A Confederacy of Dunces in 101 Books to Read Before You Die

Jun 03, 2020 Irene rated it liked it

This is generally regarded as a brilliant piece of satire. But, for satire to work, the reader has to have an experience or knowledge of that which is being satirized. Unfortunately, the outlandish characters and culture of mid-20th century New Orleans is completely unfamiliar to me. What is probably uproariously funny to those who can relate to this world struck me as cringe worthy mockery of marginalized groups. Despite my inability to catch the humor, I did appreciate the writing, the exquisi ...more

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Jun 01, 2020 Helga Cohen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: pulitzers-2020, classics, fiction, humor, pulitzer-reading

Confederacy of Dunces is a hilarious book full of weird characters and unlikely situations. You either love this book or hate it. Ignatius Riley’s life is full of adventures. It flows with colorful characters around him like his mother, Patrolman Mancuso, the 80-year old Miss Trixie, Miss Annie the nosy neighbor, Jones the black cleaner in a bar and other disreputable characters. Ignatius is hilarious with his verbose but intellectual dialogue. He has all the quirky traits including obese body ...more

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Jun 06, 2012 Alana rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: boxall-s-1001-books, pulitzer-prize-fiction

Usually when I hate a book, I do my very best to give very specific reasons as to why I didn't like it, whether it was lack of character development, poor writing, personal taste, or something else that can be explained. I honestly don't know what to say about this one, other than that I hated it and only finished it because it was for an in-person group, or I never would have forced myself the rest of the way through it. Ignatius is ridiculous, which I suppose is the point, and there were some ...more

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