A Confederacy of Dunces

Read from Tuesday, June 28th to Thursday, June 30th.

A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole.  This book, both hilarious and tragic was excellent, and I could not put it down in the past two days.  Hands down, probably the funniest book I have ever read, and I literally laughed out loud for much of the time.  It is tragic solely because of the fact that it was published posthumously by Toole's mother, after the promising author had committed suicide when he was 32. 

This is a story of wild, crazy, fascinating characters, and diverse, but convergent storylines.  Ignatius J. Reilly is the unforgettable protagonist, a gigantic, 30 year old who lives at home with his mother in New Orleans.  He has a masters in medieval history, but no job or friends.  His mother, Irene, a widow, dotes on her son.  The story is set in motion one day at a department store, when Ignatius is accosted by a police officer for looking suspicious.  Ignatius, in his booming defense, uses his large vocabulary, his mother, and an old man complaining about 'communiss' to get away.  They go to a bar to hide out in the French Quarter, the Night of Joy, where Irene gets drunk and Ignatius tells the story of the one time he left New Orleans, on a Greyhound Sceniccruiser that made him sick and his 'valve' close up.  They meet Darlene, a waitress who wants to be a dancer, and Jones, an underpaid black porter. They are thrown out by the owner, Lana Lee, and Irene drives drunk into a building, and she is ordered to pay $1000 in damages.

Irene forces Ignatius to get a job to help pay the debt, and he finds one at Levy Pants, working on filing.  In the office, Miss Trixie is a senile old woman who only wants to retire, and Gonzalez is the loyal but incompetent office manager.  Ignatius tries to overhaul the office and spends his time redecorating and throwing the files in the trash.  At one point he impersonates the owner, Gus Levy, in a letter, responding with insults to a client.  Ignatius keeps in touch with a former girlfriend, Myrna from Brooklyn, who brags about doing something for social change.  She is an advocate of more sex in society, and Ignatius is very against that.  He wants to return to Medieval culture, with a strong king and clergy.  Anyways, in order to get back at Myrna, Ignatius tries to get the black factory workers to stage a revolt against the office.  It fails, and Ignatius is fired.  He then finds work as a hot dog vendor.

Meanwhile, Irene makes friends with the cop, and she also begins dating the old man complaining of communiss.  They complain about Ignatius, and the hold he has over Irene, and all agree that something must be done.  Also, at the Night of Joy, Lee is a strict boss, and also runs a strange business giving packages to George, a local teenager.  Jones is suspicious, but all Darlene wants is to dance.  She sets up a dance with her cockatoo, that pulls rings and tears off her clothes.  Gus Levy and his wife argue over the fate of the company in their posh mansion.  Gus wants to sell, but his wife said it would disrespect his late father. 

As a hot dog vendor, Ignatius struggles because he eats most of them himself.  He agrees to hold the packages for George in his hot dog cart, but opens one up and discovers naked pictures of Lana Lee.  Ignatius also meets an effeminate homosexual, Dorian Greene, and believes he has figured out how to bring about world peace; have the gays infiltrate all the military, and there will be no fighting.  This idea fails also when he is thrown out of their opening rally, and they go back to dancing.  Finally, Ignatius returns to the Night of Joy in order to see the naked woman in person, but he is attacked by Darlene's bird during her show.  He runs out of the bar and nearly is hit by a car before he faints.  The cop, Mancuso, shows up, and finally makes his big arrest of Lana, when Jones helps him find the packages of porno pictures.

Ignatius, and more importantly, Irene are embarrassed by the incident in the paper, and Gus Levy is finally able to track him down.  He accuses Ignatius of writing the letter, but Ignatius successfully pins it on Miss Trixie, who admits because she is senile and sees her opportunity at retiring.  Levy is able to avoid a lawsuit from this, and also creates a foundation to honor his father, and gives the first award to Jones.  Meanwhile however, Irene is finally convinced to send her son to a mental institution.  Ignatius gets worried about this one night, and he plans to escape.  Miraculously, Myrna shows up at that exact moment, and he uses her as an escape vehicle.  It does have a happy ending, as we are left with a grateful Ignatius on the open road with the one woman who is able to tolerate and understand him.

Extremely funny, I only wish there were more Ignatius Reilly.  I really wish for a film adaptation (possibly with Will Ferrell as Ignatius!).  It was full of very witty dialogue, and each character is both likable and idiotic.  The plot storylines twist and turn and finally intersect in the brilliant climax.  Wonderful book.  Four and a half out of five stars.