100 YEAR OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED by Jonas Jonasson (4 stars: 
)
Paperback, 385 pages
Published 2012 by Allen & Unwin (first published 2009)
Summary (from Goodreads):
After a long and eventful life, Allan Karlsson ends up in a nursing home, believing it to be his last stop. The only problem is that he’s still in good health. A big celebration is in the works for his 100th birthday, but Allan really isn’t interested (and he’d like a bit more control over his alcohol consumption), so he decides to escape. He climbs out the window in his slippers and embarks on a hilarious and entirely unexpected journey. It would be the adventure of a lifetime for anyone else, but Allan has a larger-than-life backstory: he has not only witnessed some of the most important events of the 20th century, but actually played a key role in them. Quirky and utterly unique, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared has charmed readers across the world.
My review:
The title of this book immediately drew my attention, and I started it mainly out of curiosity. A book called '100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared' isn't published everyday, and I wanted to know the story behind it.
It turned out to be two parallel stories in the life of Allan Karlsson, one telling his past, the other his present. The book combines chapters of past and present, until his past story reaches the preset days.
His past story narrates an eventful life, where he met most of the emblematic figures of the last century. It's suprising how the author manages to make the protagonist take part in so many important events and survive close-to-death situations. This was a humorous history lesson.
As for the present story, Allan Karlsson escapes his nursing home a few minutes before his 100th birthday celebration, and lives a series of adventures from that point on. The police starts looking for him, first because they think he has been kidnapped, then because they think he's a criminal.
I liked this book and how it made me travel through the 20th century, and the ironic persecution of an old man. I think the protagonist was maybe to obsessed with alcohol and this kinds of things, but I liked how he took part on such important events without caring about them.
