Friday 19 April 2013

The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window & Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson





I of course downloaded this story because the title was a story in and of itself. I hoped against hope that the title wasn't a Gimmick and that the story would live up to it otherwise I would feel cheated. The story exceeded my wildest expectations. It was a master class in storytelling but more than that it had a huge heart.  First off the humour was deadpan and relied on absurd situations and it worked wonderfully.

The tale of Allan wandering and getting into adventures was told in such a humane and yet dry way it was an absolute delight. Inspired with the story of the present the author tells the tale of Allan's life from childhood until the present and what a life! We discover Allan's blunderings and chance encounters have affected the entire course of the twentieth century.

It was told in such a wise way.  Through Allan the author teaches us several lessons about simple humanity and that it is sometimes more important than politics or organised religion. This point is reinforced throughout the book. Prejudice, ignorance and bigotry are all tackled in a unique way. Allan is simply nice and calm but that is enough. Despite the many injustices done against him Allan only gets angry once and that is against a fox! This book offers so much to the reader it's difficult to do it justice without writing an essay. A great read worth every penny.

Genre:  Literary / Humour
Publisher:  Hesperus Press
Format:  Paperback & E-book
Rating:  5/5



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