The Centenarian Who Climbed Out the Window

Meet Allan Karlsson, soon-to-be centenarian. The occasion calls for a celebratory party, with the mayor, the journalists, and all the old man's house patients and staff. But Allan has other plans...

The book alternates between two storylines: the first, or "present" one, narrates Allan's escape from the institution and theft of a suitcase, while meeting new people and being chased by the owners of the suitcase, the criminal cartel Never Again, and by the police. The "past" storyline details the life of Allan, which meets lots of historycal figures and causes a lot of troubles.


 * Black Comedy
 * Book Ends: The first chapter of the "present" story line is repeated word by word as the last chapter of the "past" storyline.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: Allan, explosives expert.
 * Cowardly Sidekick: Herbert.
 * Crazy Awesome: Allan. He somehow distilled brandy from goat milk.
 * The Gump: Allan partecipated in the Spanish civil war and in the Cold War. On both sides.
 * Heel Face Turn: Gerdin.
 * Karmic Death:
 * Gustavsson the wholesaler pestered Allan's mom for money, bought a Fabergé Egg from her for almost nothing and sold it to get himself a car. Unfortunately he goes off road and in Allan's property, right when he was experimenting a new explosive.
 * The chief of Teheran's internal security keeps putting out his cigarette in Allan's coffee. Allan exploits this by filling his cup with black-died nitroglyceryne.
 * Lady Swears-A-Lot: Gunilla.
 * Loveable Rogue: many characters.
 * Ragtag Bunch of Misfits
 * Precision F-Strike: done by Allan and Julius when they realize what is in the suitcase.
 * Stuff Blowing Up: Allan again. The most notable instance is his escape from a gulag. It involved the destruction of Vladivostok.
 * Team Pet: Gunillas'pets, Buster the dog and Sonya the elephant.
 * Unfortunate Surname: Herbert Einstein. He was kidnapped by the URSS to work on the atomic bomb.