1001 Group Read - March, 2013: A Confederacy of Dunces

Here is the group read thread for March. I will get a late start on this one. I am finishing up The Name of the Rose. Hoping you enjoy this one!

Got my book, will start in a few days.

I am in for this one. Still in for Les Mis but I think that one will be an ongoing project!

I'm waiting for a copy to arrive from the library, but will be reading along too.

boy wish I could join you guys on a group read but life is cram full these days... and this is one that I think I'd enjoy sharing... hope you guys do.

this one is hilarious. just remember you're not supposed to like anyone in the book...

I wanted to join the GR, but after having listened to the audio sample early in February I just had to continue and therefore finished the book before this GR started.

I loved it, and can't even exactly say why. The great narration of the audio version may have played a role, but I read the last chapters from a paper copy and enjoyed them almost equally. No likeable characters, not much of a story, much vulgarity - and yet there's something about it that made it my 2nd best read in February (after Les Misérables).

I just wonder if any of the others here become 'valve-conscious' during the reading?

Now I am REALLY intrigued... will start sooner rather than later!

I'm 4 chapters in, it is funny and rather absurd - in a good way!

I read this one a couple years ago and enjoyed it immensely! One of the gems from the 1001 list that I wouldn't have known about otherwise. Can't say I became any more aware of my valve, but it seems just as valid a way to make decisions as flipping a coin : )

I'm about half way through and really enjoying it, but like others I couldn't pinpoint why. The whole situation is hilariously insane!

I thought the image of Ignatius trying to get off the floor at Levy Pants was brilliant.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through and I think I have figured something out about this book. My thought is that this is slap-stick comedy. Kind of a Laurel and Hardy type of comedy. It may be that many of our group read members can't figure out why they like this book because they are not familiar with this type of comedy. As readers, we know it's funny, we just don't know exactly why it's funny. . .especially when so many (if not all) of the main characters seem to be down-and-out types.

I've also noticed that I have this feeling that I would like to help these people somehow just so long as I don't have to touch them or talk to them.

I also have noticed that this book is an "equal opportunity" book in that it insults everyone. There was a really good passage in chapter 5 that I was going to quote here, but I don't have my book with me. So, maybe later on in another message.

I just want to mention, in case you have not noticed, that the Group Read Nominations thread for April and May is up if you would like to nominate or second one of the 1001 books.

From all the reviews, it seems like this is a book people either really love or really hate. I'm only about 30 pages in and can already which category I'm going to be in -- I'm going to hate it.

george1295 summed it up perfectly for me... the comedy seems really slap stick to me, too, and that type of comedy doesn't appeal to me at all. I'm hoping it will get better, but doubting it, even this early on.

amerynth, I've lurked here to see the reactions to the book. I'm one of the ones who hated it. I tried the paper version twice and the audio version once and I just couldn't finish it in any form. I have a friend who recommended this to me - we've agreed to disagree on it (much like we've agreed to disagree on Catch-22, though that one goes in the opposite direction, I loved it and he couldn't finish it).

Is there anything in this 'likable character' angle? As I mentioned on my own thread my Wife finds that she can't enjoy a book if she doesn't like any of the characters, so I am sure that she would hate A Confederacy of Dunces.

I'd never really thought about it before, but I don't think that I particularly care about whether I like, or empathise with characters, I just want characters that are intriguing and vivid, likable or not. Plenty of characters in this book fit that bill for me; Ignatius, Patrolman Mancuso, Lana Lee, Burma Jones, even Dr Talc!

For me, not having particularly likeable characters probably doesn't help the book's cause, but isn't enough to be a sole reason for disliking a book. (For example, I really enjoyed reading Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections and I didn't like any of the characters in that book at all.) For me, it's more about having some sort of connection to the character... and feeling they are going through something that feels authentic. I realize this book is absurd and isn't designed to do that.

Overall, it just wasn't the kind of book I enjoy... thought I get why others would like it.

Finished this evening. I am one of those who enjoyed this. I loved the variety of eccentrIcs in the book from the corpulent bombastic Ignatius, the laid back Jones, to the senile Miss Trixie. There were a couple of unnecessary subplots that stretched the humour a bit, but on the whole I found this a very humorous read. 4/5