Squeezed was recommended by friends years ago; they thought it was “really funny.” But after reading the description, I passed. Just a few weeks ago, I read another book by this author, Future Proof, and I liked it. When creating that review, I came across Squeezed again and finally decided to go for it.
Squeezed is a book I almost didn’t finish reading. I even have a category in this blog: Books not finished reading. And I don’t rate those. Sometimes I drop out after just a few pages. Sometimes I make it to 50%. With Squeezed, I lost interest at 10%, then again at 20% and again at 50%. Fortunately, I just had knee surgery, and I had a lot of time on my hands with not much to do and no better books in the queue, so I just kept going. Well, here it is.
Scott and Hannah have been together for seven years, they had two children, and the two finally were able to go on a honeymoon in Thailand. While in their hotel room, Hannah told Scott she had ordered a prostitute to spice up their evening with a threesome. She didn’t discuss that with him, and he didn’t really have much say in the matter, because the “package was on the way.” Thirty minutes later “Marilyn” showed up, and matters commenced.
They proceeded with their vacation and went back to their home in Edinburgh, Scottland, and continued with their modest lives, where taking care of their two young daughters and holding up their middle-class jobs took all their energy. They lived in a tiny and cramped apartment, and they shared a beater car. But there was happiness in their lives, and love, or so it seemed.
One day, during a terrible blizzard, their apartment doorbell rang. Marilyn from Thailand stood there, inadequately dressed, and six months pregnant. She said Scott was the father. They had no choice but to invite her in and set her up on their couch.
Now they had some explaining to do, to their friends, to their parents and families, and – as it turned out pretty quickly – to the authorities.
Squeezed is a story about hapless family that is trying to make a living against all odds and yet has to deal with life’s adversities whether they are ready for them or not.
The reviews said that I’d be laughing out loud from the first page on, that Squeezed was a romantic comedy. I didn’t think that at all. It was funny here and there, but it was no comedy. It was slow and boring at times, as the author went into great detail about things that didn’t seem to matter in the plot, but I just kept plowing on, as I said above, and in the end, I found the story rewarding.
