Quote:
Originally Posted by DrBen
Wow. People, this book is fantastic. I listened to it in my car a few years ago, having borrowed it from the library. A funny intelligent read (listen). There is a sad story behind it though. Can't remember the details, but something like the author killed himself, and this unpublished work was found in his possessions. The mother shopped it around to publishers. This is the authors first and only published work. Such a loss.
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Yes indeed, John Kennedy Toole's story is not a happy one, but he left behind one of the fine novels of the 20th century. It was awarded the Pulitzer in 1981. Toole's mother essentially badgered an editor at a university press to read her son's manuscript and he did so thinking he could read the first few pages and find a legitimate reason to tell her "no". Well, he couldn't do it, it was too good.
Ignatius Reilly is one of the great comic protagonists in literature. Not somebody I'd like to spend time with in real life, but a marvelous, complex, aggravating character. And Jones, a relatively minor character, is just plain old hilarious every time he appears.
If you haven't read it, or listened to it (who is the "voice"?) I encourage you to do so.
Alan
