Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #63479 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-30
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Synopsis
The ordinary folk of New Orleans seem to think he is unhinged as well. Ignatius ignores them as he heaves his vast bulk through the city's fleshpots in a noble crusade against vice, modernity and ignorance. But his momma has a nasty surprise in store for him. Ignatius must get a job. Undaunted, he uses his new-found employment to further his mission - and now he has a pirate costume and a hot-dog cart to do it with ...

Customer Reviews

Great
A very funny novel that perhaps was let dowbn in the last third when it went off tangent slightly. But all the same Igantius is a classic character that stays in the mind. There is talk of a film being made of this starring Jack Black. I don't know what to make of that but if if brings more people to the book that is good. Just a shame the author killed himself.

John Kennedy Toole was a literary genuis!
This is one of the best books I have ever read - it made me laugh out loud from page to page. I cannot understand how anyone could fail to be enthralled by the late John Kennedy Toole's wonderful story of very imperfect humanity. Readers will not end up liking the characters in the book, but will love the book itself.

Raw, brilliant and excoriatingly funny...a true work of genius
One-book authors are rare. Harper Lee with "To Kill a Mockingbird" is probably the most famous. John Kennedy Toole deserves just as much recognition and fame for his one-book wonder.

Like Harper Lee this is a unique portrait of the Deep South, specifically the customs, culture and history of New Orleans, a city that often appears to be so removed from the vastness of America. Sure, this book is not perfect...some scenes and characters appear flawed and jar with the flow of the book. But who cares when the writing is so energetic, kinetic and heart-stoppingly funny.

It's a book which will have you wanting to re-read the rants of one of the greatest comic creations (in Ignatius J. Reilly) over and over again. His mad ravings on the history of race relations in the South after speaking to the workers of Levy Pants and his subsequent efforts to lead them out of "slavery" is probably one of the greatest comic passages in modern literature. His later efforts to conquer the world with an army of homosexuals is just as brilliant.

In fact, scene after scene will have you stunned with the verve of his writing. What a shame he commited suicide after this book...a sequel is what this book deserves.