The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (2009)

It reminds me a lot of Forrest Gump in that we've got a a goofy character who is edited into a ton of 20th-century historical landmarks; he is completely apolitical, loves to blow shit up, and is delightfully devil-may care. His elderly self hasn't changed in the slightest, and so we can continue to see the world through a pair of skewed eyes that are nonetheless quite fun. At first, I thought this might have turned into a modern-day Candide, but the story is still focuses very much on story and has veered away fairly successfully from allegory.

So, after finishing the novel, I can say that it has successfully veered away from any type of overt allegory, may the allegorical heavens be praised. On the other hand, I enjoyed the way that our intrepid hero managed to comment about so many political features of the 20th century by being so apolitical. I personally enjoyed the progress, having read and enjoyed so much history in much the same way the author has. He stayed away from some hot topics of debate and blithely character-dropped the big movers and shakers and it was a blast. I understand there will be a movie? In that case, I certainly hope the cast of actors are up to the job or the CGI gives more than credible performances or else the movie will bomb very hard, otherwise. The novel's strength lies in the reader's nodding at events they've either lived or have a more than passing interest in. Otherwise, the novel becomes a novelette about the zany adventures of craftily created random characters that are so much larger than life precisely because they also have to stand up to real people in the past that did so many great things. (As we are made to believe for our intrepid hero.) If that's the case, then it's a decent enough comedy, but if you're taking the whole novel as a piece, then I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised by the stroll. ( )

Allan Karlsson hat Geburtstag. Er wird 100 Jahre alt. Eigentlich ein Grund zu feiern. Doch während sich der Bürgermeister und die lokale Presse auf das große Spektakel vorbereiten, hat der Hundertjährige ganz andere Pläne: er verschwindet einfach – und schon bald steht ganz Schweden wegen seiner Flucht auf dem Kopf. Doch mit solchen Dingen hat Allan seine Erfahrung, er hat schließlich in jungen Jahren die ganze Welt durcheinander gebracht.

A lot of fun. ( )

Allan Karlsson has finally made his 100th birthday, and the home he is in are holding a party for him. All the local dignitaries will be there, and the press, but the guest of honour has decided that he doesn't want to be. So with a little trouble and effort, he climbs out of the window and walks away from this life.

At the bus station he is asked to look after a case by a rude young man and decides there and then to take the case with him. The guy appears, and upon finding his case missing goes slightly bananas as he is supposed to guarding this with his life. And it is gone. And so begins the latest adventures of Karlsson, as the police and the owners of the suitcase frantically try and find him and the case, with varying levels of failure and mishap.

There are some really funny parts in this story, and it is a nice light summer read. That said a significant portion of the book is about his life in the past that is full of unlikely coincidences and chance meetings with all manner of famous people. The author does tie it all together neatly in the ending, but it just was a little too much. ( )

Unusually, I read the sequel first and enjoyed it so much I sought out the first book. Also unusually, I enjoyed the sequel much more than the first book; I might not have even looked for the sequel if I had read the books in order. There were enough flashes of brilliance and dashes of humor to keep me going, and near the very end it picked up and became funnier, and also began to resemble the sequel. So it was good, but not quite as good as I had hoped. ( )