100

I am so proud of myself recently. With the hypes and distractions brought about by smart phones and an addiction to it,  I managed to finish, after a long time, a 387-paged, small font-sized book in one week. In one week! The days of hard-bound, 600-paged Harry Potter book nights are long over. I have graduated to low-key, out of bound books that I flip snail-like that could go on for years. So this one week saga is really an achievement for me.

The book "The One Hundred Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared" was written by the Swede Jonas Jonasson. An emulation of its predecessor "Forrest Gump", the book intrepidly treaded on the most influential and controversial of historical figures and events of the 20th century. Only an imagination as daring as his could pull off such a gigantic plot.

The main guy, Allan Karlsson, is not your ordinary, typical neighbor. His life was never simple; it was short of splendid. During his salad days, he got himself a job in a nearby factory that nurtured his love of explosives. He met a bunch of small time gangsters and a lady who loves expletives on his 100th birthday. During the course of his life, he saved General Franco, worked for President Truman, dined with Stalin, snuck in and met Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, saved Mao Tse-Tung's wife's life who in return Mao saved his. The story may seem trodding along the path of communism, but the book is noncommittal, being Karlsson himself is neutral. What magnetised him to them, or them to him, is his passion for explosives. This knowledge was in demand at that time, and the most essential in those days. It was the era of world wars.

I had been noticing this book in bookstores I frequented, but only until I vacationed in the Philippines did I decide to take out my card, swipe it through the machine, and bring home this baby. It was one of the most worthy impulsive spendings I made.

This book is commendable for its facts and fiction. It is playful and courageous. The lack of sense of danger of the character makes him a composed individual ready to take on challenges, thanks to the contradicting advices he gathered from his parents which he somehow sews into one proverb he lives by. This book shows the complexity of situations that gets straightened by the simplicity of an idealogy behind a solution. Karlsson had not finished school, and he furthered his knowledge by self-studies and his virtue of prudence. He proved these to be enough to get by.

I have read a few days ago another meaning of the word flow in psychological context - a matter or activity so absorbing that time passes without realizing it, resulting in the achievement of a goal that could then lead to happiness. Time did pass swiftly as I leafed through this book; I got "Flowed" and had achieved the goal of finishing it with no procrastination, which then led to my happiness. But at the same time, it led me to sadness. Departing from a lovable protagonist is a flaw in my character. Karlsson seemed real that I almost looked him up to find out if he really was in every turn of history. Yeah, I am naive.

It is refreshing to read something factually painful, with all its tendency to be harsh, to  come out light and joyful. I enjoyed every leaf of this beautiful book. Life is an adventure, the message that persistently oozes out. Karlsson's adventure never ceased even on his 100th birthday; he got married at 100 and a few months, got intimate for the first time, and was still a consultant up to the last page of this 387 beauty. Jonasson has the flair for mad twists. The story ended how it began.

And I am so proud of myself recently. For finishing this 387 book in a span of one week.