The more you give yourself over to the world of Philadelphia in 2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pajamas, the better your experience will be. You have to get comfortable with menthol-smoking nine-year-old girls who are in fifth grade (most nine year olds are in fourth grade), dogs taking over the point of view, and old ladies who randomly take flight over the city.

If you can hang with those sorts of logical inconsistencies and random flights of fancy then you can hang with Marie-Helene Bertino’s whimsical novel and have a good time. Read more