A Confederacy of Dunces
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Tooleby John Kennedy Toole
Shares rank 74 of 122 novels by recommenders
People recommend it as a hilarious, great novel that still feels relevant, and its audiobook has convincing American accents.
People recommend it as a hilarious, great novel that still feels relevant, and its audiobook has convincing American accents.
3 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 3
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 3 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Very funny and entertaining
“John Kennedy Toole’s hilarious A Confederacy of Dunces”
Comment from 27 Nov 2025 in “Willis Whitfield: Creator of clean room technology still in use today (2024)” Relatable, comically disastrous protagonist
“would be a personally-relatable disaster (to start with; it's great)”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Successful Psilocybin Treatment of Alzheimer” Audiobook has convincing American accents
“this has multiple American accents that I bet no non native speaker could capture”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “How to Read More Books” Still relevant today
“it's as applicable as ever”
Comment from 5 May 2026 in “Pulitzer Prize Winners 2026”
Other novels people recommend
The four most recommended other novels, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime and Punishmentby Fyodor Dostoevsky | 39 | 9 | 81% | 6 | — | Approved |
| The Brothers Karamazovby Fyodor Dostoevsky | 28 | 8 | 78% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Infinite Jestby David Foster Wallace | 26 | 5 | 84% | 9 | 10 yrs6 owners | Approved |
| The Great Gatsbyby F. Scott Fitzgerald | 24 | 9 | 73% | 6 | — | Approved |
| A Confederacy of Duncesby John Kennedy TooleThis page | 3 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 4 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“this has multiple American accents that I bet no non native speaker could capture”
“would be a personally-relatable disaster (to start with; it's great)”
“it's as applicable as ever”
“John Kennedy Toole’s hilarious A Confederacy of Dunces”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.