A Confederacy of Dunces

After hearing about this book for almost half my life, I was excited to find the audio book version at my local library. This is my review of the audio book version.

The voice actor does a good job of differentiating the characters, making it fairly easy to follow the story and understand who's talking. The book is populated with a myriad of colorful characters, most of whom are reduced to fairly exagerrated caricatures by the author. While entertaining in the early going, some of them begin to grate on you after a while.

The dialogue is as colorful as the characters, with a lot of vernacular that is specific to a certain era in New Orleans. While this grabs your interest and pulls you into the story, I found that the cartoonishness of the characters and their over-the-top dialogue started to lose its appeal by the halfway point. Towards the end, I had grown weary of the entire cast and couldn't wait for the long-awaited (and woefully unsatisfying) end to come.

The main character, Ignatius J. Reilly, is a self-centered buffoon who clearly has some emotional and/or mental problems. I imagine that Reilly is the alter-ego of the author (John Kennedy Toole), who had his own emotional/mental problems (and ultimately committed suicide before this book was ever published). There are many parallels between the author and his creation, so the conclusion is easy to draw.

While Toole does have a certain way with words and his vivid descriptions are often admirable, he clearly lacks any sense of how to effectively plot a story. Instead, he rambles along in an almost stream-of-consciousness fashion, blissfully unaware that flowery dialogue and off-beat characters do not a story make.

What I find most distressing is that this book won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Had the book not gotten published through such a dramatic series of circumstances I highly doubt it would have won any literary prize, let alone a Pulitzer. The competition must have been very weak that year indeed.

It's particularly telling that when the author originally attempted to get this book published, the publisher ultimately turned it down because "it's not really about anything." And frankly, they were right.

While I did find the book humorous in several places, even laugh-out-loud funny at times, I must admit that overall I was fairly disappointed. The book simply did not live up to my expectations (and no, my expectations were not unusually high). However, I do tend to enjoy stories with a plot that actually go somewhere and have a point that makes it worth my while. This book is like cotton candy: you may think it's tasty and sweet while you're eating it, but ultimately it never fills you up no matter how much of it you indulge in. In the end, it just leaves you even hungrier than you were when you started. Substantial it is not.

If you enjoy extremely offbeat stories full of surreal characters spouting pompous dialogue as they stumble their way aimlessly through farcical circumstances, then this book is right up your alley. Just don't look for a plot, because you won't find one here.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this comic masterpiece many years ago; however, listening to the audiobook performed by Barrett Whitener this past week was even more gratifying. Mr. Whitener's ability to slide into all of the many loony characters, male and female, old and young, with their various inflections and accents is truly remarkable. If you have the opportunity and enjoy listening to audiobooks, opt for Barrett Whitener here.

A few observations about the book. This is a laugh-out-loud picaresque novel, a story chockfull of satire and unforgettable humorous detail as we follow the adventures of our larger-than-life rascal-hero, Ignatius J. Reilly, floundering and farting his way through New Orleans in the 1960s. If you think of a novel-length R. Crumb cartoon you would not be far off. Some of the characters we meet are the manager of hot dog carts that sticks a long fork to the thick neck of Ignatius, the owner of a pants factory who constantly has to do verbal battle with his hypercritical, blackmailing wife, a sadistic police sergeant with a twisted, theatrical sense-of-humor and a thimble-brained stripper with a cockatoo. There is enough color and texture and satire to fill a dozen novels but somehow John Kennedy Toole manages to compress it all into his tight-knit tale.

What really gives this story depth is the metaphysical dimension via Ignatius's worldview, which includes a careful reading of The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius and a keen awareness of Fortuna's wheel. And we are right with Ignatius watching the wheel of Goddess Fortuna turn as we turn the pages (or change the CDs). What an author; what a story; what a experience. Don't miss out. Order this audiobook and get set for one of best literary rides of your life.

What an incredible story. I can't believe it has been around all these years and I have only recently become aware of it. I bought this disc version because I was taking a trip and needed some "company" as I was a solo driver. The book is so good and so entertaining that I was sorry to arrive at my destination going and coming home. I will treasure this book as being one of the best I have ever heard and will now purchase a paperback copy as I must be able to see and be able to refer back to the portions that I most enjoy. The writing is superb and the author's use of language is outstanding. I have never had a book with characters so wonderfully well imagined. As an adult, I have not had the pleasure of having someone read to me. This audio version gave me the opportunity of experiencing what privileged children get to enjoy at the knee of a literate and caring parent. The reader of this particular version of the book is extremely skilled at using different voices to truly make the characters come alive. I think this must be about the best monetary investment I have made in a long time as I can't quite talking about how much I have enjoyed the book.

I love this book and have read it several times since the late 70's when I first encountered it. I was thrilled to happen upon it in the audio book list. However, being from New Orleans, I do not find that Mr. Whitener the reader, captured the characters personalities nor the many dialects of the cast. He does a fine job reading but unfortunately for me, I do not hear New Orleans which for me is a key part of the comedy of this great novel.

Every one of the CDs of this audiobook were flawed. The last part of every CD would stop playing before it finished its course. We tried the CDs on multiple CD players with the same bad result. Do not buy from this seller.

My favorite book. Have read it 3 times. Bought the CD set for a road trip and was delighted to hear it for the first time. Done with the regional accent I remember from my youth when I lived in New Orleans.

"OH My God" To quote from the book, it was excellent!

This is an amazing story. I own multiple copies on different platforms and distribute to family and friends to spread the gospel of John Kennedy Toole.

This is one of my favorite books. It's hilarious and gives me great joy every time I read it!

The reader of this outstanding work is most masterful. Accents, inflections and characterizations are so true to the setting - New Orleans - that it made me homesick for the time I lived there. Have read the print version several time and listened to the audio version at least twice. So sad that the author only wrote 2 books. The world would have greatly benefitted from this author's narrative had he lived to create more.