The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man

January 1, 2019
The hero (of sorts) has aged a year in this wildly implausible sequel to The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared (2012).Reaching age 101 hasn't slowed Allan Karlsson, who travels from continent to continent with his thieving friend, Julius Jonsson. A hot air balloon becomes untethered in Indonesia, and the gentlemen are soon afloat in the Indian Ocean. A North Korean bulk carrier rescues them on its way to pick up four illicit kilos of enriched uranium in Madagascar. The ship's captain takes them back to North Korea, where they meet Kim Jong-un and convince him that Allan is a nuclear weapons expert who invented "hetisostat pressure" and that Julius is an asparagus expert. Allan gives a North Korean engineer a formula for vitamin C and smelling salts, or possibly toothpaste and bleach. When Kim kicks the Swedes out of the country, Allan picks up a briefcase with the uranium in it--easy to do, since all North Korean briefcases look alike. Allan considers giving the uranium to Donald Trump until they meet and Allan decides that the U.S. president is "awfully close to exploding all on his own" and "should be diagnosed with something." Then he writes a letter on three napkins to Angela Merkel, who comes across as the sanest person in the book. Early on, Allan obtains a "black tablet" that shows news, music, and naked ladies. Thus he learns more than Trump, who learns all that's worth knowing from Fox. Allan and Julius meet a grocer/coffin-maker and help her sell designer coffins at a travel and tourism trade fair. Allan discovers Twitter and Facebook, Julius plants asparagus with an assist from Merkel, and a bad guy in Africa learns the hard way what lions like to eat.Delightful nonsense that will lift a lot of spirits.

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December 1, 2018
After his escapades in The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared (2012), which involved escaping his retirement home and discovering a suitcase full of cash, Allan Karlsson is living the good life in Bali with his friend Julius. But endless cocktails on the beach can only entertain for so long. Julius arranges a hot air balloon ride to celebrate Allan's one-hundred-and-first birthday, but plans go awry. When the balloon crashes into the sea, Allan and Julius are rescued by a North Korean cargo ship and soon caught up in an international diplomatic crisis involving Kim Jong-un, Angela Merkel, and Donald Trump. Jonasson's sequel to his international bestseller picks up the threads of Allan's earlier life, adding intricate plots and a set of adventures worthy of his charming and beloved protagonist. Readers will find this a welcome visit from an old friend that's filled with laugh out-loud hijinx as well as thought-provoking and timely satire on the current state of the world and the perils of power.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from January 1, 2019

This second installment of the madcap adventures of centenarian Allan Karlsson, former explosives expert, and his younger petty-thief sidekick, Julius Jonsson, will be happy familiar territory to fans of Jonasson's worldwide blockbuster The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. This time, Allan and Julius decide to blow the last of their ill-gotten gains by taking a hot-air balloon ride to celebrate Allan's 101st birthday. The balloon malfunctions, and they end up in the ocean, rescued by a North Korean naval ship on a mission involving smuggled enriched uranium. Thus triggers a rolling snowball of international crises of epic proportions. World leaders fear for their sanity after their dealings with Allan and Julius, whose wiles and financial precipices involve Nazis, custom-painted coffins, handwritten notes scribbled on restaurant napkins that Angela Merkel must take seriously, hungry lions and hyenas feasting on human flesh, and a charlatan faith healer in Africa. VERDICT Jonasson creates the near impossible with his astute assessments of today's unstable global political climate and endearingly sweet characters, providing laugh-out-loud moments in a dark time. Reminiscent of Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency with a side order of Forrest Gump, this should inspire renewed interest in Jonasson's first Allan Karlsson book. May Allan live longer and prosper. [See Prepub Alert, 7/9/18.]--Beth Andersen, formerly with Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI

This second installment of the madcap adventures of centenarian Allan Karlsson, former explosives expert, and his younger petty-thief sidekick, Julius Jonsson, will be happy familiar territory to fans of Jonasson's worldwide blockbuster The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. This time, Allan and Julius decide to blow the last of their ill-gotten gains by taking a hot-air balloon ride to celebrate Allan's 101st birthday. The balloon malfunctions, and they end up in the ocean, rescued by a North Korean naval ship on a mission involving smuggled enriched uranium. Thus triggers a rolling snowball of international crises of epic proportions. World leaders fear for their sanity after their dealings with Allan and Julius, whose wiles and financial precipices involve Nazis, custom-painted coffins, handwritten notes scribbled on restaurant napkins that Angela Merkel must take seriously, hungry lions and hyenas feasting on human flesh, and a charlatan faith healer in Africa. VERDICT Jonasson creates the near impossible with his astute assessments of today's unstable global political climate and endearingly sweet characters, providing laugh-out-loud moments in a dark time. Reminiscent of Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency with a side order of Forrest Gump, this should inspire renewed interest in Jonasson's first Allan Karlsson book. May Allan live longer and prosper. [See Prepub Alert, 7/9/18.]--Beth Andersen, formerly with Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI