# Am I the only person who thinks 'Confederacy of Dunces' is tedious, humor-free, and overhyped? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 3, 2013, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718 "2013-04-03T10:30:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/21 "2013-04-03T15:14:41Z")
Joining the pile-on. Never managed to get past about the first 50 pages. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/22 "2013-04-03T15:33:41Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Joining the pile-on. Never managed to get past about the first 50 pages. In my younger years, I was an adamant finisher of books, however unpleasant the task. I am now quite willing to exercise my “thrown with great force” option. If I encountered Confederacy for the first time now, I might not make it as far as you did. ---
**Author:** ![Mavis\_Topholese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7feea3/32.png) [@Mavis\_Topholese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavis_Topholese)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/23 "2013-04-03T15:48:15Z")
I’ve owned copies of this book with cover art ranging from mediocre to outright terrible, and every time I get to the part about the “Crusade For Moorish Dignity” I am laughing out loud. It’s a book that could use some tightening, sure, and a lot of the early 60s trappings of beatniks, Communists, and b-girls haven’t worn well over the years, but Ignatius J. Reilly as a character is perfectly drawn. He walks among us, even today. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/24 "2013-04-03T16:03:51Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > Wow! I am not weird after all!! Well, just because we agree with you on this one thing… ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/25 "2013-04-03T16:05:35Z")
I mostly agree. Not my kind of humor. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/26 "2013-04-03T16:07:10Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > Yes, I’ll say it again: I think that Confederacy of Dunces is tedious, humor-free, and overhyped (with the hype sometimes rising to a fever pitch on these Boards). I’m with you 100%. I wanted to like it. I just didn’t. I haven’t tried to read it in several years (over 5); now that I have been to New Orleans a few times; maybe I’ll try again. I don’t expect it to appeal to me. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/27 "2013-04-03T16:10:06Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > This thread is closing up my valve something fierce. > > I recently read somewhere, perhaps on this board, that people that dislike Dunces are likely to see too much of themselves in the character of Ignatius. I read the book for the first time and loved it, but thought to myself that he reminded me of a “Typical Doper” in a lot of ways… though I imagine he’d end up banned here fairly quickly after declaring the MMP an abortion one too many times. HA! That is a \*very \*interesting theory. I love it, myself. I’ve given more people copies as gifts than Kirk Cameron has handed out Bibles. It’s in my top three works of fiction easily. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/28 "2013-04-03T16:15:08Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > This thread is closing up my valve something fierce. > > I recently read somewhere, perhaps on this board, that people that dislike Dunces are likely to see too much of themselves in the character of Ignatius. I read the book for the first time and loved it, but thought to myself that he reminded me of a “Typical Doper” in a lot of ways… though I imagine he’d end up banned here fairly quickly after declaring the MMP an abortion one too many times. Well, there’s nothing more “Typically Doper” than assuming anyone who doesn’t like the same things you do must have something wrong with them. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/29 "2013-04-03T16:17:47Z")
I thought it was excellent, sorry it wasn’t to your taste. I’ve never encountered any “hype” for this book, so maybe that helps. I had never really heard of it when I read it. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/30 "2013-04-03T16:26:11Z")
How funny. I restarted the book yesterday. Tried twice before, but made it less than 1/4 through each time. I will finish it this time, but I still find the main character to be utterly and completely infuriating, the language to be interesting, but awkward, and the humor to be sparse at best. My first actual laugh was the unexpected masturbation fantasy involving the childhood dog maybe 50 pages in. The book is charmless. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/31 "2013-04-03T16:31:19Z")
I read it not knowing a thing about it. (ETA: that was in 2003, at the age of 28, if the data points mean anything to anyone.) Laughed my fricking ass off. Don’t know how nobody had ever mentioned the book to me before. Or perhaps they had and it just went in one ear and out another. One of the funniest and most fun books I’ve ever read. Couldn’t put it down. The book that I’d substitute in the OP is Jack Keroac’s “On the Road.” (Well, maybe not the “humor-free” part as it’s not really meant to be a funny read.) ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/32 "2013-04-03T16:37:34Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > Oh, the cover; I almost forgot. [The image of Ignatius](http://chamberfour.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/a-confederacy-of-dunces-by-john-kennedy-toole.jpg) was so off-putting, so unfunny, and so unlike what I might have visualized for Toole’s slothful, bumptious protagonist that, in fairness, the book didn’t stand a chance. I still haven’t read it myself, but it’s on my list. Fortunately the currently in-print edition has a plain cover with text only, so I don’t have to worry about carrying around a book that looks like it’s about Mario’s slovenly cousin. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/33 "2013-04-03T16:38:27Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Well, there’s nothing more “Typically Doper” than assuming anyone who doesn’t like the same things you do must have something wrong with them. Who said there was anything wrong with seeing yourself in Ignatius. He certainly has many charming qualities and someday I might be able to think of one. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/34 "2013-04-03T16:41:13Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Who said there was anything wrong with seeing yourself in Ignatius. He certainly has many charming qualities and someday I might be able to think of one. Maybe my own bias was showing, since I’d consider being labeled a “typical Doper” an insult. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/35 "2013-04-03T16:54:29Z")
I would consider being called “a typical Doper” more of a compliment. Being called like Ignatius would be the insult. Although I can see Ignatius being like some Dopers, with his un-earned sense of superiority. But I don’t remember the book very well, for obvious reasons. YMMV. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/36 "2013-04-03T17:05:02Z")
> [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](#): > > God no. I too heard so many great things about it, then picked it up and couldn’t get past the first chapter or so. I can get into a story about worthless people, if it’s done well, but this was totally unengaging and obnoxious. Life is too short, so I didn’t force myself to read on. > [@silenus](#): > > Joining the pile-on. Never managed to get past about the first 50 pages. > [@Crotalus](#): > > In my younger years, I was an adamant finisher of books, however unpleasant the task. I am now quite willing to exercise my “thrown with great force” option. This about sums up my experiences with this book over the last 20 years. Utterly boring, tedious, unfunny and unpleasant book. I put this one right up there with _Infinite Jest_ as both a novel and a quality doorstop. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/37 "2013-04-03T17:12:07Z")
I thought there were some mildly amusing bits, and I could definitely see some of myself in Ignatious. My main criticism would be the dated parts, particularly the bits with Burma Jones. Jive talkin’ just seems really tone deaf to me nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/38 "2013-04-03T17:12:50Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I put this one right up there with _Infinite Jest_ as both a novel and a quality doorstop. Oops. _That’s_ the book I was thinking about when I made the comment about the text-only cover. [Emily Litella]Never mind.[/Emily Litella] ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/39 "2013-04-03T17:23:50Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > My main criticism would be the dated parts, particularly the bits with Burma Jones. Jive talkin’ just seems really tone deaf to me nowadays. I’m not sure Burma was talking jive as much as he was talking with a local New Orleans dialect, as many of the other characters do. Toole did a great job of capturing the sound of how different groups of people talk down there. The “Ooowee” thing he says a lot is a very common NOLA thing to say. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718/40 "2013-04-03T17:27:00Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > I’m not sure Burma was talking jive as much as he was talking with a local New Orleans dialect, as many of the other characters do. Toole did a great job of capturing the sound of how different groups of people talk down there. The “Ooowee” thing he says a lot is a very common NOLA thing to say. I don’t know the technical term for it (nor do I have much interest in the subject), but from my memory there was one main black character, and he spoke a noticeably different dialect from everyone else in the book, and that seemed very clunky to me (from a modern point of view). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-thinks-confederacy-of-dunces-is-tedious-humor-free-and-overhyped/654718.md?page=3)