Book - A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

Metta's husband recently leant me the book "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole, and I am so grateful he did! Although written in the 1960s, this book wasn't released until two decades later and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981. It tells the story of Ignatius, an over-educated blow-hard who's obsessed with Medieval philosophy but derives pleasure from being aesthetically assaulted by popular culture. Think Michael Moore, with constant gas issues and more infatuated with ancient European philosophers than capitalism or health-care. After enjoying many years writing furious screeds against modern society in his bedroom at his mother's house, circumstances necessitate that the 30-something Ignatius finally go out into the real world and find a job. On his journeys we run into a variety of other eccentric, well-developed characters who shape each other's lives in an elaborate web of interactions. This book is funny, smart, and impressively executed.