You Should Read 2 A.M. AT THE CAT'S PAJAMAS by Marie-Helene Bertino
It's not just the young main character who’s got the moves. Marie-Helene Bertino’s entire novel shimmies. It romps. At times, it even levitates.
Last month, in a review of Rachel Beanland’s latest novel, I wrote about my love for the verb shimmy. You can imagine how delighted I was to start 2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pajamas and read this on the first page: “In her room at the prow of her father’s apartment, Madeleine Altimari practices the shimmy. Shoulders, shoulders, shoulders. In front of the mirror, so she can judge herself, face sharp with focus. It is the world’s most serious shimmy.”
But it’s not just Madeleine who’s got the moves. Marie-Helene Bertino’s entire novel shimmies. It romps. At times, it even levitates.
Although it’s set in December, 2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino makes an excellent read any time of year (and maybe especially during this hellish heat dome of a summer).
On Christmas Eve Eve in Philadelphia, Madeleine Altimari, nearly ten years old, sings and smokes. After her mother’s death, her oblivious and brokenhearted father has sequestered himself in his room and largely given up parental responsibilities. Luckily for Madeleine, her mother left behind many friends, all of whom keep their promise to look out for her daughter: Mrs. Santiago feeds Madeleine at the corner café, and Vince Sherry treats her for head lice at Beauty Land. Madeleine’s teacher, Sarina Greene, didn’t know Madeleine’s mother but keeps an eye on the girl as well.
Over the course of twenty-four eventful hours, both Madeleine and Sarina face their pasts as they try to build their futures. Madeleine wants nothing more than to be a jazz singer like her late mother, if only she could figure out how to get on stage. Sarina, meanwhile, has returned to her hometown after a divorce and must face both her old classmates and her high school crush. While at Beauty Land, Madeleine learns about The Cat’s Pajamas, a local jazz club. Back at the café, Madeleine asks Mrs. Santiago for more information, but the woman tells her, “A jazz club is no place for a little girl. . . . I want to ride in a hot-air balloon. Hover over the city like a bird would . . . Me is to hot-air balloon as you is to The Cat’s Pajamas. Neither is going to happen!” But Mrs. Santiago underestimates young Madeleine, who finds her way to the club in the middle of the night.
In addition to Madeleine and Sarina, we also spend time with Jack Lorca, the owner of The Cat’s Pajamas. After one too many violations, Lorca is on the verge of losing the club, which he inherited from his father. If The Cat’s Pajamas shuts down, he’ll lose more than just a building; he’ll lose his father’s legacy. As Bertino’s omniscient narrator remarks, “We carry our ancestors in our names and sometimes we carry our ancestors through the sliding doors of emergency rooms and either way they are heavy, either way we can’t escape.”
Marie-Helene Bertino’s wonderfully exact, gloriously offbeat world is one I didn’t want to escape. I hadn’t heard of her work until Courtney Maum featured her in a Craft from the Couch interview. Talking about her latest book, Beautyland, Bertino commented on her revision process. As she reread the manuscript, she’d stop whenever she got bored and rework that section until something about it was her favorite, so that on any given page of the published book she could find a scene, a character, or a line that she loved. That commitment is evident in 2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pajamas, where every scene sparkles like the snow flurries covering Philadelphia.
