It's not the first book I finished this year but this book is worth to review, especially from a person who was born and live at one of the country it mentions. It isn't just about one of the best selling book all the time but about how a man from the neutral zone in the world who sicks about right side and left side. but, well, he stands on the right side ;)
I don't know how many people get a chance to have their 100th birthday. I believe it's lot, and more than the TV could report it. Alan Karlsson is the lucky person or not? who gets his birthday cake from the mayor of Malmköping. But he refused to celebrate his 100th birthday and only with his slippers he jumped out from the window and had his last adventure before his landing at Indonesia as Mr. Two Hundred Thousand Dolar.
This book contains two Alan's adventure tales, the past and the present. Both stories are great satire for past and today's society foolish. Both are great adventure with stupid unexpected events that Alan ever lived. Jonasson got a right time to start a parallel stories about Alan's. He made Alan as a apathetic person who changed the world because his indifference when most people on the earth has had side to defend for. The two stories began when Alan got nothing left for his life. The past, his parents died and he feels ok with it. The present, he got no drinks. Alan is heavy drinker, some of his stories began cause his requisite of glass bottles.
In this book, you can see some characters, either the right or left side, had been fooled by a man who not stand in one of the side. Maybe you could said, ah he tried to portray his country, but nope, even his country was the foolish one. There's an ambiguity of a man if you were a person who pick a side. A man without identity, a universal man, a citizen of the world or global citizenship. Some people argue that the term of global citizenship is one of the capitalist (right side) idea. By the mean of that, the character Alan seems a perfect figure to describe a hidden capitalist person. It appears unconscious in Alan's thought.
This kind of conclusion emerges when I read Alan's thought about Indonesia. How easy to trick an Indonesian and trick people with an Indonesian. Alan used his Indonesian friend to cover him up. Also this book demonstrate how bad our government structure even a stupid person could be a head of society. I won't describe it too much cause you have to read it by yourself. it's literally funny and ironic. nodding while crying.
This book is another example how easy our country to be define by foreign. Well, though not only our, but it's well evidence that neocolonialism works now. But this book is totally worth to enlighten your gloomy day with its joke about "The Violence" a.k.a "The Violins". Definitely a must read book.
oh, also a must watch film! I will watch it tomorrow :)
