The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

The Charmed Life of an Explosives Expert

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson is a farcical tale of a centenarian who escapes an old folk’s home on his hundredth birthday and finds himself in an escapade that leads from one crazy situation to the next.  Allan Karlsson is no stranger to a wild and unusual lifestyle. He’s an explosives expert who, through his career, has met many historical figures along the way. He’s dined with leaders such as Stalin, Harry S. Truman, Charles de Gaulle and many more. The book alternates between his latest adventure and the outrageously far-fetched and funny background of his ten-decade romp through history.

The book, first published in Sweden, has become an international bestselling sensation, much like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but on the complete opposite side of the serious scale.  The 100-Year-Old Man was skillfully written with a hand that had a direct connection to the funny bone. 

I truly enjoyed this highly imaginative book, although I preferred the narration on his current situation a tad more than the historical flashbacks, which seemed a bit too long.  I liked the writing style as well as the story of Allan’s charmed life. A definite thumbs-up.

This was a book club selection and although our members had not all finished it at meeting time, all were enjoying the book. Again, they also thought the narration of the Allan's current situation was a smidgen better than his "Forest Gump-like" meetings with all the prominent historical figures.  Allan's encounters with the mobsters and Sonya were very funny!  Thumbs-up.  

This book met two of my 2015 Book Challenges: Read a book with a number in the title; read a book set in a foreign country.

Happy Reading,

Annette