What a peculiar novel.
I had to slog through this book and at various times was convinced it was repeating itself. I’m slowly understanding that books that win major awards such as the Pulitzer or Man-Booker are somewhat dense to read, whereas the books that almost make it, but don’t are considerably easier to read. When it comes to this novel, the author’s personal story is tragic, but perhaps not as tragic as Ignatius J. Reiley’s story, his protagonist.
This story takes place in New Orleans and has the most interesting cast of characters, from Jones and Lana Lee to Detective Mancuso and George to Myrna and Irene to Ms. Trixie, Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Levy – all have encountered Ignatius J. Reiley and have not necessarily remained the same. Having never been to New Orleans I can’t confirm this, but I felt that Toole’s writing of the accents was brilliant even if I couldn’t read or give voice to all of them.
I purchased this book with the 13 or 14 others at the 
I finished reading Room in three days. Now that might not sound like much of a feat, but it was actually closer to 48 hours (which if you know me still isn’t much of a feat, but with a full-time job and a million other things to do, it sounds like a challenge). After hearing Emma Donoghue read a portion of the first chapter (
I assumed this was a random small collection of short stories as I picked it up for very cheap at the 2010 Boston Book Festival, but this past week I was in a Barnes and Noble (resisting going off on a ridiculous rant about BN) this past week and it was on display with other ‘New Fiction.’
“I was suddenly aware of how ignorant I was, alive with curiosity, doing academic work at a level I would not have thought possible a few years before. I did not know it yet, but I was learning the basic educational fact of life: the answers are meaningless until the questions are asked.” (17)