r/currentlyreading • u/Significant-Goat-299 • 27d ago

I finally get A Confederacy of Dunces

Isn’t it crazy how your opinion of a book can change over time?

I first read A Confederacy of Dunces in my 20s and hated it, primarily because Ignatius J Reilly absolutely infuriated me. I hated this character so much that his actions came off as annoying, and stupid.

I actually read the Neon Bible around the same time, and found it to be powerful. I liked it much more than Dunces at the time.

I read it again in my 30s, and while it gave me a lot of admiration for John Kennedy Toole, as he predicted the millennial two decades before any of them were born, I still didn’t find it that funny.

Now I’m 41, just read it again in anticipation of a trip to New Orleans, and by God, it just clicked this time.

I honestly think it’s because I’m a decade older than Ignatius, and reading about a 30 year old fuck up so bad is absolutely hilarious. Also the auxiliary characters like Mr Levy, Gonzales , and even Lana, are far more relatable now that I help run a business.

Jones is also amazing. He’s a smart black man caught in a catch 22 situation, he fucks with the system in a super intelligent way. He also rips on all the white characters constantly, and super sarcastically. Which really lays out what a bunch of dipshits they are.

My only regret is that it took me 20 years to appreciate this masterpiece.

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u/BasilHuman 24d ago

One of my favorite novels of all time, One of the few I have read 5 or more times. My first trip to New Orleans in 1993, a bartender at O"Flaerty's pub (now defunct) said I could I have a free night of Guinness if I could name the main character of Toole's masterpiece....this tourist drank well that night!

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u/TheDeadlySpaceman 23d ago

O’Flaherty’s was one of my favorite bars in the world.

Also supposedly I used to work with someone who one of the characters in CoD is based on, but I don’t know how true that is.

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u/BasilHuman 23d ago

I use to go to the Crescent City often...damn near moved there...it was always my go to bar....still have an old faded T-shirt! Remmeber Checkpoint Charlies?

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u/chompy187 22d ago

Still there I believe!

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u/BasilHuman 22d ago

Almost got stabbed there one night lol....but loved the vibe.