'The-Hundred-Year-Old-Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared' by Jonas Jonasson | Book review
By Julita Stefaniak - May 31, 2019
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The-Hundred-Year-Old-Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared is a story about... a hundred-year-old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared. Allan is bored with his life in an old people's home. On his hundredth birthday, minutes before celebrating it with others (including the Mayor and other important people), he decides to run away in his slippers. He is a brisk guy for his age, and soon enough he gets himself in a bit of trouble.
I don't think I would have ever picked up this book if not for my brother. It's mostly thanks to him I'm reaching out and broadening my reading horizons. Though I have to admit, it's been sitting on my TBR nightstand for a few good years. When I first got it, it was around the time the movie came out, I was quite excited to read it, but apparently not enough to actually start. The film that came out was praised by a lot of people which made the book a lot more desirable.
Now, I'm not sure I will see the film, but at least I (kinda) know the story of Allan Karlsson.
My first thoughts about The-Hundred-Year-Old Man (I'm refusing to write the full title ever again, it's quite a mouthful); it was boring as hell. The only reason I managed to finish it was because I wanted to know how the story ends. If you're reading this book right now and the desire to find out what happens is the only thing making you read further, don't. It's not worth it. Just google it and go read something more exciting.
There were a few things that make me dislike this book and just as with my previous review (shameless self-promo: All of the Above book review), making a list seems like the way to go.
1. The writing style was... meh. It wasn't bad, just simple. I normally don't mind, but in this case, I would have liked it to be something more. Also, the descriptions killed me! They were too long and too.. descriptive. Some information I didn't feel like was needed at all and I have to admit, I skimmed through the text sometimes, a little too often some would say.
2. Throwbacks. I get it, Allan had a (semi) interesting life, but I didn't sign up for his whole biography. The chapters about his life were too long, at first I brushed through them, but towards the end of the book, I skipped all of them. It was pages and pages of a story I couldn't care less about. Especially because when we were in 'the present', there was another annoying thing which leads me to number
3. I mostly cared about the hundred-year-old Adam and his adventures, not some weird and not important people such as the mayor or the journalists. The paragraphs about them and what they were doing made the book even slower than it already was. I just wanted to get to the end, dammit!
4. This book was supposed to be funny, however, it was infantile and stupid. The humour was of a twelve-year-old laughing at the word 'poop'.
I expected more of this book. I saw on Goodreads that there is a spin-off or something, but I can assure you, I will not waste my time on it.
Rating: 1.5/5
Have you read The-Hundred-Year-Old-Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared? (don't worry, I copied and pasted) If so, what are your thoughts? Or maybe you've seen the film? Let me know in the comments!
