian secretary Miss Trixie, whose desperate attempts to retire are constantly, comically thwarted; gay blade Dorian Greene; sinister Miss Lee, proprietor of the Night of Joy nightclub; and Myrna Minkoff, the girl Ignatius loves to hate. The many subplots that weave through A Confederacy of Dunces are as complicated as anything you'll find in a Dickens novel, and just as beautifully tied together in the end. But it is Ignatius--selfish, domineering, and deluded, tragic and comic and larger than life--who carries the story. He is a modern-day Quixote beset by giants of the modern age. His fragility cracks the shell of comic bluster, revealing a deep streak of melancholy beneath the antic humor. John Kennedy Toole committed suicide in 1969 and never saw the publication of his novel. Ignatius Reilly is what he left behind, a fitting memorial to a talented and tormented life. --Alix Wilber

From Library Journal

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel with the sad history turns 20 (LJ 4/15/80). This story about a young man's isolation still rings true at a time when millions interact more with computers than with other people. This anniversary edition contains a new introduction by Andrei Codrescu.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product details

Paperback: 405 pages
Publisher: Grove Weidenfeld; Reissue edition (1987)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0802130208
ISBN-13: 978-0802130204
Product Dimensions: 1 x 5.2 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 2,348 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #185 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Humor & Satire > Humorous
- #319 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Classics
- #961 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary

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"His Royal Malignancy"

ByAmazon Customeron February 28, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

When critics say Confederacy is not true-to-life because it's full of despicable characters; unlikely situations; and plot-holes, I have to wonder what kind of lives they have---because that's a near perfect description of mine. JKT is (was) a master at turn-of-phrase with a gift for writing large the theater-of-the-absurd, but that's not really why I love this book so much.

I re-read aCoD every three to five years for a "humility tune up." The book is a highly polished soul mirror that's a lot more true-to-life than most people want it to be. Ignatius, or "His Royal Malignancy" as I like to call him, is the central character, and an extreme example of an arrogant bastard with absolutely nothing to be arrogant about, but the whole book is like a case study for John Calvin's doctrine of total depravity; everyone in it is---to some degree--indelibly screwed up. I suspect this is why so many people hate this book. At some point they see themselves here and realize that the depth of their own depravity is invariably greater than they suspected, realized, or certainly would ever have cared to admit.

If you love Ignatius J. Reilly, there is probably something really wrong with you, but if you hate him---there definitely is. Either way, you're doomed.

0Comment 49 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Get ready to spend time with characters you hate

ByHillyBillyon September 29, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

After hearing this book's title for decades, I approached it with a big appetite for laughs. After the first few pages, I had to challenge myself to figure out what human flaw, propensity, etc. the author was mocking and to what end. Surely the main character is ridiculous and loathsome, and for a while I really got into the different ways in which these characteristics were portrayed. But I kept wanting there to be some aspect of society--the American South, academia, repressed men-children, sensitive characters in a superficial culture, outsiders/radicals--that was either sympathetic or clearly not. I got impatient as I read how these same morons egged each other into ever more ludicrous situations, losing hope around page 250 that some counter-example, some relief was forthcoming. Everyone and everything remains twisted and pathetic, inching along in a world devoid of sense or caring. There's no denying the author had a stunning command of language and the ability to weave characters together through lively dialogue. But there are no lessons here, and the laughs are too dark and infrequent to make this an enjoyable read.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

My New Favorite Book!

ByAmazon Customeron October 13, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

What an amazing book! I had never heard of the book until I saw it on a co-workers desk. Read the story behind the book and was intrigued.
I was hooked from the first page. The book has a great flow to it with great evocative characters and wonderful dialogue. The book was written in 1963 so you have to remember it was a different world then. Helps to know a little about the social and political climate of that time period to put things in Perspective. Yes Ignatius is a jerk, but that's part of the beauty of this book.

I don't understand the negative reviews and the people that say they had to labor through it or couldn't finish it. I could not put this book down.
To me the mark of a great book is when you can't wait to steal away for even just a few minutes to read.
Easily one of the best books I have ever read if not THE best. I'm 54 and an avid reader so that says a lot.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Part of me doesn't really like it, as it is such crazy meandering of ...

ByRes Ipsa Roaron April 6, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This book is astounding, if nothing else. Part of me doesn't really like it, as it is such crazy meandering of a brilliant, but terribly stunted mind (and paranoid -- don't forget paranoid). It is enough to drive you crazy at times reading it, but there is just something that is beyond other books that makes it crest and break over your brain with an inner hilarity. Everyone raves about George Saunders, but this is zaniness at its peak. It took me years to read this book because I just couldn't get past that it really can't be put in a specific category amongst other books. It is a book everyone should read, even those that won't be able to stand it! Woah!

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The title fits the characters perfectly...

ByD. Guidryon February 12, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I viewed a biography on the author on TV the other day, and frankly, his tragic suicide and the fight his mother put up to have this book published fascinated me. It peaked my interest, so I went and bought the digital version. I frankly didn't quite know what to expect, so I really didn't have any expectations except one of the fascination of his personal story.

The title fits the characters perfectly. Everyone of them. It was hilarious, entertaining, and kept me reading until I was finished. I'm glad I saw that story on the author's life, or else I would have never known about this book. This book is a must read for anyone, whether you live in New Orleans, or know a group of dunces and can relate. My one wish is that the author could have had this published and gotten the recognition he deserved before he took his life. Maybe it would have prevented his suicide and we could still be reading his works today.

0Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

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Most recent customer reviews

Hysterically funny ,especially if you know New Orleans, or the south in general. I had heard about book but never read it. It's worth the read

Funny an well worth the effort. Especially good if you know New Orleans . Great comic characters all through the book

Published 2 hours ago by cheryl craft

The Pulitzer? Really??

Comedy is subjective, so I understand people who worship this book and compare it to Don Quixote. I, on the other hand, find myself wondering (once again) just who decides on...So Long, See You Tomorrow Read more

Published 7 hours ago by Melissa McCauley

Are you still waiting to order this? why?

The only reason for reading this review is perhaps that you have not already ordered or already read the book. HIGHEST recommendations.Read more

Published 3 days ago by Leonard Frieling

EVERYONE DESERVES THE CHANCE TO READ THIS

This book is the third "A Confederacy of Dunces" I have purchased, because I keep feeling compelled to give one away as a gift.Read more

Published 4 days ago by David F. John

Five Stars

How true!

Published 7 days ago by srm2888

The adventures of a verbose and lazy man-child forced to get off his duff and get a job

If you’ve heard of this book, but not read it, you’re probably aware of the troubled circumstance of its publication.Read more

Published 7 days ago by Bernie Gourley

Three Stars

no comment

Published 11 days ago by leo j wallace

So funny!

I was reading A Confederacy of Dunces, but found myself in the car more often than not as of late. Audible had a sale on this particular book, so I thought I'd give it a try.Read more

Published 11 days ago by Christine

Nothing like this one -- not in modern times, anyway --

Ignatius O'Reilly, misfit, loser and student of philosophy, unleashes himself onto downtown New Orleans in 1962 in search of a living.Read more

Published 14 days ago by Allen Smalling

Rare laughter

Kept me turning pages (on my Kindle) to find out how all these nutty characters got their just desserts. Laughed out loud in places.Read more

Published 18 days ago by Dancin' Fool

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