Armadillo : A Novel

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's best
Review: I spent a year of my life working the 2AM shift flipping burgers, and Boyd brought that world back to me. I don't know anyone who has ever written so well about sleep, nosleep, and the inner world of the solitary working stiff

Rating:
Summary: MY OUTSTANDING READ FOR THE YEAR 2001
Review: Lorimer Black is a loss adjuster working in the City of London. Unwittingly he becomes a pawn in a darker world and a side of business life, where corruption, greed and snobbery prevail.

From the outset this book had a hold on me. It was fascinating immediately, and very funny. I recognised the characters in people I know and laughed outloud so many times that I became a real pain to those within earshot. I very rarely find literature funny, only Spike Milligan in fact.

The writing is crisp and flows beautifully.

The bad type of British male: slobby, uncouth, aggressive and misogynist was supremely portrayed in Torquil Helvoir - Jayne. I have seen these guys so many times in real life. William Boyd makes the point that despite his name and connections Torquil is no different to other pig ignorant individuals who happen to be below him in the class order.

William Boyd has a fine reporter's eye and can build characters that are believable and a wonder to behold.

There are a number of important themes in this book but the main one is the struggle to be someone other than ourselves. A British trait I am afraid, a response to the class bias where we are judged as soon as we open our mouths, in our accents, the way we speak and dress.

Like so many others in Britain poor Lorimer fell for it hook, line and sinker.

There is a great play in names: Milo Blocj becomes Lorimer Black, David Watts the clapped out rock star had also changed his name. Pretence and more pretence.

The book says that underneath it all we are all the same insecure and fragile individuals. Eventually the unreality catches up and drags us down. We wear armour that eventually proves to be too heavy, to be discarded so that real life can enter. Hence the armadillo - the little armed man. The layers are slowly stripped away. And the final piece - the helmet is cut away.

Despite Lorimer's adherence to style and clambering up the English greasy pole of class snobbery, in the end he reverts back to himself - Milo the European ethnic. That's when he starts to live life and find true happiness.

It is a great book and one of my best reads for the year 2001. I can't wait to read some more William Boyd.

Rating:
Summary: give it sixty pages and you'll be hooked
Review: there are so many threads to this highly entertaining and ultimately compelling blackish comedy that you may well find yourself wondering what on earth is going on after forty or so pages. i urge you to persevere. the threads soon begin to intertwine and what quickly emerges is an affectionately written and brightly amusing thriller-of-sorts with unexpected twists aplenty and enough memorable scenes to make a pretty good movie (in fact i think they're making it into a movie right now - i vote that rufus sewell should play lorimer).

Rating:
Summary: Another Winner From Boyd
Review: This quintessentially English dark comic novel explores the life of star insurance adjuster Lorimer Black, who has constructed an entire confident persona as a shell to disguise his real self. Among the things he keeps private is his insomnia, his "colorful" immigrant background (his real name is Milomre Blocj) and family, and his expensive antique armor collection. Of course, with Boyd at the helm, there are a number of themes being brought out at once: social satire (people keep assuming he's the son of a Scottish aristocrat), identity (he hides beyond the facade that's gotten him ahead), home (he's secretly bought a small home in suburbs), family (he hasn't quite come to grips with his family), obsession (he falls for a mysterious model and tracks her down). This is all laid against a backdrop of professional entanglements that threaten his job and even his life. Be forewarned, it takes about 40 or 50 pages before things start to get clear, but it's worth it. As usual, Boyd's prose crackles with wit as the notion of identity in the modern Western world is held up for examination. Don't be put off by the big themes though, this is a real page-turner. Not everyone will be satisfied with the ending, which leaves a number of loose ends and on an ambiguous note of hope.

Rating:
Summary: Slow start but a great read
Review: Whilst beginning Armadillo, I was slightly put off by the slow start. I thought, a few times, that I might move on to something else. Boyd spends a lot of time setting this one up. However, I continued and the payoff was worth it. Boyd is a fabulous writer and was able to produce this wonderful novel that seems to cross all types of genre barriers - is it a mystery, thriller, romance?

Bottom line: I was very pleased that I read Armadillo. A fine book by a fine author.

Rating:
Summary: London calling
Review: Whilst I can see and appreciate the main themes within this book - being afraid to be yourself and the absurdity of the British class system. I didn't really feel like I got to know any of the characters that well. The twist and turns of the plot seemed pretty far fetched to me. I found it more sad than amusing. Perhaps it speaks more to men than to women, I wouldn't recommend this book to a friend.

Rating:
Summary: High Comedy Mixed With Some Pathos...Perfect
Review: William Boyd is a rare novelist who can write superlative serious, literary fiction (BRAZZAVILLE BEACH) and superlative humorous fiction (A GOOD MAN IN AFRICA). When I came upon ARMADILLO in a bookshop, I had absolutely no qualms about buying it and I felt, quite rightly, that I was going to be in for a very good read.

ARMADILLO is Boyd's send up of the insurance business and it's set in London but the book is far from being a travelogue. The picture Boyd paints of London makes me want to avoid it forever (well, almost), not visit it. In Boyd's London, almost any sort of horrendous misfortune can, and does, befall the unwary (and the wary as well). In fact, Boyd sometimes seems to go overboard in giving us "unsavory" details, but he does give them in a very amusing manner.

The protagonist of ARMADILLO is Lorimer Black, a claims adjuster who just happens to collect ancient bronze helmets as well. There's no connection between the two...Black just has a hankering for ancient bronze helmets...until he comes to realize that even ancient bronze helmets offer no protection at all against the perils of modern day London.

When Black is called upon by his company to investigate a fire that destroyed the Fedora Palace Hotel, the plot and theme of ARMADILLO, which I won't go into here, begin to take shape. Black receives death threats, but they're nothing he can't handle since his brother, the owner of a minicab company, is a rather unsavory character, himself.

Lorimer Black, though, isn't really...Lorimer Black. His real name is Milomre Blocj and he was born to a family of gypsies. Lorimer, however, can easily juggle two identities at the same time (and probably even more). After all, he juggles so much else. The man he is depends heavily on the client he's meeting with and, additionally, he's performing a balancing act of some difficulty by having affairs with two women at the same time, his long time girlfriend, Stella (whose daughter, Barbuda, also gets "into the act") and the ravishing, married actress called, of all things, Flavia Malinverno (Italian for "bad winter" and yes, this does have a meaning in the context of the story).

If the main characters of ARMADILLO are wonderfully drawn (and they are), the minor characters are masterpieces as well. One is a male flower-seller named Marlobe whose views on everything from Parliament to why well-endowed women should have flat heads will remind almost every reader of someone they've met...and perhaps wished they hadn't.

So many books that are billed as "comic novels" end up being tremendous disappointments instead. This is definitely not the case with ARMADILLO. It is rich in characterization, with sharp dialogue (this book is not nearly as subtle as THE BLUE AFTERNOON) and a complex narrative structure. It really is as good as the brilliant BRAZZAVILLE BEACH, but I think some readers will dismiss ARMADILLO as "not as good" simply because it is comedy and not high drama.

ARMADILLO offers us the best of comedic books: a narrative that is truly funny but something with substance as well. There is comedy aplenty in this book, but there is pathos as well and an astute reader won't miss either. Boyd is a marvelous writer. He can do subtle, poignant narrative (THE BLUE AFTERNOON), he can do drama (BRAZZAVILLE BEACH) and he can do comedy (A GOOD MAN IN AFRICA, ARMADILLO). Boyd is a writer who can do just about anything, and, what's more, he does it exceedingly well. I'm on a quest to read everything he's ever written. If you love well-written, comedic novels, you really can't afford to miss this one.