A well-read colleague recommended this book to me as the funniest book he has ever read but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much. It's humour mainly comes from absurd yet realistic situations and larger-than-life characters but, unfortunately, after years of exposure to the dregs of the internet the scenarios in this book seem pretty tame and no longer surprise me. It is set in 1960s New Orleans but the main character would definetly be a terminally online reddit poster if he was alive today. In fact, I was constantly seeing parallels with the book and stuff that is now common in society/online and it made me cringe rather than laugh.
For example:
Man religiously goes to smutty movies in order to complain about them, he yells at the screen
Gays are more interested in having a degenerate orgy than talking politics
Man has a masters degree but can't hold down entry level jobs (because he is too smart
)Man rationalizes wearing comfy outfit in innapropriate settings as being for safety reasons
Smelly hippie girl puts minorities on a pedestal and turns on them when they don't support her progressive politics
Man's nebulous health condition flares up suddenly to get him out of uncomfortable situations (r/longcovid)
Man is so absurdly gluttonous he eats 6 hotdogs (modern fatties wouldn't even see him as fat)
Man becomes obsessed with porn lady because he thinks she has similar interests to him (https://twitch.tv)
Woman hates her husband and manipulates her kids into hating him too (but stays with him for the money)
Person's brain is broken by fear-mongering politics
Man organises worker/racial rights protest just to get social clout
Man wanks into rubber glove
As you can see, these situations would seem absurd to a normie but are pretty tame compared to stuff that pops up on rdrama frequently. So if you ever meet someone who loves A Confederacy of Dunces you must treasure them and do your best to protect them from the degeneracy of the internet.
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The reasons listed are the exact reason why I loved it so much thoughever
It was a weirdly accurate portrayal of someone terminally online and outwardly proud of it without any actual introspection
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I'm not saying I hate the book or even those particular moments. I think the book is fun and memorable but just that internet over-exposure meant that a lot of the intended shock factor was lost on me.
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