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Title: Armadillo

Author: William Boyd

Narrator: Simon Shepherd

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 1 min

Language: English

Release date: 02-01-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

One winters morning, Lorimer Black - young, good-looking but with a somewhat troubled expression - goes to keep a perfectly routine business appointment and finds a hanged man. A bad start to the day by any standards and an ominous portent. Sure enough, Lorimers life is turned upside down and inside out in ways he could never have foreseen...An unabridged reading by Simon Shepherd.

Members Reviews:

Armadillo

I enjoyed this novely enormously and thought that Simon Shepherd's reading was excellent. I understand a previous reviewer's comments on the breathy quality of the reading but did not find it at all off-putting and felt it was perfectly suited to the dialogue. A very intelligent and enjoyable read.

armadillo

William Boyd is a great story teller and this book takes you into the complex and often humorous world of a cast of three dimensional and believable characters. It's one of those books that you're really sorry when you get to the end.

A gripping novel well read

A gripping and enigmatic novel, excellently read. I'm mystified by another reviewer's criticism of the reading as breathless

A mixed bag of a book

After a startling incident introducing the central character, Lorimer Black, as an employee of a shady firm of loss-adjusters, the book expands out in all directions with several sub-stories and diverse characters that dilute the impact of the central theme of an insurance scam that drives Lorimers stable life into a Kafkaesque decline. William Boyds fluid writing-style and imaginative descriptions carry the book, but I felt theres too much self-indulgent insertions of irrelevant details upon such diverse topics as military armour (Black collects helmets) and the psychoanalytical interpretation of dreams. Lorimers insomnia triggers many facts about sleep and sleep research not all of which are correct. The author just has too many themes in the book that he wanted to write about: less would have been better. As the narrative progressed I became more and more irritated by the repeated insertion of the words The Book of Transfiguration and three digit numbers popping up at random leaving me with the impression that I wasnt clever enough to pick up some literary or mathematical allusion. I could deduce some allusions to transformation by a change of name such as Lorimer Black, changing from Milmre Blocj. (I read elsewhere its an anagram). Id hoped that all would become clear by the end, but the book just stopped abruptly with threads left dangling.

The narrator is very good.

another thought-provoking read of earlier Boyd

Boyd's most recent books have all been different sorts of pure thrillers - Restless and Ordinary Thunderstorms for example. Since listening to them I've gone back to his earlier works. I found Brazzaville Beach a less 'fun' read but it asked harder questions for and of the reader. Similarly Armadillo was less of a page-turner but still a great listen. The main character Lorimer is extremely well sketched, with insights into his complex behaviour and history shared as the story in the present day is spun. Excellent narration augments a potent package.