The Hundred Year Old Man who Climbed out of the Window and Disappeared

For a while this book was everywhere. It was in all the book shops and it had been made into a film, which was being advertised wherever I looked. So I figured it was high time I read it to see what all the fuss was about....

The first thing that has to be said is: this novel was so very funny! The main character, Allan Karlsson’s history seems so far-fetched which adds to the hilariousness of the story. The story is told through events which are occurring in the present, as well as flash backs which show the reader what Allan got up to in his younger years. I much preferred reading the flash back parts because they were the most entertaining. Allan seems to have been involved in major events in history. He meets British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, US President Harry Truman, Chairman Mao, and other historical figures. He, apparently, was the brains behind the atom bomb, and how that came into being is also ridiculous. I really enjoyed how the author, Jonas Jonasson, intertwined Allan’s character into the fabric of real world history. Not only was this a good opportunity to refresh my history knowledge, but it was also laugh out loud funny.

I found the present events (so not the flashback bits) to be a bit nerve wracking at first. I am a sympathetic reader (which means I cry openly at the sad bits, I laugh out loud at the funny bits, I pull weird facial expressions at the confusing bits…sometimes this happens in public and I can’t help it), and so I was feeling really nervous and worried because things go from bad to worse pretty quickly. However, by the end of the novel, order is restored and the ending is a very happy one.

I don’t know how I feel about this novel though. I found it to be rather entertaining and there were a lot of funny passages, but I don’t think this is a book I’d read again in a hurry. I wonder if seeing it everywhere and hearing all these good things about it really raised my expectations because, I have to say, I was a little disappointed. But I guess life would be very boring if you liked everything you read, right?