405 pages Trade Paperback (Fiction)
My wife has suggested I read this book and it has been on my list for quite sometime. It has been on numerous top 100 lists and also won a Pulitzer Prize. I decided to give it a read and over a couple of weeks I did.
Ignatius J. Reilly is 30 years old and lives with his mother. He dresses in thick clothing, bursting at the seams, and has a green hunters cap to keep himself warm. He is the definition of socially nonfunctional. This seems to be by choice. The rest of the world has it all wrong and despite his obvious intelligence he will not conform to any sort of societal norm. Any issue Ignatius has must surely be the fault of anyone other than himself.
The book follows the misadventures of Ignatius as he attempts to repay debts his mother owes. He is hired working in an office where he files things in the garbage can and eventually starts selling hot dogs on the street, but typically eats more than he ever sells.
A Confederacy of Dunces was a bit of a conundrum for me. Toole's writing is impressive and engaging, but I found the characters to be unlikable. The book is aptly titled. From the crazed mother driven to the brink by her sons insanity, to the pitiful police officer spending his days in a bus stop toilet, to the worthless kid trying to make a little money on the side, to the husband and wife that spend their days trying to make the other person more miserable, all of them were morons. I couldn't make a connection with any of the characters. This made it hard for me to care about any of them or care about the book. The book is advertised as humorous. On the back of the book a quote says, "One of the funniest books ever written..." I just didn't feel this. It was silly. Write a story about a bunch of idiots and put them in silly situations and you'll get a silly book, but for the most part I thought it was kind of sad. It is possible that when the book was written in the 60's the idea of the characters were so outrageous that it came off as funny. I think I have met a version of each of the characters in real life and I saw it as a sad comment on stupid people and less as something so preposterous that it was humorous.
You would think that at this point I could easily dismiss the book, but therein lies the conundrum. Toole is a good writer.and though I actually attempted to give up on the book a couple times, I soon found myself wanting to read it again. I could see where people found it humorous. I can understand why others liked the book, but I have to conclude it just wasn't for me.
2 Intellectual/Emotional - I had hard time getting attached to any character in the book.
3 Style/Readability - Toole's writing is what gives this book any credibility from my point of view.
4 Long Term Impact - Obviously, I am in the minority when it comes rating this book and I can except that. A Pulitzer prize and being on numerous top 100 books 50 years after having been written means this will continue to be popular as time goes on.
9 out of 13. I have to be honest and say even this feels like too much. I can't recommend this book. If you are looking for comedies that could be compared to this I would suggest something by Tom Robbins or Phillip Roth's early work. Though not necessarily related thematically I would also suggest Terry Pratchett, Bill Bryson or Douglas Adams.
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