Armadillo

Author: William Boyd
List Price: $24.00
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ISBN: 0375402233
Publisher: Knopf (06 October, 1998)
Sales Rank: 72,206
Average Customer Rating: 3.82 out of 5

Customer Reviews

Rating: 5 out of 5
High Comedy Mixed With Some Pathos...Perfect
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.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Brilliant but flawed, Boyd has done better.
While "Armadillo" is a must read for fans of Boyd, newcomers to this brilliant contemporary author should read "A Good Man in Africa", "The New Confessions", "Brazzaville Beach", and "The Blue Afternoon" before tackling Armadillo.

While Armadillo has the same sublime character development as these earlier works, the plot creates dissonances which are never resolved, and the novel seems to be truncated rather than concluded, as if Boyd intends to give us a second volume but doesn't bother to tell us.

Read the book and enjoy the richness of the characters, but keep in mind that Boyd has done a better job merging character and plot in most of his other works.

Rating: 4 out of 5
London calling
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.

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