I have always wanted to read this one.

This book is truly a delight! I am glad that I finally got around to reading it.

The protagonist, Ignatius J. Reilly, is an idealistic buffoon who is forced into the working world after his mother damages a building in a car mishap. Entering the realm of employment is an eye-opener for a man who has lived his entire life with his mother.

Ignatius is a hypocrite, a jerk and a glutton - the sort of person whose presence I couldn't stand for more than five minutes. Yet Toole manages to make the reader sympathize with him in all his misadventures, and those of the people he encounters. Most of the characters are rather pathetic, yet the overall affect is comic rather than downbeat - I actually laughed out loud a few times. The all-too-human characters drive this wacky story so one can never be too sure what will happen next.

I cry that John Kennedy Toole committed suicide before this book was published. What other masterpieces would he have written if he had lived - if he knew that this novel would win the Pulitzer Prize and become a best-seller!

Here is the final order for the Bookray:

Tchouli
Komowkwa
luvtink81
AngelfireStar
Mokona <--On the way!
m1112
kimsbooks03
Ramya
RaineeRose
penguinlady930
Antheras
-BookHaven-
TonyAlmeida
puppymummy
q-cow
Luvmeowers
Cosmicflurk
ladyofunicorns
SillySilhouette
gothamgal
danesnboxers
sbrina921

I will mail this book in the next week.

RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed to begin the bookray!

recvd today
will start it today

mailed to day to Komowkwa

Outstanding - so far ... I will finish this and sent it on its way.

I really enjoyed this book. I think that it will be read for many years.

Curiously, this was not published until long after the author's death. To think that a book from an unknown author could even get published after the author's death is amazing. Well, with no hype at all, this book is a minor classic. Now, for no real reason we are reading a book written over 40 years ago. And there is no connection to a present work. It is not like I am reading an early work by a currently popular writer.

The characters and their environment are so outlandish that the book cannot be ignored. The names and personalities blend so well, that I could not imagine them taking any other action than the author invents. Yes, that's what Reilly would do. I felt so strongly for him [and his 'friends'] that I would shake my head; not in disbelief but in shame. How could he do such a thing!

There is a magnetizm here that is hard to believe. I doubt that everyone will buy into the story. Perhaps you have to feel somewhat a fool in order to accept the entire set up. I will read this again. Unfortunately, this copy must go on in the bookring. I am going to go get another.

RELEASE NOTES:

By mail to Wicheta

I received this in the mail today. I have a couple of bookrings to read before this so it might take me a bit, but it's definitely a priority :)

I started reading this, but just couldn't really get into it right now. There are other books I've been wanting to read, so I sent this on to Mokona because the next person in line did not respond to any of my emails.