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

Do you know how excited you get when you go to the theater and you see a movie with cinematography and acting and directing that’s over-the-top and reminds you why you go to the movies to begin with?  To be entertained.  To fantasize.  To escape.

Well, this book is one of those works of fiction that depicts great storytelling.  That reminds you why you love to read.  It’s absurd and over-the-top and smart and laugh-out-loud funny.  It’s a Swedish Forrest Gump!

Fantastic.  It tells the story of a 100 year old man in Sweden who decides not to attend his 100th birthday party at the old folks’ home and instead to get the heck out of dodge.  The author alternates between the story of what happens to the 100 year old man on his journey to his next destination in life and the story of his life up until he climbed out the window.

The span of history in the book is obviously, 100 years, starting in 1905.  And the author uses the 100 year old man’s life experiences to briefly give you a lesson in world history.  A great substitute for your high school textbook!

The chapters are short and the entire book keeps your attention with its ridiculous characters and its ridiculous stories about its historical characters!

And you’ll want to keep reading more about the character that played a key role in some of the most important events in the 20th century!

Whenever I read a work of such bizarre fictional genius, it makes me want to sit down to lunch with the author and just ask them, “How do you come up with this stuff?!”

Just read the first 2 chapters, 9 pages in total, and you’ll be hooked!