The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared Paperback – Jonas Jonasson ----------------- 2 Stars

The 100 Year Old Man who Climbed Out the Window, was released about 10 years ago and was popular upon its release. However, I had not ever heard of it until a few weeks ago when someone said to give it a try. It was described as a nice, fun, airy and easy to read book. While not wrong, I found it just a bit too silly.

For those that are not familiar, as you may have gleaned from the title, the book is about an 100-year-old person who leaves a nursing home through a window. The rest of the book follows a Forrest Gumpian tale of his exploits after leaving the institution and many flashbacks about his life that brought him to this place. It is nothing if not fantastical, but I can see the allure to some readers.

While I thought they were parts of the book they were entertaining and even funny, I struggled with how unrealistic the book was. I understand it was a fictional story, but it was constantly on the verge of being so unrealistic it was silly. The main character is certainly alluring and the best part of the novel where the flashbacks when he was a major player in Geopolitics for nearly half a century. I less enjoyed the current story that include his getaway, eventual connections with numerous bizarre characters, and unanticipated ending. 

As noted in the last paragraph, I really struggled with just how light this novel was. While I am not opposed to a fun story that is totally unreal, I didn't feel like it had enough humor or exciting parts to carry the unseriousness. I also found the characters really not that exciting. Again, the 100 year old man was interesting but there are four to five other complimentary characters that I just couldn't find myself caring for. By the end of the book, I really just wanted to find out what happened, rather than enjoy the journey.

As I was curious what others thought of the book, I did check out some reviews afterwards. From what I could tell, it was a fairly polarizing story. There are some readers who absolutely loved it and others, perhaps more like me, that really didn't enjoy the story. In many ways, it reminded me of a slightly more positive version of A Man called Ove. Not surprisingly, that was one of my least favorite books I've read (review here). If you haven't read, perhaps it's worth giving it a try and seeing where you fall.

Genealogy of a Murder: Four Generations, Three Families, One Fateful Night - Lisa Belkin --------------- 3 Stars

When I first read the synopsis for Genealogy of a Murder, I figured it was a book made for my tastes. A nonfiction story about a murder many years ago with a fascinating confluence of events. In addition, the author takes a fascinating historical path, describing the history of three different families that led to awful event. Yet, for some reason, I didn't enjoy the book as much as I hoped.

Continuing the synopsis, the three people include a police officer who was killed, the seemingly reformed ex-con who shot him, and a doctor (related to the author) who pledged that the killer was reformed. The book has a few notable and interesting themes. First, what leads people to a life of crime; is is nature or nurture? And, how much can those paths change by life events and how likely are they to change after being locked up. In addition, how easy is to predict a person's success after prison? What information or data could be used to inform a parole decision?

These are fascinating questions that should have made for a great read. And, to be fair, it was an interesting and enjoyable book. The story she told was a page turner, and the history she shared about each person was clearly researched and informatively shared. In addition, it was great she was able to share a bit of a postscript about each of these families. Although the murder took place in 1960, she followed up on the status of family lineage to literally last year.

With that said, I struggled with certain aspects of this text. First, while not necessarily too long, it seemed to focus on the wrong things. I was really hoping to get more of a story about the three main characters. And, while they are still the priority of the book, the author felt it important to cover both breadth and depth of their ancestors and extended family. As each came from families of European immigrants with many siblings, I felt much of the first half of the novel was telling the many stories of these people. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep up with all of them (many having the same name didn't make it easier), and I am grateful for the complex family tree in the preface that I went back to often.

My other biggest weakness has to do with the eventual murder. Based on the title and all preceding chapters, it's clear the book is slowly chugging along to reach that point. Once there, however, the author choose to tell the story of what happened in an odd time sequencing that took away from the story. While there was limited information and eyewitnesses to what occurred, I found it an odd way to conclude what was supposed to be the apex of the story.

As a whole, not a bad book at all. I love the story and ideas raised by it; I just struggled with the way the author shared information. She also has a very deliberate and informative writing style, that moves you through the facts but doesn't always keep you fully engaged with the story. Maybe take a look for yourself.