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duchess_of_piei finished my book for bookclub some time back and i was having trouble deciding if i should read "the tipping point" or "the eyre affair" or "the planets" next. so i asked gabe to pick one for me. he did.
REVIEWS OF THE DUCHESS: A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES (book)
there's a reason that this book won the pulitzer. but the fact that it won one of the most prestigious book awards AND is a comedy is certainly saying something. i mean, it's like a comedy winning an oscar...it had better be damn good.
and this book is damn good.
ignatius reilly is quite possibly the best character i have ever seen in a book. he is slothful and disgusting, too smart for his own cynicism, and eccentric to a fault. you would slap the shit out of this boy were you to come across him in real life, but you can't help but completely identify with him and you itch to see what kind of assyness he's about to commit next. you see, he's got this VALVE.....
the author's story is a tragic one. he offed himself some time before his mother pushed hard enough to get the book published. sad for him, because he missed out on the credit (harvey pekar is rolling over in his bed), and sad for us because his style and pace is a miracle, screaming for a bigger cannon of work. his characters are glorious and individual, each written with a different cadence and voice, and, like an anime series or comic book, each of their personal quirks and faults leads them to interlocking paths like pieces of a comedy puzzle.
i know you've heard of it. i know you've seen it on the shelf and have been all like, "hmm, i've heard of that. i should read that." i know you know they've been talking about making a movie of it forever and that you think waiting for that will be easier. but there's no way a movie could successfully be made of this book. it would be a shell, a shadow, a mere usury of the book's ideas. if you've been waiting for someone you know to tell you it's a hella good book, well then. amber says, "it's a hella good book! now go brave the vagrants at the local library and pick yourself up a copy, yo! do it now! DO IT NOW!!! or. you know. whenever."
REVIEWS OF THE DUCHESS: A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES (book)
there's a reason that this book won the pulitzer. but the fact that it won one of the most prestigious book awards AND is a comedy is certainly saying something. i mean, it's like a comedy winning an oscar...it had better be damn good.
and this book is damn good.
ignatius reilly is quite possibly the best character i have ever seen in a book. he is slothful and disgusting, too smart for his own cynicism, and eccentric to a fault. you would slap the shit out of this boy were you to come across him in real life, but you can't help but completely identify with him and you itch to see what kind of assyness he's about to commit next. you see, he's got this VALVE.....
the author's story is a tragic one. he offed himself some time before his mother pushed hard enough to get the book published. sad for him, because he missed out on the credit (harvey pekar is rolling over in his bed), and sad for us because his style and pace is a miracle, screaming for a bigger cannon of work. his characters are glorious and individual, each written with a different cadence and voice, and, like an anime series or comic book, each of their personal quirks and faults leads them to interlocking paths like pieces of a comedy puzzle.
i know you've heard of it. i know you've seen it on the shelf and have been all like, "hmm, i've heard of that. i should read that." i know you know they've been talking about making a movie of it forever and that you think waiting for that will be easier. but there's no way a movie could successfully be made of this book. it would be a shell, a shadow, a mere usury of the book's ideas. if you've been waiting for someone you know to tell you it's a hella good book, well then. amber says, "it's a hella good book! now go brave the vagrants at the local library and pick yourself up a copy, yo! do it now! DO IT NOW!!! or. you know. whenever."
