I don’t think I’ve ever read a book where the title so sums up what the book is all about. The story is set in Sweden and is about the life and adventures of our hero Allan Karlsson who on his hundredth birthday climbed out the window of his old people’s home and disappeared. his retirement home in Malmköping is planning to throw a party. Allan is alert despite his age, but is not interested in attending the party. The author makes you empathise and identify with the protagonist, in spite of everything. That is very clever.
He walks to the nearest bus station, intending to travel as far as his available cash will allow. While at the bus station, he meets an angry young man with a suitcase which he cannot bring into the toilet as it is too large, so he desperately asks Allan to take care of it.
However, Allan's bus soon arrives and Allan boards it, taking the suitcase with him onto the bus. The suitcase turns out to be stuffed with drug dealers' money; Karlsson is chased by the dealers trying to recover their lost cash. Meanwhile, the retirement home calls the police to search for Allan. The police have no knowledge of the money and are only looking for Allan, who is known to be somewhat absent-minded. He gets caught up in criminal activity by accident and ends up, unknown to him, being hunted by both the police and a gang of murderous criminals.
He then sets out on a journey with the suitcase which contain a fortune that was paid over to a group of bikers by a Russian organized crime syndicate as payment for a drug deal. Allan manages to outwit one of the criminals with a help of a thief; the criminal freezes to death in a cooler and his body is later thrown into a container heading for Ethiopia. During his escape, Allan meets a few other people, including one who owned an elephant. Allan then outwits another gang member by getting the elephant to crush him to death; the gang member's body is inadvertently sent to Latvia in the boot of a Ford Mustang.
There then follows an unlikely but very amusing story of drug dealers trying to track the money down and the police starting a nationwide hunt for Allan after a warrant is issued for a triple murder. As the book progresses, Allan collects a motley crew of really interesting but flawed characters plus an elephant, that somehow all manage to stay one step ahead of the police for much of the book.
The book is also interspersed with flashbacks of Allan’s life and how he inadvertently managed to be in the right place at the wrong time and helped influence a number of events and changed the course of twentieth century history. In his youth, Karlsson had already used up each one of his nine lives, at one stage daring to suggest to Stalin that he might look better with his moustache shaved off!
This book is pure entertainment as far as I am concerned. I wouldn’t say I was finding myself exploding into fits of hysterical laughter as I read the book. However, I found myself smiling as I turned the pages and couldn’t help but chuckle at some of the situations that Allan and his group of friends found themselves in. A great feel good book that I would recommend to anybody.
I find the book very much like The Good Soldier Svejk, the satirical Czech novel by Jaroslav Hasek. So says Harish from CBC.
The first thing that strikes is the huge difference the hundred year old man has with the protagonist of our previous BOTM. This protagonist has more in common with Josef Svejk, a seemingly simple minded soldier who manages to navigate dire situations with a nonchalant attitude.
The first six chapters set the tone and structure of the novel. Only at the end of the second chapter, when the suitcase appears, do we get a proper glimpse of the dark humor and overall rhythm.
The book is written in very simplistic prose, but it's perfect for reflecting the attitude of the titular protagonist. The dead pan style of humor also compliments it very well.
The narrative flits between the past and present of the protagonist and begins from the time of his childhood. I think his father's tragic but hilarious end is the reason for his apathy towards politics and ideological beliefs.
The author is successful in weaving history into the plot in an irreverent style. I loved how Allan thought Karl Marx (Uncle Carl) was a friend of his father in Russia. Also loved the author showing how history creeps into normal lives. Like questioning the protagonist's ancestry.
The side characters are two dimensional described with broad strokes, but the overall hilarity makes the portrayal effective.
I am interested to see how three aspects of the protagonist work out in the plot.
1. His apathy
2. Him being sterilised. (It's like cutting him from his past and future and making him a loose cannon in present.)
3. His expertise in explosives.
The author makes you empathise and identify with the protagonist, in spite of everything. That is very clever.
Chapters 7 to 14...
This portion of the novel continues the plot with amplified humor and general mayhem. It is in these parts that I felt the book's resemblance with Forrest Gump is evident.
This portion also opens several questions to the reader. Is the protagonist repeating a cycle in all his escapades? He seems to be essentially climbing out of a window and just moving to another adventure. The lack of remorse for his deeds and a total apathy he displays should be noted.
"Was it time to cut his ties with the past and move on? Most definitely." This is a defining quote of the book because while this particular thought happens in flashback, he continues to do the same thing even in the present.
A general lack of plans seems to be the recurring motif and the past incidents reflect it.
Many other minor characters get their own backstories which while not related directly to the plot, complement it very well.
All these threads are worked out ingeniously.
Our reading schedule was:
As there are 30 chapters in the book, we will keep our milestones as below:
Chapters 1 to 6 - 19/4
7 to 14- 26/4
15 to 21 -3/5
22 to 29 and epilogue- 10/5
The first and 29th chapter is the same. The book moves forward, and parallely takes us into the past life, and on 29th chapter both lives meet.
This was my first purchase from the mathrubumi book store newly opened in Kakkanad.
A quote from it,typical of the old man's thinking..
"Revenge is not a good thing. It is like politics: one thing always leads to another until bad has become worse and worse has become worst." He disliked Politics and priests. Police too, but then they became friend.
When the strick mattren in the Old age home wanted everyone to abide by the time for all activities, he asked her should shitting also be timed, which made them dislike each other.
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