Fiction Review: The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man

On audio, I finished another Big Book, The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man by Jonas Jonasson. This was a sequel to The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, and I did not read the first book, but that was OK. This unusual novel is hard to describe, but it was very entertaining.

 Allan is the 100-year-old man of the title, and at the start of the novel, he is relaxing in Bali with his friend, Julius, a petty thief. They are both Swedish, and seem to have come into some money at the end of the first book because they are living a life of luxury in Bali. When their money begins to run out, Julius makes a new friend and comes up with a money-making asparagus-farming/importing business scheme. For Allan’s 101^st birthday, Julius hires a hot-air balloon, but the two friends crash-land in the ocean. They are picked up by a North Korean ship coming from the African coast and carrying four kilograms of refined uranium. They end up in North Korea as “guests”/prisoners of Kim Jung-un, with Allan pretending to be a nuclear weapons expert! That’s just the first of the many surprising, outlandish adventures the two friends have together. They travel all over the globe, pick up a third person, get into crazy situations, and somehow manage to escape each time, culminating in a happy ending for all.

 

As you can probably tell just from that brief description, the novel is aptly titled, and Allan and Julius have a lot of adventures. In fact, the chapters are labeled with the countries they are visiting, and there are a lot of different ones included here. I learned a lot about each country and its history! Allan is quite a character who says whatever he is thinking, has plenty of opinions, and, in this book, has discovered technology in the form of a tablet and is constantly regaling his companions with the latest news, whether they want to hear it or not. Besides Kim Jung-un, Allan meets President Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (and has opinions about them all!). The book is light and funny and often outrageous. But the novel is also filled with facts (and hilarious commentary) about world history and current global events, since Allan has lived through much of history and now has his tablet at hand. It's quirky and sometimes absurd, but it is also fascinating, entertaining, and very funny.  It was a fun change of pace, sandwiched in between a post-apocalyptic audio book and a mystery/thriller. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it on audio.

 

448 pages, William Morrow

HarperAudio

 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

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Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, as the Korean War and the current state of North Korea are explained as background for Allan's current adventures there, and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

   
  

Or you can order The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.