2 A.M. at The Cat's Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino is a day in the life of almost ten year old Madeleine Altimari. Madeleine doesn't have any friends in her fifth grade class at school, she's just been expelled, her mother has recently died, her father is lost in grief, and all she really wants to to is sing.
Bertino weaves together beautifully the stories of Jazz Club owner Lorca, in debt and about to lose his club, Madeleine's teacher Sarina, recently divorced, and of course Madeleine herself, as they all find their way to The Cat's Pajamas, Philadelphia's once premiere Jazz Club, on Christmas Eve Eve, where Bertino brings Philadelphia's Jazz scene to life.
This is a wonderful, well written story, at times funny, at times heartbreaking, ultimately redeeming. I loved it.
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