Teaser Tuesday ~ reluctant centenarian

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared ~ by Jonas Jonasson, 2012, fiction (Sweden)

First, the teaser

You might think he could have made up his mind earlier, and been man enough to inform his surroundings of his decision.  But Allan Karlsson had never been given to pondering things too long.

So the idea had barely taken hold in the old man's head before he opened the window of his room on the ground floor of the Old Folks' Home in the town of Malmköping, and stepped out ― into the flower bed.

This maneuver required a bit of effort, since Allan was 100 years old, on this very day in fact.  There was less than an hour to go before his birthday party would begin in the lounge of the Old Folks' Home.  The mayor would be there.  And the local paper.  And all the other old people.  And the entire staff, led by bad-tempered Director Alice.

It was only the Birthday Boy himself who didn't intend to turn up.

Synopsis

A reluctant centenarian much like Forrest Gump (if Gump were an explosives expert with a fondness for vodka) decides it's not too late to start over.  After a long and eventful life, Allan Karlsson ends up in a nursing home, believing it to be his last stop.  The only problem is that he's still in good health, and in one day, he turns 100.  A big celebration is in the works, but Allan really isn't interested (and he'd like a bit more control over his vodka consumption).  So he decides to escape.  He climbs out the window in his slippers and embarks on a hilarious and entirely unexpected journey, involving, among other surprises, a suitcase stuffed with cash, some unpleasant criminals, a friendly hot-dog stand operator, and an elephant (not to mention a death by elephant).

It would be the adventure of a lifetime for anyone else, but Allan has a larger-than-life backstory:  Not only has he witnessed some of the most important events of the twentieth century, but he has actually played a key role in them.  Starting out in munitions as a boy, he somehow finds himself involved in many of the key explosions of the twentieth century and travels the world, sharing meals and more with everyone from Stalin, Churchill, and Truman to Mao, Franco, and de Gaulle.  This book is quirky and utterly unique.

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What teased me about this book

That teaser up above is the book's beginning.  As a matter of fact, it's the whole first chapter.  It immediately brought to my mind the picture of a Confederate soldier named Inman, who stepped out of a hospital window and started walking back home to Ada, the woman he loved.  That was in Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier's 1997 book.  There was nothing humorous about Inman's walking away, no stepping into a flower bed outside the window, no discovering (two sentences into the next chapter) that he was wearing indoor slippers and had forgotten to bring his hat.  Would you have kept reading?  I was hooked and bought the book for my Kindle.