by John Kennedy TooleStarted: May 3
Finished: May 10
Amazon link: A Confederacy of Dunces
Notes: I've almost read this modern classic of Southern literature several times, and I'm finally getting to it. This is a Pulitzer winner, which truthfully doesn't hold much water for me because most prize-winning novels I've read haven't been worth it, but I've heard so much great stuff about this novel that I knew I'd want to read it. There is a tragic back story, however, in that the author killed himself in 1969, apparently because he had not been able to get this novel published. Why is it so many great writers kill themselves? Hemingway, Breece D'J Pancake, Sylvia Plath ... the list could go on.
Mini review: Worthy of a Pultizer? Not in my opinion. But I have read much worse. Over all, mildly amusing and kind of sad with one or two laugh-out-loud moments. A fair read, but I would only suggest it for those who have an interest in reading modern works that lean toward the literary.
2 comments:
I read this years ago and thought it was horribly boring and not very well written. I can understand why folks down here like it because it has a lot of local color, but not coming from the New Orleans area I just didn't care for it.
I'm only about 50 pages in at the moment, and so far that's pretty much my opinion, too. I'm hoping it's going to get better, but as I've mentioned, my track record with award winners has not been all that good.
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