A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
(published 1980; 394 pages)
Laura’s and my two-person book club is officially under way, and things are off to a rather brilliant start. A Confederacy of Dunces is a Pulitzer Prize winning comedy novel set in 1960’s New Orleans and wrapped around about three or four “main” characters that are among the worst human beings you can imagine. Not that they’re all naturally evil, they’re just all selfish, whiny, and miserable — but fortunately for the us, they’re also hysterical versions of all the above categories.
The book overall revolves around Ignatious J. Reilly, a 30-year-old, obese, mustachioed man that still lives with his widowed mother. On the one hand, he’s such a horrible human being that I absolutely despised him, but at the same time I just could not get enough. I had to see how much more ridiculous he could get. Peter Griffin, Homer Simpson, Eric Cartman, Will Ferrell… they all owe about half their schtick to Ignatius, the original.
His mother is second lead; a poor old woman who makes it difficult to feel too much sympathy for her just because she’s the one that let her son turn out the way he did, and it’s obvious she’s still supporting it by spoiling him continuously as he rounds his 30’s. Mrs. Reilly also provides a major pivot point as one of the few characters that actually grows throughout the book.
The book has what feels like 17 side stories that eventually all intersect beautifully – and I don’t mean that sarcastically at all. The easiest way I could think to describe this book is a cross between Love Actually, Step Brothers, Adult Swim, and 1960’s New Orleans. The characters are all fantastically colorful and the setting sells the story perfectly. While the characters talk in accents (with the writing to show you exact pronunciations), it can grow mildly annoying at times, but typically speaking it sells you on the characters far better than straight dialogue would have.
Above anything, John Kennedy Tool’s ability to describe these insane character’s thoughts, actions, and surrounding is entertaining on a level most classics could never attain. Where some books just paint you a satisfactory picture of what’s going on, Tool forces you into his own world and makes you drown yourself in the absurdity of it all. If Charles Dickens was the Leonardo Da Vinci of authors, then John Kennedy Toole is Picasso.
Sadly, the author killed himself before the book was ever even published, but a posthumous Pulitzer Prize insured it would survive the years. I absolutely loved it and would recommend to anyone that enjoys a good laugh. It was an awesome way to start out the book club.