Rating: 
Summary: Ranks with the best of Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, & W. Trevor
Review: A brilliant piece of psychology as well as a genuinely good read. Boyd makes the reader really care about his highly flawed protagonist, who is among the most believable in modern literature. "Armadillo" ranks with the best work of William Trevor, Martin Amis, and Ian McEwan.
Rating: 
Summary: Homage, parody or plagarism?
Review: Although Armadillo is a book suffused with rich layers of linguistic wit, refulgent descriptive pieces and on-the-pulse dialogue, it lurks in the shadow of Martin Amis' London trilogy, particulary Money, to which it owes its existence. Boyd's book is a deliciously enjoyable read from alpha to omega. However, some acknowledment, even a journalistic blurb on the cover, should be credited to Amis (the chicken) for providing the blueprint for Boyd (the egg) to imitate, copy, parody, abuse...
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: Armadillo follows the life and career of Lorimer Black, picking up on the many mini-dilemmas and struggles faced by the modern male executive. Lorimer is from a strictly low to middle class background. Working in "The City" whilst maintaining links with family and friends he grew up with, Lorimer finds himself constantly adapting to the surrounding environment. He appears confident most of the time although there are constantly niggles of self-doubt and the feeling that he never quite fits in.The characters and situations encountered are hilarious right from the off and Lorimer is not the only one to face despair at times, however, it is Lorimer that maintains my sympathies throughout. A simple, concise and easy read. Thumbs up!
Rating:
Summary: Really good, but there's better Boyd works out there
Review: Armadillo has wonderful characterization and is very involving, but Boyd has certainly written better novels. The Blue Afternoon, Brazzaville Beach, The New Confessions, all made me wonder at the depth that one man could write on such disparate topics. Armadillo, though very entertaining, lacks this depth. Worth a read, but read the other ones first.
Rating:
Summary: London calling
Review: Armadillo is also a great book for all London-minded readers. It is fun to be able to recognise places and routes mentioned in the book. But I would not recommend the TV adaptation of the book: a lot got lost in it, even though it was adapted by the author himself. The humourous bits and all things about London had gone.
Rating: 
Summary: Not his best
Review: Armadillo is an entertaining well written novel, that's clear. However, I think it's little more than that. It lacks the streght of other novels by Boyd like Braazeville Beach for example. Lorimer Black, the main character, is not consistent: sometimes he is brilliant and then he seems stupid. The explanation of why he is so insecure is found in his past by the reading his diary, but I think it is not convincig.The other characters, like Flavia Malinverno are steal weaker. When I read the novel my conclusion was somethig like: ok I had good fun reading it but what else?
Rating:
Summary: Really good, but there's better Boyd works out there
Review: Based on the book's jacket quotes, I expected a much darker, more ominous book. Instead I got the loss adjuster's version of High Fidelity written more dramatically. Which is fine, since I couldn't imagine the words Kafka and comedy being used in the same sentence anyway. To be fair, Armadillo is deeper, more thoughtful than High Fidelity. Throughout, the protagonist Lorimer Black is woven into a complex, dangerous, and utterly believable tailspin full of symbolic events, coincidences and resolutions. I enjoyed the finely written characters, each so vividly drawn that I snarl at the thought of people I know who fit similar descriptions. I also appreciate how the book left some issues unresolved. There are things that Lorimer doesn't know and never will know and the reader shouldn't either. Believe me, it adds to the enjoyment of reading this book. Overall a very rich, well-told and satisfying story which I'd reccommend to anyone who appreciates modern fiction, especially with an English twist.
Rating:
Summary: Better (and Different) Than I Expected
Review: Based on the book's jacket quotes, I expected a much darker, more ominous book. Instead I got the loss adjuster's version of High Fidelity written more dramatically. Which is fine, since I couldn't imagine the words Kafka and comedy being used in the same sentence anyway. To be fair, Armadillo is deeper, more thoughtful than High Fidelity. Throughout, the protagonist Lorimer Black is woven into a complex, dangerous, and utterly believable tailspin full of symbolic events, coincidences and resolutions. I enjoyed the finely written characters, each so vividly drawn that I snarl at the thought of people I know who fit similar descriptions. I also appreciate how the book left some issues unresolved. There are things that Lorimer doesn't know and never will know and the reader shouldn't either. Believe me, it adds to the enjoyment of reading this book. Overall a very rich, well-told and satisfying story which I'd reccommend to anyone who appreciates modern fiction, especially with an English twist.
Rating: 
Summary: Boyd fails to provide fully comprehensive cover
Review: Boyd can and has done much better than this rather unconvincing tale of deception and self-discovery set against an even less convincing backdrop of sordid property deals and sharp practice in loss adjustment. The book's hero, Black, does eventually come to terms with both his past and, symbolically, his name. He comes to realise that living a largely isolated if materially successful bachelor life is all very well up to a point. What pushes him up to and beyond that point, hardly a literary first this, is his falling hopelessly in love with an actress seen in a TV commercial. The vehemence with which some of Black's quirky preferences are expressed (he likes stylish clothes, he doesn't like smoking, he abhors western pop music...) suggest to me that here speaks the author and he is becoming just a trifle pretentious not to say intolerant. Loss adjustment ? Boyd's view of the commercial world is clearly a cynical, jaundiced one in which the main factors for success are old boy connections, heartlessness, bloody-mindedness and the ability to consume alcohol. It is a world strikingly at odds with the one I know (as a professional of the insurance sector) and, even as a caricature, it is probably some way off the mark. Sleep disorder ? Has been done with a great deal more care and interest before (of course, Jonathan Coe's remarkable "The House of Sleep"). And as for the stylistic device of slipping in a page of italics from the narrator's personal diary every now and then, I think I have read one too many modern books which relies on this trick. On the credit size, the merciless bully of a boss reigning over all whose life he touches jumps off the pages at you and has you cowering behind the sofa. He is the novel's clearest, although not its only, success. At times Boyd writes with compassion and humour, particularly in describing say the family mini-cab operation or a set piece party at which virtually the entire cast of the book makes an appearance. In his more recent works Boyd has abandoned the trademark shock tactics on which his early reputation was largely based. It is not clear from "Armadillo" that he has really found anything with which to replace them.
Rating:
Summary: A profound and brilliant novel
Review: Hilarious and thought provoking. Boyd brings the reader so close to his main character, were it not for for his previous works you would scarcely believe Armadillo is not significantly autobiographical.
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