Despite its somewhat quirky title, Jonas Jonasson’s The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, is a hoot from start to end. On his 100th birthday, Allan Karlsson, a still agile centenarian bails on his birthday party and gets entangled into a complex situation, being hunted by both criminals and police. The book turned out to be a smash hit, both critically and commercially. A Swedish adaptation is already out, and Hollywood is close behind.
Now, Karlsson is back again. After the frenetic events of the first book, he is now in Bali, and his hundred-and-first birthday is fast approaching. Becoming restless, Karlsson and his buddy Julius Jonsson opt for a hot air balloon as their ride out. Of course, things have to go wrong, again.
If the last book involved drugs, this includes stolen Uranium, and North Koreans, further adding to the weirdness quotient. The duo find stolen Uranium on the balloon, and are captured by North Koreans.Things start to unravel, thanks to the duo’s shenanigans. Soon, future of world peace is in their hands. And the situation gets even worse. What will they do and how will their latest round of adventures end? This is but a smidgen of the plot. Believe it or not, the book is even crazier. Now, as readers from the first novel will know, Karlsson has led quite an eventful life, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Albert Einstein, Mao Zedong and Kim II-Sung, and gets introduced to the latter’s great-grandson, and then Donald Trump and Angela Merkel come into the picture.
Karlsson is an extremely endearing protagonist, and that continues to be the book’s biggest strength. Add to that the crazy twists and madness all around, and you have got a worthy next volume of Karlsson’s adventures.
Today’s political situation makes a perfect backdrop for a great satire, and Jonasson utilises it to the fullest. It paints a thoroughly thoughtful and thought-provoking picture of the current craziness around us, that is called the world.
