The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, by Jonas Jonasson

Allan Karlsson firmly believes that "When life has gone into overtime it's easy to take liberties."  So when he crawls out the window of his nursing home, just minutes before his 100th birthday party, sparking a manhunt and a cascading chain of events, he takes it all in stride.  Allan first makes his way to the bus station, where he buys a ticket to as far away as he can get for a 50 crown note.  A young man asks Allan to watch his suitcase while he takes a dump, and Allan impulsively decides to board his bus with the young man's suitcase, leaving the angry young man behind.

It turns out the young man is part of a criminal gang (albeit a small, bumbling one) and the suitcase is full of cash.  As Allan traverses the Swedish countryside, with law enforcement and a criminal gang on his tail, he proceeds more or less obliviously, in search of a good meal and a drink of vodka.  As the story unfolds, Jonasson takes us on a series of flashbacks, telling Allan's life story.  In his century of life, his pursuit of vodka and a good meal took him from Sweden, across Europe, Asia, and the U.S.  Along the way, he dined with presidents and other key figures, crossed the Himalayas on foot, and aided in the development of the atomic bomb.

Allan's simple, common-sense approach to life and Jonasson's wry observations make the book.  For example, on the "fantastic wealth" oil provided for England and Iran.  The wealth went to "mainly England, if the truth be told, but that was only fair because Iran's sole contribution to the project was cheap labor--and of course the oil itself."  Then there was the time Brezhnev "thought that Afghanistan needed his help.  So he sent his elite troops into the country, and they happened to kill the sitting president, so that Brezhnev had no choice but to appoint his own."  Then there was the Anglican priest who tried to convince some Iranian communists to adopt Anglicanism so that "Anglicanism would become the state religion in Iran the day the communists took over."  He did try to pray about his work in Iran: "But God answered with silence.  He did that sometimes, and Father Ferguson always interpreted it to mean that he should think for himself.  Admittedly, it didn't always work out well when the pastor thought for himself, but you couldn't just give up." I can relate to that!

The 100-Year-Old-Man is a fun read, with understated humor and a convoluted story line.  This is the kind of book that Dave Barry's Lunatics was trying to be.  I was reminded more of Jaroslav Hasek's The Good Soldier Svejk.  I only wish Peter Sellers were alive to play Allan in the movie version!  It's been a best seller in Sweden since its publication in 2009, and is now available in English in the U.S.

Thanks to Edelweis and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!