The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (The Hundred-Year-Old Man #1)

Jennie

Rating: really liked it
And the title was so promising...

Dumb. Oh so dumb. The humor, if it could be called that, is roughly on par with children's knock knock jokes. And this feeble comedy is hammered on with an incredible relentlessness over 400 pages.

Ha ha...people drink vodka! Ha ha! A man who doesn't like politics meets every important political leader over 5 decades...ha ha! Religion and politics are dumb. Guffaw guffaw.

I actively groaned more times than be counted. I suppose this title will be the darling of book groups comprised of older ladies (centenarians?) but it's a horrid mashup of Big Fish and Forrest Gump. Appalling.

Readers are also expected to be dumb enough to swallow the idea that Sweden does not have access to forensic science in the year of our Lord 2005.

*Very slight spoiler alert below*

I found myself wondering at the "ho-hum" attitude of our "hero" in the face every every major event of his life...who the fuck would want to live 100 years with that kind of blase feeling about everything?! Are we supposed to root for a man who can't even be bothered to care that he spends a large portion of his 100 years behind bars?

Angela Oliver

Rating: really liked it
First it was funny, then it was tedious, then it was just annoying. The name dropping, the fact that one person could have such an influence on world politics. Very farcical. I think what bugged me the most was when they convinced the police officer to join them. Everything was just too smooth, too convenient. I struggled to finish it and I cannot understand what all the hype is about. The writing style seemed off to - aside from the lack of speech marks, there was a lot of repetition and unnecessary bits that I feel might have been the fault of the translator. Essentially this is a yarn. A really, really long yarn. A yarn that you could use to knit scarves for a whole classroom. And, it's kinda lame too. Not worth the effort, but hey, I only wasted two days on it. I'm just glad I read fast.

Robin Webster

Rating: really liked it
I don’t think I’ve ever read a book where the title so sums up what the book is all about. The story is set in Sweden and is about the life and adventures of our hero Allan Karlsson who on his hundredth birthday climbed out the window of his old people’s home and disappeared. He then sets out on a journey where he steals a suitcase which turns out to contain a fortune that was paid over to a group of bikers by a Russian organized crime syndicate as payment for a drug deal. There then follows an unlikely but very amusing story of drug dealers trying to track the money down and the police starting a nationwide hunt for Allan after a warrant is issued for a triple murder. As the book progresses, Allan collects a motley crew of really interesting but flawed characters plus an elephant, that somehow all manage to stay one step ahead of the police for much of the book. The book is also interspersed with flashbacks of Allan’s life and how he inadvertently managed to be in the right place at the wrong time and helped influence a number of events and changed the course of twentieth century history.
This book is pure entertainment as far as I am concerned. I wouldn’t say I was finding myself exploding into fits of hysterical laughter as I read the book. However, I found myself smiling as I turned the pages and couldn’t help but chuckle at some of the situations that Allan and his group of friends found themselves in. A great feel good book that I would recommend to anybody.

Richard Derus

Rating: really liked it
Pearl Ruled (p100)--coincidentally, the end of chapter 8!
***see update below***
Rating: 1.5* of five

The Publisher Says: The international publishing sensation--over two million copies sold A reluctant centenarian much like Forrest Gump (if Gump were an explosives expert with a fondness for vodka) decides it's not too late to start over...

After a long and eventful life, Allan Karlsson ends up in a nursing home, believing it to be his last stop. The only problem is that he's still in good health, and one day, he turns 100. A big celebration is in the works, but Allan really isn't interested (and he'd like a bit more control over his vodka consumption). So he decides to escape. He climbs out the window in his slippers and embarks on a hilarious and entirely unexpected journey, involving, among other surprises, a suitcase stuffed with cash, some unpleasant criminals, a friendly hot-dog stand operator, and an elephant (not to mention a death by elephant).

It would be the adventure of a lifetime for anyone else, but Allan has a larger-than-life backstory: Not only has he witnessed some of the most important events of the twentieth century, but he has actually played a key role in them. Starting out in munitions as a boy, he somehow finds himself involved in many of the key explosions of the twentieth century and travels the world, sharing meals and more with everyone from Stalin, Churchill, and Truman to Mao, Franco, and de Gaulle. Quirky and utterly unique, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared has charmed readers across the world.


My Review: Seriously, Sweden? THIS is the best you've got to offer?

I am not a charmed reader, I'm a ticked-off reader who does not wish to continue on the tedious journey between 2005 and, as of chapter 9 which I did not read, WWII. I've already been dragged back to 1905. Oh hell, I didn't like this “utterly unique” (someone needs to explain the concept of a superlative, therefore unmodifiable, part of speech to the copywriter) bag of doorknobs and frankly can't see why anyone would. It's ponderous, it's got disagreeable people practically bursting from it, and it's supposed to be charming?

And Winston Groom's people should be examining the damn thing right close. That Forrest Gump comparison sounds to me like the sound of a gun being spiked: “Look! We admitted it was a lift! No one's hiding it!”

I'll say not. Not hiding the dullness, either. Yeccch.

***UPDATE 5/6/2013***

Disney Nordic and Studiocanal are releasing a film at Christmas. Everyone but me, it seems, loves the thing:

“The book is already establishing itself as a major brand around the world. For us as theatrical distributors, we think we have a winner based on what we saw so far of the powerful film adaptation the producers and our partners at Disney will be delivering at the end of the year,” said Harold Van Lier, exec VP international distribution at Studiocanal. “It is an incredibly cinematic story that is very warm and filled with feel-good humor. It will undoubtedly be one of the major films coming out of Scandinavia at the end of this year.”

Ahmad Sharabiani

Rating: really liked it
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson

Allan Karlsson is about to celebrate his hundredth birthday, and his retirement home in Malmköping is planning to throw a party.

Allan is alert despite his age, but is not interested in attending the party. Instead, he climbs out the window and disappears.

He walks to the nearest bus station, intending to travel as far as his available cash will allow. While at the bus station, he meets an angry young man with a suitcase which he cannot bring into the toilet as it is too large, so he desperately asks Allan to take care of it.

However, Allan's bus soon arrives and Allan boards it, taking the suitcase with him onto the bus. The suitcase turns out to be stuffed with drug dealers' money; Karlsson is chased by the dealers trying to recover their lost cash. Meanwhile, the retirement home calls the police to search for Allan.

The police have no knowledge of the money and are only looking for Allan, who is known to be somewhat absent-minded. He gets caught up in criminal activity by accident and ends up, unknown to him, being hunted by both the police and a gang of murderous criminals.

Allan manages to outwit one of the criminals with a help of a thief; the criminal freezes to death in a cooler and his body is later thrown into a container heading for Ethiopia. During his escape, Allan meets a few other people, including one who owned an elephant. Allan then outwits another gang member by getting the elephant to crush him to death; the gang member's body is inadvertently sent to Latvia in the boot of a Ford Mustang. ...

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «مرد صد ساله‌ ای که از پنجره فرار کرد و ناپدید شد»؛ «پیرمرد صد ساله ای که از پنجره بیرون پرید و ناپدید شد؛»؛ نویسنده: یوناس یوناسون؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز شانزدهم آگوست سال 2014میلادی

عنوان: مرد صد ساله‌ ای که از پنجره فرار کرد و ناپدید شد؛ نویسنده: یوناس یوناسون؛ مترجم: فرزانه طاهری؛ تهران، نیلوفر، چاپ سوم 1393، در372ص؛ شابک: 9789644485978؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان سوئد - سده 21م

در سال 1392 با عنوان: پیرمرد صد ساله ای که از پنجره بیرون پرید و ناپدید شد؛ انتشارات به نگار؛

داستان زندگی پیرمرد قهرمان داستان، از ورای تاریخ سده ی بیستم میلادی را، البته به‌ طنز مرور می‌کنیم؛ در حقیقت نویسنده کتاب هر بار به بهانه‌ ای قهرمان داستان را در یک رشته رخدادهای تصادفی درگیر می‌کند، تا او با تعدادی از مهم‌ترین شخصیت‌های سیاسی سدهٔ بیستم میلادی دمخور شود «استالین»، «فرانکو»، «ترومن»، «چرچیل»، «مائو»، «کیم ایل سونگ» و …، از اینراه و با مرور یادمانهای پیرمرد، خوانشگر به صورت طنز، در بطن رویدادهایی همچون «ساخت بمب اتم»، «جنگ‌های داخلی اسپانیا»، و «انقلاب چین»، قرار می‌گیرد؛ نویسنده حتی، قهرمان داستان را در سال‌های دهه ی 1320هجری خورشیدی، به «ایران» هم میآورد، و باعث میشود او توسط سازمان امنیت وقت دستگیر هم بشود؛ در این میان، نه راوی و نه آدم‌های اثر، هیچکدام در پی ارائه ی تصویری درست و واقعی، از زندگی و رخدادهای گذشته و حال نیستند؛ آن‌ها، واقعیت را در هم می‌شکنند، آن را به بازی می‌گیرند، و از نو بنایش می‌کنند؛ این ویران کردن و دوباره ساختن، در سایه ی طنز رخ میدهد؛ و طنز است که ماجراهای گذشته، و حال را، به هم پیوند می‌دهد، و ماجراها را پیش می‌برد؛ نویسنده در این اثر از «رخدادهای تاریخی»، «اندیشه»، «فلسفه»، «کتاب مقدس»، تا «مظاهر روزمره ی زندگی» را، به بازی طنز می‌گیرند، و دنیایی می‌سازند که به گفته ی خود ایشان، به نحوی هوشمندانه، «ابلهانه» است

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 28/07/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 16/06/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

Kevin Ansbro

Rating: really liked it
"I bear a charmed life."
-William Shakespeare.


Oh, what a fun read this was!
A real delight.
My wife was the first to devour it on a recent holiday and while doing so she chortled, chuckled and cackled with such gusto that I imagined someone had let a hyena and a kookaburra loose in our hotel room!
"Oh, you must read this, Kevin! You must read it!" She urged.
(And so I did).

Allan Karlsson absconds from an old people's home on the eve of his hundredth birthday.
He's on the run from the authorities in his urine-stained slippers, like a geriatric Jason Bourne.

This is a centenarian who has nothing to lose. He's previously led a mercurial existence and this last hurrah is the cherry to crown a life of hurrahs.
Crazily ludicrous and delightfully hilarious, we watch this man's Quixotic quest unfold at a snail's pace, though he is the tortoise to his trackers' hare.

'Bolt & Bucket' might sound like a great name for a hardware store, but these are in fact the idiot henchmen who have a part to play in the story.

In his youth, Karlsson had already used up each one of his nine lives, at one stage daring to suggest to Stalin that he might look better with his moustache shaved off!

I too chortled, chuckled and cackled while reading this inoffensive little novel, and it may tickle your funny bone too.

The only thing that I don't like about the book is that it takes the best part of the day to type the title! : )

UPDATE:
If you've already enjoyed the book, I'd like to recommend the movie DVD/Blu Ray, which I watched today.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hundred-Year...
https://www.amazon.com/100-Year-Old-C...

Caz (littlebookowl)

Rating: really liked it
This was fairly enjoyable and funny, but a little out there for my taste. While I understand that a lot of the crazy and unrealistic things that happen were for comedic effect, I tired of it eventually.
If you are looking for a witty, funny, light-hearted tale, maybe give it a try!

Libbeth

Rating: really liked it
If I could have read this book at school instead of dull text books 'O'level history would have been brought to life. I enjoyed the way historical figures and events were tied in with Allan's remarkable life story, I enjoyed the characters, the daftness of it all and of course what's not to love about an elephant.

F

Rating: really liked it
I loved this book! I have a soft spot for old men so maybe that helped!
I totally adored this old man! Such a sweetie and lead a very interesting life being involved in key points in history. (although I did find one or two of these historic chapters dragged on a bit)

Went straight into the story and the story was brillant.

Had so many unexpected events and moments in this book. Great characters including the chief inspector. Was brillant and kept me hooked the entire way through it. If in all honestly I did prefer the original story compared to the lengthy historic parts but they were very much enjoyed too.

Loved it!

Baba

Rating: really liked it
A pretty neat comedy about a 100 year old man 'escaping' from an old people's home and getting involved in an outlandish and funny adventure; an adventure in which his incredible past is also revealed. Another sterling effort from Scandinavia! 8 out of 12.

2013 read

Simonne

Rating: really liked it
Totally bizar book :) A Forust gump kind of feeling. I've never read any kind of book like this one.
The author made me wonder many times what to expect next and often I had a smile on my face.

A bizar great fun kind of book.

Becky

Rating: really liked it
My first thought upon finishing this book (and the thought will sound negative but it's really not) is that it was much longer than I thought it would be. And I say that, not negatively, because truly, how much can you expect from an 100-year-old man who climbs out of a window?

Well, Allan Karlsson is not your typical 100-year-old man, and this book will prove it to you. I read some of the reviews before I started it, and many people compared the book to the movie Forrest Gump. After finishing the book, I realize I hadn't once thought of Forrest Gump, nor made any comparisons. (Maybe I haven't seen Forrest Gump enough times).

I enjoyed reading this book because it's very cleverly funny, and with so many historical figures thrown in you'll lose track of how Allan came into contact with them. From President Truman/Johnson/Nixon, Mao Tse-Tung, Kim Il-sung AND Kim Jong-il, Stalin, and Brezhnev, Allan's story is unbelievable and over-the-top. But the fact remains that, sometimes, life can be so unbelievable, it has to be true.

The narrative goes between Allan's history and what happens to him after he climbs out of the window of the elderly folks home on his 100th birthday. The fact that Allan is in an old folks home would lead you to believe he's a doddering old man who has been deteriorating there for some time, but in fact he'd only been in the home for a few months, and only then because he'd blown his own house to the sky.

Sound interesting?

The book follows Allan through his past and present adventures and makes the reader feel kind of bad that they haven't had a coffee with at least ONE former communist leader (what kind of life have I been leading, anyway??) unlike Allan, who has sung, danced, drank, ate, AND had coffee - with a lot of them. I enjoyed Allan as a character who is extremely mild-mannered, with absolutely no interest in politics or religion, and thus ends up working and travelling to any number of political and religious places. The storyline and characters blend and flow very well, and while this wasn't a book I couldn't put down because I HAD to know what was going to happen, it did keep my interest and I enjoyed it.

Plus...wouldn't you hope that - if you had the misfortune to make it to the age of 100 - you would be brave enough to climb out of a window and start over again?

Adina

Rating: really liked it
This weekend I saw the movie based on the book and I decided to upgrade my rating because I realized I enjoyed this book a lot. This is the perfect example of a well executed dark comedy. Jonas Jonasson sets the bar for humor literature for me. Such a a crazy, imaginative, delightful book this is.

Charlotte May

Rating: really liked it
2.5 stars.
I really had to push myself through this.
The premise was great - a one hundred year old man climbs out of the window in his old people's home and goes on an adventure, meanwhile we follow a separate timeline of his life before the home - Forrest Gump style.
I genuinely thought it would be great, and actually the present day parts were quite funny sometimes albeit just plain ridiculous everywhere else! But the parts that flashed back to his past, where he seemed to meet every political leader and contribute to both sides in nearly every war was just too much for me. I love a bit of madness and things that are obscure don't bother me, but I just couldn't work out how I was supposed to process this. As humorous craziness? Or just mad old coincidences? Believable but unlikely stories told by a senile old man?
I just couldn't make it fit in my mind, not to mention all the name dropping and political alliances that my poor brain just couldn't follow and frankly didn't care about either!
Not for me I'm afraid, I'll give an extra half star for creativity but I don't think I'll be reading anymore of Jonasson's books.

Hal

Rating: really liked it
This novel is absolutely insane! It destroys any image you may have of the stoic, humorless Swede. You may want to avoid reading this book in public. Your guffaws, snickers and smiles are apt to draw weird looks from folks around you.

"The 100-Year-Old Man..." was a hit when first published in Swedish and continued as a comedic smash when translated into English.

It is certainly a rewriting of history. You meet a Franco, a Truman, a Mao, a Nixon and others along the way who are nothing like the historic personages you think you know. Throw in a bunch of Swedes, some would-be criminals, a dull-witted prosecutor and an elephant and you have a story that is zany, hilarious and any other adjective you care to ascribe to it.

And it all begins with a centenarian in a retirement home who couldn't/wouldn't face the hullabaloo over his 100th birthday and climbed out the window and disappeared and left hilarity in his wake.