{"id":3461,"date":"2026-05-05T07:32:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/?p=3461"},"modified":"2026-05-05T07:32:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:32:59","slug":"the-hundred-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/the-hundred-year\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared (Hundra\u00e5ringen som klev ut genom f\u00f6nstret och f\u00f6rsvann) by Jonas Jonasson, Sweden, 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

I read this book <\/span>many<\/span> years ago when it was first published <\/span>(<\/span>2009<\/span>)<\/span>, and really enjoyed it. <\/span>At the centre of the book is <\/span>Allan Karlsson – the 100-year-old man of the title \u2013 <\/span>who <\/span>escapes from his nursing home in May 2005, moments before the celebration planned for his hundredth birthday party. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, nothing goes to plan; though, on the other hand, there never was any plan. With a suitcase of money, and while being chased by a couple of intell<\/span>ectually challenged<\/span> thugs and while trying to avoid the fallout from a couple of very suspicious-looking deaths, Allan becomes involved with a number of <\/span>dissimilar<\/span> people and an elephant. The group sets out on a road trip across middle Sweden \u2013 destination unknown \u2013 and retains a laid-back holiday atmosphere in spite of the police, the media and an ambitious prosecutor being close behind them.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Jonas Jonasson (Alchetron)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the book follows Allan Karlsson\u2019s adventures in 2005, it also relates the details of his long, and extremely interesting, life. Allan has not only experienced all of the twentieth century (minus five years) he has also managed to be deeply involved in events like the Spanish Civil War, the discovery of the atom bomb, Stalin\u2019s Gulag, the rise of communist China\u2026 He shares meals with the world\u2019s top leaders and is completely reliant on his wits and his survival instincts in dealings with organi<\/span>s<\/span>ations like the CIA and countries like Iran and North Korea.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Book Trailer (EU-Read & Art)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Satirical and funny, Jonasson\u2019s book gives a delightful, if slightly distorted, picture of the major political events of the twentieth century. It also paints a <\/span>perceptive<\/span> picture of several areas of Sweden, both geographically and socially.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Allan\u2019s approach to life is <\/span><\/span><\/span>resolutely <\/span><\/span><\/span>optimistic, <\/span><\/span><\/span>based on the belief that<\/span><\/span><\/span> \u2018\u2026 as long as we are positive, everything will work out\u2026 \u2018. At the beginning of the book he <\/span><\/span><\/span>elaborates on this when he notes that \u2018<\/span><\/span><\/span>Things are as they are and will be as they will be\u2019 <\/span><\/span><\/span>\u2013<\/span><\/span><\/span> an observation that runs through the book like <\/span><\/span><\/span>a<\/span><\/span><\/span> red thread <\/span><\/span><\/span>tying everything together<\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Film Trailer (Movie-HD)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I read this book many years ago when it was first published (2009), and really enjoyed it. At the centre of the book is Allan Karlsson – the 100-year-old man of the title \u2013 who escapes from his nursing home in May 2005, moments before the celebration planned for his hundredth birthday party. Of course, … <\/p>\n

+ Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3461"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3461"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3468,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3461\/revisions\/3468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}