Friday 20 February 2015

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


Reviewer: Liza Perrat, author of Spirit of Lost Angels and Wolfsangel

What we thought: Not the type of book I would normally read, I ended up really enjoying this as a light-hearted, holiday read, with many more layers of meaning between the lines.

After a long and incredibly adventurous life, Allan Karlsson finds himself in a nursing home, turning 100 years old. They are planning a party for him, but Allan doesn’t want to be there, so he climbs out of the window and escapes. From there on, he embarks on a series of hilarious, spontaneous adventures that often had me laughing out loud and kept me turning the pages right to the end.

Allan’s present life features criminals, hot-dog stand operators, women and elephants, whilst his past life, woven into the narration, tells of the roles he played in some of the most important events of the 20th century, alongside people such as Stalin, Churchill, Truman, Franco and de Gaulle.

Unique and eccentric, this tale urges us all to simply jump out the window, leaving our mundane lives behind, to embark on unknown adventures. Highly entertaining.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Forrest Gump-like tales

Avoid if you don’t like: Funny adventurous and quirky stories

Ideal accompaniments: Vodka, vodka and more vodka

Genre: Mainstream Fiction

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