The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared review – tastes of sentimentality

Based on the bestselling Swedish novel by Jonas Jonasson, this is a shaggy dog story that's neither funny nor serious, writes Peter Bradshaw

Andriessen: La Commedia review – a rich, important achievement

Louis Andriessen latest large-scale theatre piece, based on Dante, is superbly performed and wonderfully varied in tone, writes Andrew Clements

Authorisms: Words Wrought By Writers review – ‘a fascinating history of neologisms’

Peter Conrad enjoys Paul Dickson's rich book that reveals how funny and random the creation of language can be

Empire’s Crossroads review – ‘a strikingly assured history of the Caribbean’

Carrie Gibson pinpoints how sugar and slavery have bankrolled the modern globalised world, says Iain Morris

Touched review – Joanna Briscoe’s creepy tale of a house that harbours secrets

Children go missing from a cottage that resists renovation in a wonderfully claustrophobic horror, writes Alison Flood

My Life as a Foreign Country review – a compulsive, fevered confessional of war

Brian Turner, a former army sergeant, captures US conflict down the generations in a gripping memoir, writes Tim Adams

Protest Vote: How Politicians Lost the Plot review – life among the Farageistes

The rise of the UK's smaller parties was a reaction to arrogance, writes Ian Birrell

The Dark Road review – Ma Jian’s devastating attack on Chinese oppression

Shafts of humour help to illuminate this brilliantly bleak satire on the 'one family, one child' policy, writes Alexander Larman

How to Be a Husband review – Tim Dowling’s hilarious take on family life

Alexander Larman on the Guardian columnist's evolution from feckless layabout to equally feckless husband

The Empathy Exams review – thought-provoking essays on our emotional boundaries

Leslie Jamison's debut collection is a fine blend of anecdote and analysis, says Anita Sethi

I Am China review – Xiaolu Guo’s subtle account of alienation

Xiaolu Guo uncovers the complex past of a Chinese couple and a tragic narrative, writes Claire Hazelton

How to Ruin a Queen review – ‘narrative history at its best’

A jewel scam involving Marie Antoinette that scandalised Europe is brought vividly to life in this rousing ancien regime caper, says Sara Wheeler

The Miniaturist review – Jessie Burton’s much-hyped but unconvincing debut

In spite of some lovely passages and fine research, Jessie Burton's tale of a young woman in 17th-century Amsterdam lacks plausibility, writes Rachel Cooke

I Am China by Xiaolu Guo review – exile and uncertainty

Isabel Hilton on Chinese politics and culture across three continents

The Notebook review – Forced Entertainment’s dark fairytale about war and childhood

This show based on Agota Kristof's story strips away any sentimentality to present the diary of twins surviving war, writes Lyn Gardner