The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared
Length Of Time In Possession : 2 weeks
In this recent massive bestseller, the '100 yr old' in question is Allan Karlsson, who deciding he can't be bothered with the organised cake and reporters for his birthday, legs it out a window in his slippers and goes on an adventure. I read this book for my book club in which we cross compared it to the Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce with which it shares a lot of similarities.
To say that if you liked the Rachel Joyce you'll like this would be untrue as I preferred Harold Fry to this - a sweet touching and in no way overdone story of an ordinary British man, the Jonasson is overblown and often silly. Described in the blurb as 'picaresque' Allan Karlsson is the rogue to Harold Fry's ordinary guy next door. But he's not really a loveable rogue - he's often quite annoying.
The book is a piece of whimsy but from the very outset when he steals a suitcase it's ludicrous, as he travels on his haphazard journey, and various things befall him, he always remains just one step ahead of the police and every disaster turns out ok, and the man quite literally gets away with murder. It gets repetitive. It wears thin.
As we flashback through his life it turns out he was involved in several important historical moments meeting various figures like Franco, Mao and Truman. Somehow the books fantastical qualities start to lose their early charm as they go on and become aggressively annoying.
I was disappointed overall in this book. I found it asinine.
Verdict : 6/10
Destination : Charity shop
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