The Hundred-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared – Jonas Jonasson

“It had been exciting, the entire journey, but nothing lasts forever, except possibly general stupidity.”

I bought this book because I had already heard about it when it was for sale for £0.20 on Kindle, so I thought I would give it a go. The title is far too long for me to keep typing it, so I will be referring to it as ‘The Hundred-Year Old Man” from now on. People seem to know which book you mean when you call it that, anyway.

The Hundred-Year Old Man tells the story of Allan Karlsson – a man about to celebrate his 100^th birthday. In the beginning, Allan is sitting in his room at an old people’s home in his slippers. He is waiting for his party to start. Journalists are invited, as are the local dignitaries. Everyone is making a fuss, and Allan decides he has had about enough. Given the stories title, what happens next is utterly predictable. Allan climbs out of his window, slippers still attached, and runs away.

What is not predictable is pretty much everything that happens next. Allan embarks on an adventure of epic proportions. It involves a suitcase full of money, a bus ride to nowhere, a group of criminals, an elephant and a beauty. Allan is first suspected of being kidnapped, and then accused by the local press of being a murderer. He locks a man in a fridge, leaves his slippers behind and goes on the run. Well. It’s more of a stroll. Allan can’t walk very fast.

The public, papers and police can’t believe the stories about Allan are true. He is, after all, a hundred year old man! But had they any idea who they were actually chasing, they would have had very little doubt about what Allan Karlsson is capable of doing. Accidentally, of course. Allan’s current story is interrupted every few chapters with tales of a past that includes dinner with Chairman Mao, the development of the atom bomb, and Albert Einstein’s stupid brother Herbert.

This book was very funny in a way that only books can manage. Allan Karlsson is particularly hilarious. He is written as a character who has that incredible bluntness old people possess without knowing it. I could imagine my grandparents saying some of the things he says, and then staring at me quizzically when I laugh about it.

It was a great story, but I think it was slightly above my intelligence level. It was like ‘Forrest Gump’ for clever people. Though I laughed out loud several times, I am certain that I missed a lot of the irony. I just don’t know enough about key events in the twentieth century.

It is slightly predictable in parts, once you have reached the gist that anything can happen to Allan Karlsson, but it was obviously written that way. I was suitably satisfied with the ending. Everything was tied-up as it should be.

This book is perfect for people who love history and read for entertainment, but suitably enjoyable for all if you happen to stumble across it.