2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas wins two awards in my book: weirdest
and worst read ever. I find it impossible to believe that it was
named one of NPR's Best Books of 2014. Seriously? I had to force
myself to finish it and the only reason I did is that I committed to
review it for Blogging for Books and felt I couldn't review it honestly
without reading the whole awful thing. Thankfully received this book for
free from them and didn't waste my own money buying it, although I'm
sorry they wasted theirs sending it to me.
When I chose this
book, I thought it would be a lovely way to start out the holiday season
since it takes place on December 23, or as the author, Marie-Helene
Bertino calls it, Christmas Eve Eve. Ha! Lovely is a word I would never
use to describe this book. It is, in my opinion, awful. The main
character is a nine-year old girl names Madeleine, who speaks with a
potty mouth, spouting swear words left and right. If that sounds like
your idea of a Christmas story, then perhaps you WILL enjoy the read.
The
other characters were mostly depressing and depressed. They were all
desperately seeking love or money or recognition or fame that mostly
eluded them. There is one particular scene where one of the characters
meets a woman in a strip club and moments later has a quickie with her
in the club bathroom, which the reader is privileged to read about in great detail. Now, isn't that sweet?
The back cover of the book quotes it as being vivacious, charming and moving. Sorry--I just don't see it.
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