A Confederacy of Dunces

By: John Kennedy Toole

Narrated by: Barrett Whitener

Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize

“A masterwork . . . the novel astonishes with its inventiveness . . . it is nothing less than a grand comic fugue.”—The New York Times Book Review

A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once. Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs.

So enters one of the most memorable characters in recent American fiction.

The hero of John Kennedy Toole's incomparable, Pultizer Prize–winning comic classic is one Ignatius J. Reilly, an obese, self-absorbed, hapless Don Quixote of the French Quarter, whose half-hearted attempts at employment lead to a series of wacky adventures among the lower denizens of New Orleans. This book has become an American comic masterpiece.

©1980 Thelma D. Toole (P)1997 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Barrett Whitener strikes just the right note." (AudioFile)
"A Confederacy of Dunces has been reviewed almost everywhere, and every reviewer has loved it. For once, everyone is right." (Rolling Stone)
"What a delight, what a roaring, rollicking, footstomping wonder this book is! I laughed until my sides ached, and then I laughed on." (Chicago Sun-Times)

A top favorite!

I loooved the originality and incredibly funny characters. A must read by everyone. Great book!

The first Audible book I can't finish

I had such good expectations for this book after reading all the reviews; however, I have to agree with the members who gave the narrator bad reviews. The story may be wonderful, but I'll have to read it to make that call. I lived in the south long enough to question the narrator's accents that wander from Louisiana (kind of) to NY and in between. I think it was "Jennifer" who said "cringeworthy." Sorry, folks... a waste of an Audible credit.

Odd story.

Odd story. Strange people. Not sure what he’s trying to say. So we know some people are crazy. Now what?Entertaining narration.

The epitome of taste and decency

Without doubt one of the greatest novels in American literature. I listen to it over and over again.

Great narrative to a more amazing work of literary art.

This is my second time to own this particular narration of A Confederacy of Dunces. Whitener dose an amazing job with all the various voice acting, giving each Dunce their very own voices that completely match their character. Highly recommended.

Immensely entertaining! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I've read the print version of this book a couple of times w great relish but the pitch perfect narration in this audio version elevates it to another level. If it didn't net the narrator a Grammy it should have. Hilarious novel w well developed, memorable characters. Thank you, Lady Fortuna! 🌭

An important classic

The narrator was the best I have herd. The charicters were lifelike and every one of them was distinct.

Well Written but Poorly Read

After talking with a new friend from New Orleans about how much I loved the City, he told me I had to read "A Confederacy of Dunces," his favorite book, set in the Crescent City and full of New Orleans color and humor. Since I was about to drive to New Orleans that weekend, I figured I'd buy the Audiobook edition and listen to the book as I made the 6 hour drive each way to my favorite city. I loved the story, but I kept getting tripped up by the way it was read. First the good news: the book has tons of dialogue and the voices are fantastic! Each one is distinct enough that you can keep the characters apart and they're funny and the NOLA accent isn't half bad. OK, the bad news, and it''s bad enough that I couldn't recommend this Audiobook version to anyone. TFirst of all, too many of the New Orleans pronunciations are just wrong. Chartres St. is pronouned CHAH-tuh, not CHAR-ter. Poydras is POY-druhs not puh-DRAHS. Pecan Pralines are pronounced PRAH-leen not PRAY-leen. But even WORSE the African-American accents are demeaning stereotypes and the stereotyped lisping of the gay males should be classified as Hate Crimes. They were literally painful for me to listen to.

Delightful Surprise

I must say listening to this book in public caused me problems. I would laugh and could not stop. Even though the narrator has no accent of New Orleans whatsoever he is so dramatic and believable that one can actually visualize the scenes. I am so glad I found this wonderful book.

Excellent reader!

The reader brought these eccentric people to life, using different accents and sounds for each character. Quite a performance of this strange story!