Confederacy of Dunces

So I finished Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole last night. Frankly, I'm disappointed. I was expecting big things and all I got was an ok book. Pulitzer Prize, Shmulitzer Prize, says I.

Dunces chronicles a few turbulent weeks in the life of Ignatius J. Reilly, jobless medieval scholar who lives in his tiny room in his mother's tiny house. It should be mentioned that Ignatius' great intelligence is only matched by his enormous physical bulk, complete disdain for others, enhanced self-opinion, and unmatched hypochondria. Due to a series of odd circumstances, Ignatius finds himself having to look for a job in his home town of New Orleans. Toole takes us from job to job, introducing us to fabulously weird characters whose lives all seem to be intertwined at the end, mainly because of Ignatius' fabulous failures.

Ignatius, while the main character, is not a sympathetic character. Funny to laugh at, yes, but not funny. I don't think he can even be properly termed an anti-hero. The other characters are spectacularly unique, especially Burma Jones. The character studies of Ignatius and Jones are the real strengths of this book. Sure it's got some funny moments, but I didn't find it riotously funny like many of the critics did. The dialogue is also a strong point of the book. The characters really do "sound" like "real people." I find that this is often very difficult for writers to master and Toole does an excellent job of it.

Despite the strengths mentioned above, I didn't find the story all that funny or compelling. Certainly there were funny scenes, but the book wasn't all that funny. I didn't want anything good or bad to happen to Ignatius, I just wanted him to go away. Less Ignatius and more Burma Jones would have made for a better book. The multiple characters all crossing paths at one time or another is always a fun trope, but I've seen it done a lot better in other works.

Of course part of the book's cachet is the tragic circumstances of its publishing. Toole had been deceased, a suicide, long before the novel was ever published. His mother found the manuscript and sent it to the Dean of Southern Literature, Walker Percy. Percy loved the book and got it published. Indeed, it's sad that Toole couldn't have lived to see his work gain accolades. Dunces is certainly a good read, but in no way would I consider it a classic.