AST Book Club: A Confederacy of Dunces

[Cupid Stunt]

Picked this up last weekend, after reading somewhere on the internet that it was the 'funniest thing ever put on paper'.


I'm a few chapters in, and I'm pleasantly surprised at how good it is.

I have a rough time getting into most literature branded as "humor" (Catch 22).


Anyone else a fan?

[yumitree]

i haven't read dunces since hs, but was tempted to pick it up again when that ferrell-starring adaptation was rumored to be happening.

however, i think there is a bit of discussion on it (and other comedic, but not comedy-related books) in this thread on the first page of the forum.

[Phil]

Any book that tries to be funny first and interesting second, always seems to fail on both, and I've always avoided this book cause it seems like one of those. Am I wrong?

[Berliner]

Yes

[irony]

I read this book a few years ago and did not find it as funny as advertised. I guess the character was kind of like a Kenny Powers, but I was more annoyed than amused by him.

I found parts of Catch-22 to be genuinely hilarious, though. And the less funny and serious parts were equally good.

[yumitree]

COMEDY BOOKS, MOTHER FUCKERS

[BrianStack]

I thought the book was very funny myself.

For some reason, one passage that has always stuck out for me is the letter Ignatius writes to Myrna about some upcoming free lecture she's planning on giving:

"On the dark night of that dubious lecture, the sole member of your audience will probably be some desperately lonely old male librarian who saw a light in the window of the lecture hall and hopefully came in to escape the cold and the horrors of his personal hell. There in the hall, his stooped figure sitting alone before the podium, your nasal voice echoing among the empty chairs and hammering boredom, confusion, and sexual reference deeper and deeper into the poor wretch's bald skull, confounded to the point of hysteria, he will doubtlessly exhibit himself, waving his crabbed organ like a club in despair against the grim sound that drones on and on over his head."

[JustinGoff]

Decent book, interesting back-story and a great protagonist. It has been several years since I read it and I remember thinking the story was not the most interesting, but the notes Ignatius Reilly writes are pure gold.

Maybe not the funniest or most interesting book you'll ever read, but certainly worth the time.

[Shane]

I read this last year, and though I didn't laugh out loud, I enjoyed it. I might need to read it again to find the humor in it, but I thought the characters were very interesting and the story was appealing.

[JPFC]

I can't think of any other book that made me laugh so hard and then bore me to tears.
It's 90% great... and that's just because it's too long.

[SlyBattery]

I can't think of any other book that made me laugh so hard and then bore me to tears.
It's 90% great... and that's just because it's too long.

Is the 10% the first two chapters of the book? I couldn't get past that.

I wanted to like it, since it seems to get a lot of praise as a very funny book. But from what I read it was just some weird situations with people getting very emotional over very little. Which a lot of the time is humorous, but just didn't do it for me in this case.