Optimistic story...A 100 year old Forrest Gump! Fun and ironic.

Quirky humor. I thought it dragged on occasion, otherwise I would have given it four stars. Don\\\\\\\'t let my dragged comment keep you away from the book though - overall, I enjoyed it.

An amazing book that follows the adventures, both past and present, of a 100 year old centenarian who escapes from his nursing home right before his birthday party, and gets himself into some marvelous exploits, as he has in the past. The author shows wonderful creativity in the way he is able to weave everything together!

I actually recommended this book to our book club. It so well written and full of humor, history and very well developed characters. The author\\\'s imagination is boundless and for a first book I think it\\\'s brilliant!

An amusing "what can possibly happen next" romp... once the 100 year old man disappears, all sorts of unexpected things happen.

Heavy on coincidence. Full of real people, and historical backdrop. Being somewhat light-hearted, it\'s easy to read it at the surface but you could also judge Allan a little more harshy if you want and talk about some of his not so honest or heroic behavior. The discussion has a lot of room to go in different directions.

Allan Karlsson, whose skills include creating Vodka out of goat’s milk and making an atom bomb, steals a suitcase at a bus station. This proves to be the catalyst for a steam-roller ride of adventures without fear of consequences, time limitations or financial constraints.
The repercussions of Allan’s vanishing from the party celebrating his hundredth birthday were combined with his well-timed recollections of the most amazing course of events. The switch from past to present was not confusing and the interludes from the present day adventures and misadventures, for the most part, fought off tedium This is one of a number of popular books that outline how elderly people who may have been ‘written off’ have unexpectedly broken free from an institutionalised existence and started afresh.
This reading group wondered if autism might explain how the main character is saved from the restrictions of morals, legality and conscience. For example when Allan settles into life in a frozen Russian internment camp it suits his limited needs well until he craves Vodka so much that he exploits another ‘window of opportunity’ and escapes, once again.
It was felt that the central themes, some involving historical events that were well researched, were a good basis for expressing the excess of political conspiracies and imbalances of world power during the last century. We mentioned how such changes of leadership would have affected our parents or grandparents. The author introduced us to wonderful and amusing characters and showed the idiosyncrasies of some notorious megalomaniacs. The stereotyping of ‘thick’ and infamous political leaders made us laugh.
None of us abandoned this long book with its long cast of characters. Some thought it should have been condensed during translation from its Swedish origins and some skipped about fifty of the final pages looking for a conclusion to this contemporary fairy tale.

It was dumb stupid unbelievable lame poorly written!!!!!

This book was just okay and because I could not relate to any of the characters, it was difficult for me to get into the book. While the main character wasn\\\'t unlikable, he also was not very likable. As for a book club book, no, there was not anything to discuss.

amazing tale.. will keep you smiling if not laughing out loud.. what an imagintive story teller.. fantastic life story aka Forrest Gump.. absolutely loved this book .

It's similar to Forrest Gump, only Swedish.

The story of the present was entertaining- the story of the past was slow and depressing. Overall- I had a very difficult time getting into the book. Just when I would start to enjoy it- the story of the past would interrupt and I couldn\\\\\\\'t read that for any length of time. I had a hard time appreciating the character creation in the way it was framed.

Most of our members either loved or hated this book equally. I found it quirky, slightly surreal & quite satirical, very hard to pick a genre really. Definitely not a book to be taken to seriously! To be enjoyed for what it is, with a chuckle & tongue in cheek :)

Took me a bit to get into the book & though I liked it,it was ridiculous & all the fortunate things that happened at the last minute was a bit too much. Also not a lot of real good discussion to be had.

What an imagination this author had when writing this book. It was fun to read

I can't describe by checking any box above. Though most in our club liked it I was disturbed by the prejudice displayed twice by page 67, so did not continue.

The premise of this sounded great. The execution--well, I found it really unconvincing and bizarre. I know some people find it funny, but it didn't really reach "funny" for me. It might have if they hadn't been so dark and extreme in the things the characters did--with apparently no remorse. The book had a curiously complete lack of morality of any kind.

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson, author; Steven Crossley, narrator
When I started to read this, I enjoyed the humor and the premise of the story. Who wouldn’t love a man who wanted to escape the confines of an old age home where he is no longer treated like an adult, where he is unable to make decisions for what he wants to do with his own life, eat what he likes, when he likes, and sleep when he likes? He is fit and has all of his wits about him so he decides to run away. I thought to myself, kudos to him!
The novel begins on May 2, 2005. Allan Karlsson, born on May 2, 1905, is 100 years old today. A celebration, complete with local celebrities, including the Mayor, is being set up at the same moment he decides that he will not attend his own party. Instead, he slips out of the window, in what he calls his “pee slippers”, to escape his confinement and Alice, the Director, who appears to run the place with an iron hand, treating him like a disobedient child who won’t follow her rules. He is obviously in great shape for anyone of that age, and he makes his way to the bus station where he meets a rude young man who asks him to keep an eye on his suitcase. Because he views the young man distastefully, when Allan’s bus comes, without giving it much thought, he steals the suitcase, taking it with him onto the bus. Throughout his life, as the story progresses, the reader learns that Allan often gives little thought to his actions or to their consequences afterwards. He simply makes decisions, almost on a whim, and proceeds from there, letting the cards fall where they may, and then deals with the results.
What seems like a simple act of theft sets the story in motion. As Allan’s previous long life is explored and exposed, it goes off in all directions, involving many countries of the world and many major leaders, especially during their moments of crisis. His life had been very unconventional. Through a serendipitous set of events, he often found himself globetrotting to unusual places, meeting with heads of state, and although, pretty much unaware of the fact, he was influencing world events. Because of his seeming innocence and lack of concern for what happened to him and around him, he also wound up spending years in prison in many foreign countries, as well.
The people he meets are as quirky as he is, and if the book hadn’t gone on as long as it did, it would have been far better, in my opinion. It was very imaginative but it got a bit bogged down in the multitude of events presented. It required even more than a suspension of disbelief when the reader sees him sitting down with Truman, Stalin, Franco, Kim Jong-Il, a not too bright step-brother of Albert Einstein, and others, influencing events far beyond his capabilities. It seemed to spiral out of control, almost as if the author didn’t quite know how to end it so he just kept on writing hoping it would end of its own volition.
At the same time as the reader is treated to Allan’s various escapades, there is also a wide, and more or less incompetent, search for the centenarian who has somehow disappeared leaving a trail of dead bodies in his wake!
The story is told with wit and a heavy dose of sarcasm. All of the unusual incidents and remaining questions are eventually explained to the reader and to the investigators being led on a merry chase. However, the explanation is very convoluted and will take the reader’s imagination to its limit. For awhile the reader will chuckle, but after awhile the reader might be inclined to go ho hum. The narrator did a very good job of presenting the humor and derision as he portrayed each character, but I thought, even he must have eventually tired of the story.

fun but rather silly

As a group, we enjoyed this book! Full of great twists and characters, this was a fun read and definitely recommended. The question raised was, are we expected to believe all the stories Karl shares, or some of these figments of his imagination? Either way, it certainly left us wanting to live more adventurously :-)

you can read all the reviews. I tend to agree with the critics - sometimes annoying, too smooth, too convenient, a little out there. However I did find it humorous and did enjoy the book . Glad I read it.

It all starts on the one-hundredth birthday of Allan Karlsson. Sitting quietly in his room in an old people’s home, he is waiting for the party he-never-wanted-anyway to begin. The Mayor is going to be there. The press is going to be there. But, as it turns out, Allan is not… Slowly but surely Allan climbs out of his bedroom window, into the flowerbed (in his slippers) and 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, we learn something of Allan’s earlier life in which – remarkably – he helped to make the atom bomb, became friends with American presidents, Russian tyrants, and Chinese leaders, and was a participant behind the scenes in many key events of the twentieth century. Already a huge bestseller across Europe, The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared is a fun and feel-good book for all ages. (less)

I adored this book. Couldn’t wait for each new turn. It’s a funny adventure full of quirky optimism through a dark sense of humor. Can’t wait to read more from this author.