The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
Jonas Jonasson, trans. from the Swedish by Rod Bradbury. Hyperion, $15.99 trade paper (400p) ISBN 978-1-4013-2464-3
Jonasson’s laugh-out-loud debut (a bestseller in Europe) reaches the U.S. three years after its Swedish publication, in Bradbury’s pitch-perfect translation. The intricately plotted saga of Allan Karlsson begins when he escapes his retirement home on his 100th birthday by climbing out his bedroom window. After stealing a young punk’s money-filled suitcase, he embarks on a wild adventure, and through a combination of wits, luck, and circumstance, ends up on the lam from both a smalltime criminal syndicate and the police. Jonasson moves deftly through Karlsson’s life—from present to past and back again—recounting the fugitive centenarian’s career as a demolitions expert and the myriad critical junctures of history, including the Spanish Civil War and the Manhattan Project, wherein Karlsson found himself an unwitting (and often influential) participant. Historical figures like Mao’s third wife, Vice President Truman, and Stalin appear, to great comic effect. Other characters—most notably Albert Einstein’s hapless half-brother—are cleverly spun into the raucous yarn, and all help drive this gentle lampoon of procedurals and thrillers. Agent: Anna Soler-Pont, Pontas Literary. (Sept.)
Details
Reviewed on: 07/16/2012
Genre: Fiction
Hardcover - 413 pages - 978-4-89013-706-0
Hardcover - 519 pages - 978-1-61173-594-9
Mass Market Paperbound - 480 pages - 978-0-7868-9145-0
Open Ebook - 400 pages - 978-1-4013-0439-3
Other - 528 pages - 978-1-4434-1911-6
Pre-Recorded Audio Player - 978-1-62460-002-9