The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

If there's an award for catchiest book title, this would be the winner for me.  I first saw this in Fully Booked and just had to pick it up. Who is the centenarian, why didn't he use the door and what happened after he disappeared?  I read the first few pages discovered that the story is about Allan Karlsson who was celebrating his 100th birthday at the Old People's Home.  There would be a celebration in the afternoon in his honor with the mayor and reporters in attendance.  And he decided to bail. Then adventure begins.

Unlike other books that take some time to introduce the characters and explain the settings, this book just went straight to the action.  Allan gets into precarious situations because he just does things without careful consideration of the consequences, like the decision to escape an hour before his birthday celebration. And much more high risk situations when he was younger including very close encounters with the major political figures of the 20th century.  Amazing how the author was able to weave Karlsson into history.

The book goes back and forth between past and present until they converge in the present with a few more interesting characters, an elephant, a yellow bus and Bali.  This was a very enjoyable read, funny and incredible.  Good kick off to my reading goal for 2014.

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