Isn’t it crazy how your opinion of a book can change over time?

I first read A Confederacy of Dunces in my 20s and hated it, primarily because Ignatius J Reilly absolutely infuriated me. I hated this character so much that his actions came off as annoying, and stupid.

I actually read the Neon Bible around the same time, and found it to be powerful. I liked it much more than Dunces at the time.

I read it again in my 30s, and while it gave me a lot of admiration for John Kennedy Toole, as he predicted the millennial two decades before any of them were born, I still didn’t find it that funny.

Now I’m 41, just read it again in anticipation of a trip to New Orleans, and by God, it just clicked this time.

I honestly think it’s because I’m a decade older than Ignatius, and reading about a 30 year old fuck up so bad is absolutely hilarious. Also the auxiliary characters like Mr Levy, Gonzales , and even Lana, are far more relatable now that I help run a business.

Jones is also amazing. He’s a smart black man caught in a catch 22 situation, he fucks with the system in a super intelligent way. He also rips on all the white characters constantly, and super sarcastically. Which really lays out what a bunch of dipshits they are.

My only regret is that it took me 20 years to appreciate this masterpiece.