A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

The best thing about this book is that it exists. John Kennedy Toole, himself a tragic figure, does a high wire act with a comic character in Ignatius J. Reilly. He has elements of sad realism mixed with high absurdity. The situation he faces gets more absurd as the novel goes along. The personality of poor Ignatius J. Reilly seems tied to his author. Toole does his best to keep the personal sadness mixed in with the comedy. The fact that the writing never suffers is because of wonderful conciseness and excellent detail. The novel takes the plot to such heightened levels that a lesser written novel would have come off as ridiculous and amateur. Toole keeps his writing mechanics strong and makes a good novel out of a ridiculous subject.