Jonas Jonasson: The Hundred-Year-Old Man who climbed out of the Window and Disappeared

'The Hundred-Year-Old Man who climbed out of the Window and Disappeared'

It's taken a while, (recently my lunch hours have been taken up with meeting people, rather than reading; actual real people, rather than fictional!) but here it is: my review of Jonas Jonasson's 'The Hundred-Year-Old Man who climbed out of the Window and Disappeared'.

The book follows the story of Allan Karlsson who, on his 100th birthday, does just as the title suggests. Whilst escaping from the old-people's home, he happens upon and steals a suitcase containing fifty million crowns belonging to the infamous gang 'Never Again', and goes on the run. 

Allan is no simple centenarian. Upbeat, amoral and staunchly non-political - like an elderly Forrest Gump - Allan lives by the motto that 'things are what they are and what will be will be', and manages to successfully bundle his way through the chase, gathering around him motley crew of cohorts, including an elephant, and evading capture by both 'Never Again' and the police. 

The story is a dark, comedic farce, requiring the reader to suspend belief as they follow the various - and numerous - twists and turns of the plot. Amidst this quirky, glorified car chase are flashbacks to Allan's past, and how he found himself involved in some of the most influential moments in history: from saving General Franco's life, to accidentally inventing the atom bomb (and informing both sides of how to do it), to comforting a young Kim Jong-Il after he learns 'Uncle' Stalin's death.

Personally, I found the narrative of Allan's past the most engaging. There's something absurd in Jonasson's depictions of some of the most important political moments in history - the chapter of Allan's dinner at the Kremlin and the portrayal of Stalin as a changeable, fickle, man-child is brilliant - and though the plot is utterly ridiculous, each historic event moves from one to the other, resolving each of the previous, that it's quite satisfying to watch it unfold.

The present day plot goes on a little too long, to my mind; the joke can only go so far, and it wore a little thin. Also, Allan comes across as fairly unsympathetic in these sections. He does, after all, end up murdering 2 members of the biker gang, and with a largely ho-hum attitude, though this is perhaps not helped by the simple, literal writing style which offer little to no description or insight into Allan's mind. The ending also felt rushed to me, and altogether too neat, with Allan  getting away with murder, keeping the money and riding off into the sunset with his new friends. But, I did like how the book ended with the final instalment of the flashbacks, explaining how Allan ended up in the old-people's home and taking us right up to the moment where he decided to climb out of the window at the very beginning of to book, bringing us full-circle. 

Ultimately, for me, the book didn't live up to it's hype; I found it funny, but not in the laugh-out-loud way I'd expected, though I imagine fans of Douglas Adams would like it alot.

7/10.