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

Title: The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

Author: Jonas Jonasson

Number of pages: 400

What’s it about?

It all starts on the one-hundredth birthday of Allan Karlsson. Sitting quietly in his room in an old people's home, he is waiting for the party he-never-wanted-anyway to begin. The mayor is going to be there. The press is going to be there. But, as it turns out, Allan is not... Slowly but surely Allan climbs out of his bedroom window, into the flowerbed (in his slippers) and makes his getaway. And so begins his picaresque and unlikely journey involving criminals, several murders, a suitcase full of cash, and incompetent police. As his escapades unfold, we learn something of Allan's earlier life in which - remarkably - he helped to make the atom bomb, became friends with American presidents, Russian tyrants, and Chinese leaders, and was a participant behind the scenes in many key events of the twentieth century.

Opening words:

You might think he could have made up his mind earlier, and been man enough to inform his surroundings of his decision. But Allan Karlsson had never been given to pondering things too long.

So the idea had barely taken hold in the old man’s head before he opened the window of his room on the ground floor of the Old Folks’ Home in the town of Malmköping, and stepped out— into the flower bed

Read a longer extract here

What I thought:

This book – or at least the story - has been in the public eye a bit more of late because it has recently been made into a film. However, I am a great believer in reading the book before you see the film. You get to paint your own images in your mind - and books can often cover much more territory than a film can. And this book certainly covers a lot of territory. It’s a romp through 100 years of history, with a spritely centenarian who decides he will escape from a nursing home rather than attend his 100th birthday party.

We join Allan Karlsson on his journey both in the present (with a gangster’s money-filled suitcase) and in the past (as he accidentally stumbles his way into various major moments in history). I enjoyed this book, it was fun and, just about, credible, although by the end of the book it was perhaps pushing the bounds of believability. Think of it as a kind of Swedish Forrest Gump.

Buy the book