The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

“The passenger was wondering why he had stolen a big gray suitcase on four wheels. Was it because he could and because the owner was a lout or because the suitcase might contain a pair of shoes and even a hat? Or was it because the old man didn't have anything to lose? Allan really couldn't say why he did it. When life has gone into overtime it's easy to take liberties, he thought, and made himself comfortable in the seat.”

Life is mysterious for Allan, who has narrowly escaped death many times and recognizes that his demise is overdue. Based on the serendipity, coincidences, and miracles Allan experienced, his taking the suitcase with him is simply a natural quest for innocuous adventure. Stealing the suitcase sets in motion a growing wave of unpredictable events that changes the lives of a dozen people.

“For Allan's father, the whole thing had acquired a personal dimension since Lenin had forbidden all private ownership of land the very day after Allan's father had purchased 130 square feet on which to grow Swedish strawberries. ‘The land didn’t cost more than four rubles but they won't get away with nationalizing my strawberry patch,’ wrote Allan's father in his very last letter home, including ‘now it's war!’”

This passage reveals why Allan never allows any form of idealism he encounters—political, religious, or nationalistic—to sway him. Allan’s father is extremely idealistic, which directly results in the loss of his job, causes him to leave Sweden for Russia to overthrow the Czar, and ends with his murder at the hands of two communist guards over his strawberry patch. Throughout the book, conflict and hardship invariably result when people are extremely idealistic. Jonasson conveys that the better-armed idealists inevitably prevail.

“Since his time as an errand boy, Allan had retained his interest in current affairs. At least once a week, he rode his bicycle to the public library in Flen to get updated on the latest news. When he was there he often met young men who were keen to debate and who all had one thing in common: they wanted to tempt Allan into some political movement or another. But Allan’s great interest in world events did not include any interest in trying to change them.”

Jonasson describes Allan throughout the narrative as continually interested in the world but not in taking sides. That he wants to stay current on the news confounds those who presume that individuals interested in world happenings must have idealistic beliefs and strong preferences. As curious as Allan is about the world, he finds politics and politicians consummately boring.