Name: Monicap's review of The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
Item: The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared
Rating: 3
Author: Monicap

Jonas Jonasson

Sitting quietly in his room in an old people's home, Allan Karlsson is waiting for a party he doesn't want to begin. His one-hundredth birthday party to be precise. The Mayor will be there. The press will be there. But, as it turns out, Allan will not . . . Escaping (in his slippers) through his bedroom window, into the flowerbed, Allan 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, Allan's earlier life is revealed. A life in which - remarkably - he played a key role behind the scenes in some of the momentous events of the twentieth century. Translated by Roy Bradbury.

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

Lorraine

On his 100th birthday Allan Karlsson makes his escape from the old people's home and embarks on an unlikely and momentous adventure.

The Hundred-year-old Man who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

Monicap

I LOVED this book. It was so much fun. I was actually far more interested in the chapters of Allan's history than the actual story-- the 'current' chapters distracted me, they were something I had to get through. Still, this book was awesome, highly recommended.

Sarah Sammis

kathi 

irgendwas ist immer für irgendwas gut. das buch bestätigt das tatächlich ^-^
erheiternd, bonkers aber auf die gute art

Wynter

I saw the movie a while back and found it charming and kooky. The book followed along very closely at first, but got too political by the end, which drags things out. At one point you start wondering when this is going to wrap up. Allan's adventures around the world are fun and over the top, just like they are supposed to be, coming from an eccentric 100-year-old man. It's too bad the last half of the book kind of let me down.

heleen de boever

Simple but very enjoyable read. Lovely set of characters, and all the historical references really add to the enjoyment.

Sam Missingham

The Hissing Saint

UTTERLY ABSURD!

And that exactly is where the charm of the book lies.

So we have the protagonist who at the start of the book decides to ditch his rather boring plain existence at an Elder home and embark on a journey with no destination.

As the journey progresses he meets other strange characters and his weird crazy past unfolds in which he had seemingly influenced world events from the creation of the atomic bomb to the arms race and star wars. 

If you like reading absurd fiction and don't mind an author throwing caution to the wind in favor of writing a fantastic story you will love this book. 

Fabulous book!

Ri Liu

You will read this whole book with a smile on your face.

Bo Jeanes

Claire Jenkins

Although at the beginning you feel like you are thrown right into things, I really struggled with the first 30 or 40 pages as I really didn't like the writing style. However I persevered and was rewarded with a really good read. I enjoy the way the narrative flicks between past and present meaning it never got tedious.

Nadine 

Really enjoyed it. Yes it is very Forest Gump, but it's fun and very funny. When it got to the point where they needed to construct their story it was down right ingenious. Not great literature but a fun quick read that's not rubbish.

Kelsi Proulx

I really hoped to enjoy this one more than I did. It started out well but it just kind of got worse as it went on. As the title seems to imply, there is far too much going on in this book. Too many characters, too many events to keep track of, it just felt extremely convoluted and I found it hard to stay interested. The book tries to cover 100 years of history along with a parallel modern day story in less than 400 pages. It's just too much.

Julija M

Steffi

5 for the story, but 1 for how tedious all of it was. It took me a week to finish this and that was mainly due to it feeling like a literature assignment more than something I would pick up for fun. I finally just read from page 84 to the end today and that was forced, but I just wanted to be done.

Georgia Carr

Tracey O’Rourke

Silly story, a little Forrest Gump like. Allan is a hilarious, always positive and entertaining sort, and there are a lit of great lines in this engaging story. But it still doesn't add up to more than a little silliness.

Alex

DNF, too boring, unfortunately I wasn't interested in the story after half of the book, so I decided not to finish it.

Karim Nas

Imaginative, witty, funny. An epic 100 years of journey all around the globe. An exciting 463 pages of fantastic adventure. I feel sad that it had to end. Love it!

Pam Sartain

This is probably better than 3 stars, but it's taken me a while to read, as it didn't grip me, so in my head it wasn't that great!

Lisa Trebilcock

DNF at 68%

At first, this book was clever and witty. Then, it became too tedious. I love historical novels, but found references to a number of political events/figures distracting.

Nadia

Hmm the book was okay. It wasn’t what I would usually read and it was so ridiculous. I also found some of it quite boring, but there were other times when it was really good. 

It did overall feel a bit of a waste of time tbh, but it was lighthearted and I did like most of the characters so I’m not really sure what to think on this book. 

Not sure if I would read the second one, I do like to finish series but I’m not sure.

Andrea Johnová

Stoletý stařík, který vylezl z okna a zmizel. Povedená kniha od švédského autora. Ze začátku mě tato kniha neoslovila, ale postupem času jsem k ní našla cestu. Je to kniha plná humoru. Nejlepší části z knihy podle mě byli, kde se vyprávělo, co Alan zažil ve svém mládí a v pokročilém věku. No představte si to, on se setkal s Frankem, s několika prezidenty a dvěma čínskými vůdci a i se Stalienem. Není to zajímavé. Prožil to jen jeden člověk. Tolik dobrodružství. Pobavilo mě i několik scén, ale nějaké i zhnusili. Nejvíce se mi nelíbila scéna, kdy slonice Soňa umačkala svým pozadím člověka. Jinak musím uznat, že styl psaní tohoto autora je skvělý. Má takový osobitý styl. Popis postav a prostředí je také skvělé.

Vida Koster

I've seen reviews that said this book is unrealistic etc, but honestly it is not meant to be realistic. This is fiction. It asks the question - what would happen if one guy was really unlucky and really lucky at the same time, and was accidentally involved in some of the most important events of the 20th century. The result is that Allan is thrown into bizarre and absurd situations and that is what makes this book fun! Again, the situations and how everything plays out is never meant to be plausible or realistic, just fun.

Ethel

Entertaining and fun, though quite difficult to get into

Key words: contemporary fiction, humour, adventure, historical, Swedish literature

This book was so difficult to get into. Proof is that I started it two months ago and kept putting it off. However, this doesn’t mean the story was good, in fact I really liked it. The story is original, unbelievable yet believable and quite funny. I think my non-connection was just due to the tone of the book, which is really distant and as if not caring. I liked the different characters but didn’t fell in love with them, again due to the writing style I think. It just didn’t work that well for me. However, I have to acknowledge that it is quite an original style and the way the sentences were put made me smile and laugh more than one time. It was quite entertaining. Hence I would say, give it a try, you might be positively surprised.

3.5/5

Lorraine &
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

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Lorraine &
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson