NYLONbooks

A Confederacy Of Dunces

A Confederacy of Dunces, July 2009, 6.5/10.

Written by John Kennedy Toole.  Published by Louisiana State University Press.

Occasionally hilarious and often amusing, this novel is very character based and Ignatius J Reilly (and his equally crazy cast of supporting actors) are some of the more memorable creations that I have come across.  Unfortunately the humour in Ignatius’s hypochondria and cursing was not enough to carry what I felt was an average storyline, and one that I couldn’t help feeling was a little hollow – a bit too far out, and missing a few too many links, for me to find very satisfying.  Nevertheless, it is my personal preference for a plot attached to reality prevented me from fully enjoying this book, and I am sure others can appreciate the offbeat humour more than I did.  As an aside, the story of how this novel came to be published is almost as interesting as the book itself.