For those of you who may have read The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of a Window and Disappeared will probably know what to expect from Jonas Jonasson’s latest hilarious story about Allan Karlsson, the centenarian who just says it how he sees it and does what he wants when he wants to. If you have not read a Jonas Jonasson book, you will find he has a very unique writing style that sounds like the narrator just doesn’t have time to pause for breath. Also his way of telling a good yarn is just so funny especially with the lengths he goes to, to get his characters to explain things.
Our story starts, with Karlsson now approaching his 101st birthday, living a life of luxury in Bali with his partner in crime, Julius Jonsson who he met in his first book after doing a runner out the window of his old people’s home in Sweden. The pair of them have been spending the millions that they acquired at the end of Book 1 and the money is running out but they don’t want the owner of the luxury hotel that they are staying in to know that. Allan is introduced to the wonders of the iPad and the internet and gives Julius daily updates on what is happening in the world around them, including the election of Trump and Macron, Brexit, the leadership of Kim Jung-Un, and lots of other useless information on world events.
Julius decides, that despite having no money to pay for it, he wants to give Allan a champagne air ballon flight for his birthday as it’s what he really wants. But somehow between them they manage to accidenly take off in the ballon without their pilot and are whisked out to sea by strong winds. Eventually they land in the water miles from shore with nothing but a few bottles of champagne, Allan’s IPAD and the wicker basket that they are in. Destined for death they start on the champagne before a passing North Korean cargo ship bound for Pyongyang comes to their rescue and brings them aboard.
When finding out the ship will not be stopping before Pyongyang and has a secret cargo on board of uranium, Allan informs the Captain (untruthfully) of his nuclear science expertise (which he has researched quickly on his IPad !) to save their lives and they are taken to the Supreme Leader himself, Kim Jong-Un, to discuss how Allan can help them make the nuclear weapon that Kim has so long desired.
What then follows is a hilarious tale across 4 continents as Allan and Julius steal the uranium, meet and upset President Trump, Angela Merkel and other world leaders along the way. Added to this, funded by the Russians, they are chased by a Neo Nazi group following a mix up over a funeral, before ending up in the Serengeti trying to stop half a tonne of enriched uranium from being smuggled back to North Korea without even realising what they are doing. Along the way they pick up new friends in the form of a Swedish medium, a German secret agent and a massai warrior who help them save the world/cause chaos.
Allan Karlsson for me is a literary character who is fast coming up to be like an Adrian Mole or Alan Partridge in so far that he is completely off of his rocker but you just can’t help but love him and he doesn’t fail to make you laugh. The Further Adventures of The Humdred Year Old Man is an excellent 9.5 out 10 for me and if you love a good laugh, this has to be on your cruising reading list. Read it by the pool, in a bar or in a general area and I am sure you will get people coming up and asking you what you are reading as they watch you chuckle away to yourself and see your belly wobble with laughter.
If after reading it, you want some more of Jonas Jonasson he has a small number of other books to read (I’ve read them all !!) and information can be found on Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Jonasson or his publishers website https://www.harpercollins.com/author/107644/jonas-jonasson/
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Happy Reading 😊😊
Canberralover
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