Chatting Books Online Day 107 . To my mind one sign of good book is that when you have finished reading it you are curious . It may have you curious to know what happens next in the lives of the characters in the case of pure fiction . Or you may want to learn more about the region in which the book is set . In the case of books with at least a little basis in fact it can make you curious to learn more about the people and events st the center of the story .
That was the case with the brand new novel I, John Kennedy Toole by Kent Carroll (previously editor-in-chief at Grove Press) and Jodie Blanco . That’s right I said novel . It is the back story of the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel A Confederacy of Dunces. Fans of “Dunces” have all read Walker Percy’s forward and probably thought we knew the story but in this novelized telling of the story we learn so much more and see the story unfold through the eyes of Toole , his creation Ignatius, his editors , and of course his mother .
When I finished reading the book I immediately watched the television interviews with Thelma Toole mentioned in the book . She was being interviewed in relation to the runaway success of the book so many years after her son’s death . Let me tell you after hearing people say she was a force of nature and then reading this book I thought I had a pretty good idea of what I would see - was I wrong . To say someone is
bigger than life is one thing , to watch Thelma Toole talk about herself and her brilliant son is to take it to another level .
The book is written in such a way that even though you know how it will end you keep turning the pages because of the interesting way the story line weaves in and out of time . Starting just before Toole’s death and then flashing both back through time to learn about Toole and his motivations and into the future to see the progress of the book through time even after his death keeps the narrative thoroughly engaging .
A must read for fans of A Confederacy of Dunces and fans of Southern Literature in general .
This book is currently only available in hardcover selling for $25.95 a copy
Day 107 : I, John Kennedy Toole
