4thace reviewed La conjura de los necios by John Kennedy Toole (Quinteto)
Review of 'La conjura de los necios' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
I first heard about this book in the 1980s as a work of singular comic genius. I did not know anything about the tragic fate of its author at the time or about the kind of satire it belonged to. Now, having read it, I can understand the sensation it caused at the time it came out, though I don't really go along with the praise and honors (including a Pulitzer Prize) it gained. It is an excellent first novel by an author who worked on perfecting his voice, but I feel as though he could have seen his way through to a second and further work he might have had the talent to amount to something really special. Parts of the book make me think about Evelyn Waugh, Rabelais, or Laurence Sterne, but there is much more that draws on what seems now to be broad stereotype. He certainly …
I first heard about this book in the 1980s as a work of singular comic genius. I did not know anything about the tragic fate of its author at the time or about the kind of satire it belonged to. Now, having read it, I can understand the sensation it caused at the time it came out, though I don't really go along with the praise and honors (including a Pulitzer Prize) it gained. It is an excellent first novel by an author who worked on perfecting his voice, but I feel as though he could have seen his way through to a second and further work he might have had the talent to amount to something really special. Parts of the book make me think about Evelyn Waugh, Rabelais, or Laurence Sterne, but there is much more that draws on what seems now to be broad stereotype. He certainly seems to have had the flood of ideas which would have done well with a more nuanced, finer touch.
I sped through the last third of the book just to make it to the end. It was clear there was not going to be much character development happening, so the revelations at the climax were more a matter of tying up the loose ends.
