Book Review

By Derryll White

Jonas Jonasson (2012).  The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.

“Those who only says what is the truth, they’re not worth listening to.”

So think about it. Life has gone into overtime and you still have your wits about you and are still capable of free movement without a walker. You have outlived everyone.  What would you do with what you have left?

I love the way this story opens. Allan Karlsson steps out of his window at a Malmköping, Sweden, nursing home and quickly onto a bus.  I was in Sweden for an extended period last year and, unlike Canada, it is entirely possible to walk onto any bus and quickly access the whole country – and at a very reasonable price. The drivers are courteous and Swedes treat public transportation in the same way we do our cars – a viable and easy way to get around.

In fact, having been to Sweden opens up for me a number of side-lights in this story.  Much of rural Sweden still heats with wood. It was pointed out to me that Canadians are astoundingly lucky as they can go out into the woods and cut their own Christmas tree.  “In Sweden, every tree is owned, even though we are a socialist country.” I stopped while walking down a road to help an older gentleman labouring on his woodpile. “Wood is wealth,” he told me with conviction. So, when Allan’s mother cuts and splits the family’s 14 fully-grown birch trees to sell for firewood, this is an act of some importance to the family.

This is a delightful story about decisions. In simple terms it asks who is in control of your life, and replies – you are! No matter what your age or circumstance, ultimately you have the power to effect change. Not a new message, you say!  No, but put in the context of a centenarian, it is a message hard to deny.

Jonasson takes a large canvas, moving seamlessly from rural Sweden to the Spanish revolution and Generalissimo Franco to President Truman and the building of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos. We also get Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Tse Tung. The author indeed experiences few limitations when including world events in Allan Karlsson’s life.

Jonasson is quite masterful in weaving a story, the fabulous life of centenarian Allan Karlsson, with in the primary story based on Allan’s escape from the Old Folk’s home and then his re-entrance into the world of willful action.  It all flows, with Jonasson’s dry humour and fantastical ordering of world events keeping the whole joyful and immensely entertaining.  I think ‘The 100-Year-Old Man’ is Scandinavian storytelling at its best.

Excerpts from the novel

POLITICS: That sounds a bit like challenging Stalin in the Soviet Union, said Yuri candidly.  Setting aside the fact that it would be a crime against the revolution, the chance of survival is poor.

STALIN: “The Soviet Union is prepared to go to war again, I’ll tell you that!  There will be war, there will inevitably be war until American imperialism is wiped out.”

“Is that what you think?” asked Allan.

“To do battle and to win, we don’t need your damned atom bomb!  What we need is socialist souls and hearts!  He who knows he can never be defeated, can never be defeated!”

“Unless of course someone drops an atom bomb on him,” said Allan.

POLITICS: She was popular with the masses, as could be seen from the regular opinion polls carried out by the local statistics institute owned and run by one of her sisters.  Besides, Bali was ranked by the human rights organizations as the least corrupt region in the country.  That, in turn, was because Amanda had bribed the entire investigating committee.

– Derryll White once wrote books but now chooses to read and write about them.  When not reading he writes history for the web at www.basininstitute.org .

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