sammierav's review against another edition
1.0
Not really the type of book that I would normally read, it is quite funny but I've not finished it yet, will probably come back to it in a couple of months but for now I just can't bring myself to read it, it's quite boring and slow and I prefer more action packed and fast paced books.
As the title suggests it is about a one hundred year old man who literally jumps out of a window, however he does not completely disappear. The story follows an elderly man who ends up travelling on this wild adventure that no man the age of one hundred should be able to achieve. It has a lot of wartime references and a lot of flash backs to his childhood.
I would recommend this book to someone who is looking for something that's quite slow paced and funny that's not too action packed.
As the title suggests it is about a one hundred year old man who literally jumps out of a window, however he does not completely disappear. The story follows an elderly man who ends up travelling on this wild adventure that no man the age of one hundred should be able to achieve. It has a lot of wartime references and a lot of flash backs to his childhood.
I would recommend this book to someone who is looking for something that's quite slow paced and funny that's not too action packed.
emilyjeanne's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
jhalloran99's review against another edition
3.0
I have mixed feelings about this book. It could be funny at times and I enjoyed it when I was reading it, but when I wasn't reading it, I had no desire to pick it back up. There was no pull or suspense, I didn't really care what happened next. I'm not sure that I would recommend it.
mdpenguin's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This is like a cross between Don Quixote, Forrest Gump, and Candide, but not quite as clever as any of them. The protagonist's naive nihilism was well incorporated into the story and it is impressive to me that the author managed satirize such a large array of important historical conflicts without taking any kind of meaningful position, however this is also, I think, part of why I had a hard time caring about anything in it. Everything was inherently low stakes because the protagonist doesn't really think anything is worth caring strongly about, so all that was left was some light humor. Sometimes it did make me smile and even laugh, but not as often as I'd have liked from a comedy. I also wasn't particularly taken by the writing style so, although I thought it was a decent book and can definitely see why it would have an audience, it fell a little flat for me overall.
christy97's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
kristiana28's review against another edition
3.0
A pleasant & cute read.
The book is split, between current and historic events that the old man has gone through and experienced. You're reading a fun story while you learn a lot about history at the same time.
I, personally would have preferred it to be just about the current adventure times he had. And a different book about his history - or keep the historic policital events shorter.
Chapters are rather long, so kind of put me off reading it till the end.
Actually giggled 2x.which never happens with funny books for me.
It's a good book to take with you on a holiday.
The book is split, between current and historic events that the old man has gone through and experienced. You're reading a fun story while you learn a lot about history at the same time.
I, personally would have preferred it to be just about the current adventure times he had. And a different book about his history - or keep the historic policital events shorter.
Chapters are rather long, so kind of put me off reading it till the end.
Actually giggled 2x.which never happens with funny books for me.
It's a good book to take with you on a holiday.
yobitwins's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
tysuckz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
2.75
I would like to preface it by saying 2.75 does seem low but I'll explain why. I loved the story of Allan (et al) disappearing and running away and doing all the crazy things they did. However, I didn't know there would be historical chapters and honestly they bored me SO bad.
I mean. They would've been fine if they weren't so long, but the majority of the book WAS the history of Allan Karlsson which . Makes sense cause he is 100 years old and you'd imagine touching base on his history, but ~195 pages were about his life. Basically start to finish. Which is almost 50% of a book about him escaping.
I guess the title is mildly misleading in that it seems its mostly about him escaping but realistically it's just about Him. Just about Allan Karlsson. And to be honest I loved him as a character and thought he was very interesting and fun. But history isn't my thing. War also isn't my thing. I do feel like the history of him didn't really play any key roles in his escaping but irrespective of that the tale of escaping was fun.
Definitely someone's cup of tea, but not mine! It took a month to read since I just didn't have any motivation to pick it up except just to finish it. And even that wasn't enough motivation.
To be fair to it, the historical parts were really fun and I enjoyed them as a separate tale of Allan, but I didn't enjoy them wedged in with everything else. If that makes sense?
I mean. They would've been fine if they weren't so long, but the majority of the book WAS the history of Allan Karlsson which . Makes sense cause he is 100 years old and you'd imagine touching base on his history, but ~195 pages were about his life. Basically start to finish. Which is almost 50% of a book about him escaping.
I guess the title is mildly misleading in that it seems its mostly about him escaping but realistically it's just about Him. Just about Allan Karlsson. And to be honest I loved him as a character and thought he was very interesting and fun. But history isn't my thing. War also isn't my thing. I do feel like the history of him didn't really play any key roles in his escaping but irrespective of that the tale of escaping was fun.
Definitely someone's cup of tea, but not mine! It took a month to read since I just didn't have any motivation to pick it up except just to finish it. And even that wasn't enough motivation.
To be fair to it, the historical parts were really fun and I enjoyed them as a separate tale of Allan, but I didn't enjoy them wedged in with everything else. If that makes sense?
hollybearhouck's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0