It all starts on the one-hundredth birthday of Allan Karlsson. Sitting quietly in his room in an old people’s home, he is waiting for the party he-never-wanted-anyway to begin. The Mayor is going to be there. The press is going to be there. But, as it turns out, Allan is not… Slowly but surely Allan climbs out of his bedroom window, into the flowerbed (in his slippers) and makes his getaway. And so begins his picaresque and unlikely journey involving criminals, several murders, a suitcase full of cash, and incompetent police. As his escapades unfold, we learn something of Allan’s earlier life in which – remarkably – he helped to make the atom bomb, became friends with American presidents, Russian tyrants, and Chinese leaders, and was a participant behind the scenes in many key events of the twentieth century.

Some books have fantastic titles and this book is one of them. I fell in love with the title but not so much with the book. I found it interesting at first but was disappointed that every character had actually no character, except for Swedish detectives trying to track down the escaped centenarian. Written by a "neutral" Swede where morality is apparently a neutral value as well as political neutrality. (How a nation can remain neutral when the world was going to hell in a handbasket during World War II is a question that probably should not be looked at too closely. After all, Sweden would not have even allowed refuge for the Danish Jews if Denmark hadn't received their permission to transport Jews there before Sweden thought out the ramifications of their permission. In other words, the Swedes tried to recant their permission.) Anyway, reality is stretched very tight in this book, I suppose that it could be considered humorous but I couldn't look at some of the historical events with humor. The low score is for insulting President Truman and making him appear like an idiot. I stopped reading the book halfway through the book because it was too far-fetched and not entertaining. However, some people might like the irreverent look at world history of the 20th century.

This book has been sent to ethereal of Little Rock, Arkansas as a belated birthday RABCK.

Perhaps you will enjoy this book, etherea.

Thanks for the wishlist book and for the birthday extension!

I put this in kaila-ann's ABC Book Box.

Removed from kaila-ann's Already Been Crossed Bookbox.