Disclaimer: should you make purchases through any of the links in this blog, Monsta Reader may earn a commission from the sellers, but this has no impact on the cost to you as consumer, nor does it influence the content of this blog.
Allan Karlsson is back! And, he is just as likely as ever, despite his advancing years, to find himself in all sorts of scrapes!
Unlike the first novel (which I wrote about here), we don't traverse the ever changing sociopolitical landscape of countries around the world throughout the last century, but instead we are very much immersed in that landscape of today. At times, the novel reads as quite surreal, and you might find yourself thinking it absurd comedy. But, then you recall some of the odd news stories, and equally as odd political leaders, we've seen in recent history, and you might end up thinking, "Well, jeez, maybe this ain't all that absurd!"
Just as we saw Karlsson meet prominent figures of the twentieth century in the last novel, he becomes familiar with political figures of the modern age here; Donald Trump, Angela Merkel, and Putin all make an appearance. And, just as in the first novel, he doesn't always rub them the right way. He has a way of doing that sometimes.
Alan has lived through one hundred years of watching the world shift and change; he has seen people kill and be killed for this and that ideology. And, somewhere along the way, he came to the conclusion that whatever will be will be. This attitude of acceptance is a hallmark of the character's personality, and probably why he is able to travel and see what he has seen without having to curl up in a ball in a corner somewhere. Because, though the author tells us an absurd story, it hangs on a framework the real world, and it shines a light on the craziness of this world we live in!
As I read this book, a question occurred to me; why does Allan like to drink so much? I mean, he seems to be laid back and accepting of the world, that it will do harm and suffering. He seems to accept that he will have to suffer loss, discomfort, and hurt, and he seems to accept these things with an almost Zen like calmness. However, he does love a drink, and when he imbibes he can drink an awful lot. It doesn't seem to tally.
Then, I wondered, perhaps the desire for that cosy buffer between oneself and a crazy world is just natural. A perfectly sane response to an insane world; the temporary serotonin increase, the veil between oneself and the cruelty. An idea that I might explore further in a future post. Not a wholly optimistic outlook, but there it is.
In this novel, Allan discovers the internet, and throughout the book he carries with him a black tablet; he is forever regaling anyone who will listen - and, even if they won't he tries - with the latest news stories that pop up on his screen. Even when the group he is travelling with has other concerns he still just wants to read off the news. Just as many of us do. He eventually even joins Twitter. And, what happens? This one hundred year old man who has seen and accepted so much begins to worry and feel concern. Perhaps he should, right? Or, perhaps, the internet, and social media in particular, is causing a whole new host of problems rather than doing much to alleviate the old ones?
This is a book full of absurdity, just like the last one, but it's also a book, just like the last one, that can prompt serious questions if you look beyond the absurdity. Brilliant satire!
If you would like to purchase a copy of The Further Adventures of the Hundred Year Old Man by Jonas Jonasson, you can do so here, and I very much recommend that you do!
Thank you for reading, if you enjoyed this piece, please consider following/supporting me over at Ko-fi where I regularly update about my rather bookish blog, and other of my writerly endeavours. All support is gratefully received and very much appreciated! It means that I can keep writing after all!
No comments:
Post a Comment