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A Confederacy of Dunces (Penguin Red Classics) | 
| Author: John Kennedy Toole
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy New: £3.64
You Save: £4.35 (54%)
New (31) Used (7) from £3.14
Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 14712
Media: Paperback
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.4 x 1.4
ISBN: 0141023465
EAN: 9780141023465
ASIN: 0141023465
Publication Date: January 26, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: unwanted gift, same day dispatch
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 Don't miss this October 13, 2008
Fantastic - evocative, inspiring and engaging. Great writing about a fantastic city - it puts me in mind of that great NOLA title by Richard Katrovas - Mystic Pig. Definitely get it - you won't regret it.
Erupting with laughter July 28, 2008
John Kennedy O'Toole penned this book in the early 1960s and killed himself before that decade was out in despair at being unable to get it published.
There ought to be a statue erected and a holiday named for the author's sainted mother, whose tenacity finally resulted in her son's wonderful gift being published and his genius deservedly recognized with the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Thank you, Thelma.
In his short life O'Toole managed to create one of the great classic characters of literature in Ignatius J. Reilly, a misanthropic, corpulent misfit more comfortable with the writings of mideval philosophy than the modern age horrors he finds daily assaulting his senses in New Orleans. To make matters worse, his mother is making him get a job.
This book had me erupting with laughter. It is a work I will certainly enjoy reading again and again.
 Over-Rated: A Confederacy of Dunces January 14, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Some of the characters and locations seem promising at first, but the book quickly establishes a laboured, unfunny style of intended humour. It raises a weary smile or two, but what is there to learn or be inspired by in all this? It is a long book and didn't seem worth the time just to find out what happens. I quit halfway through and gave it away.
wacky silly stuff, plus some wistfulness December 2, 2007
A classic story that makes me a bit sad to think about considering that the author died young and by his own hand. Given American culture, that may be part of the appeal of the book to many. By any standard, however, this is a great book, with highly memorable, vividly described characters, none more so than the central figure Ignatius, a likeable, eccentric oaf. His part-time sidekick, Myrna Minkoff, is also a hoot, and I like it when the two of them gang up. Although it's in many ways a timeless story, the manner of speaking of the characters is probably representative of the times (1950s?). Given the short life of the author, the book has a bit of a tragic backdrop that affected my feelings for it, and the New Orleans setting with Katrina occuring a few years ago may now also affect my memories of it. Author of Adjust Your Brain: A Practical Theory for Maximizing Mental Health.
One of the truly great southern American classics November 8, 2007
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
This book made its way into my hands low some twenty years ago, and I've been touting it to my friends ever since. It is by no means a perfect book--what is? But it is extremely well crafted, funny, and also sad. One cannot but help see Ignatius as a sad Toole, with his failure or "perceived failure" that Toole must have experience, knowing he'd written such a great work of art, yet being rejected over and over by a publishing industry that was too busy making money. I only wonder what those who rejected him feel like now that the money is steadily rolling in. And stead it is and has been because this book just keeps on going, like the Energizer Bunny.
CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES made a splash when it first appeared on the scene, and still has a strong following. I'd put it in the same category as the novels ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, KATZENJAMMER (by Mccrae), and THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP.
Probably the centerpiece in this great work is Ignatius. We're giving just about every detail possibly on this guy, from what he's wearing to how he bathes himself, or not. His antics are endless and he is pathetic and funny at the same time. Were it not for his complete lack of self awareness, he'd truly be a tragic figure. His pith and wit make him comic and likable and we're drawn to him, if for no other fact than to find out what will happen.
This novel is on my list of great Southern literatre, right up there with Faulkner's AS I LAY DYING or Flagg's FRIED GREEN TOMATOES. Truly a great work of art. Thank God it finally made it to a publisher.
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