Fireworks Every Night: A Novel

(Hardback)

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A young woman trapped in a deeply dysfunctional family in the seedy wilds of 1990s South Florida has to make a choice-save her family, or save herself-in this larger-than-life debut novel from the acclaimed author of Lay the Favorite. "Florida, we got it all. Motorsports, ribs, beer. You can drive on the sand right on up to the ocean. Fireworks every night." That's how twelve-year-old CC's father, who named her after his beloved Canadian Club whiskey, describes the appeal of their new home. The man is a born grifter, a used-car salesman who burns down his dealership in southern Ohio for enough insurance money to set up a life for himself, his wife, and his two young daughters in a place he picks largely at random, because the living seems easy. CC's mother is thirty-five going on seventeen, a housewife who just wants to drive a Mustang and hang out at the mall. CC's sister goes from loving Debbie Gibson and jelly shoes to having a full-on drug addiction and listening only to heavy metal, after enduring forms of abuse within her family. In the midst of this dysfunction, CC is trying to stay afloat and make it out-to achieve some semblance of a stable life in America while coming up against the structural and cultural challenges of growing up in poverty. This tumultuous coming-of-age novel features an unforgettable protagonist, a character who narrates her life story with dark comedy and compassion for her family, even as she is failed by them. Those failures-and her self-taught methods for succeeding anyway-are the backbone of this deeply funny and surprisingly poignant story about hard bargains, family loyalties, and the grit of a woman determined to create a better life for herself than the one she was born into.

Reviews

With raw humor and even more raw pain, Beth Raymers Fireworks Every Night alchemizes the ubiquitous Florida Man headlines into a powerful, humane family portrait. Every absurdity somehow made me believe in these characters more deeply, and I never wanted their story to end. Im already excited for what Raymer brings us next.Xhenet Aliu, author of Brass

Fireworks Every Night is electrica wild, raw, heartbreaking ride through Florida swamps and midwestern living rooms, mother-daughter relationships, and the discovery of self. Its honest, elegant look at money, identity, and desire in America powers a story that refuses to relent until the very end. Every sentence absolutely glimmers.Kayla Rae Whitaker, author of The Animators

Beth Raymer is the real deal, and her first novel is a knockout. With wisdom, soul, and dry crackling wit, she reports from the swampy, debt-burdened places most Americans live but rarely see portrayed. Like Carson McCullers, she astonishes with the honesty of her voice and the depth of her heart. Ill be thinking about this gorgeous book for a long time.Jim Gavin, creator of Lodge 49 and author of Middle Men

Raymers first novel crackles with life and energy. There is nothing she cant do with a sentence. Each line catapults the story forwarda meteor of hilarity and heartbreakso much so that I got to page 20 and flipped back to the beginning just for the pleasure of re-reading it. Her young, tough-voiced narrator, CC, made me long to drink gin-infused stolen oranges, sell Corvettes in a broiling used-car lot, and move to the swamplands of Florida, where snakes slither into school classrooms. This is a brilliant debut and a brilliant writer.Leigh Newman, author of Nobody Gets Out Alive

I read Raymers novel in a state of giddy awe, like watching someone launching bottle rockets in the dark at close range and exploding in laughter, a dangerous shower of sparks illuminating a deeply dysfunctional family cruising toward disaster in a brand-new car.Elissa Schappell, author of What We Talk About When We Talk About Birth

Beth Raymers stylish, thrilling Fireworks Every Night delivers what the title promises: a fun spectacle on each page. Nineties Florida deserves a neon talent, and thats what Raymer offerspyrotechnical brilliance and a book of wit and heat. The voice is harrowingly true and full of sweet compassion. And in CC, Raymer has given us a character to love forever.Darin Strauss, author of The Queen of Tuesday

This unsparing version of the modern American tragedy is more fun to read than can possibly be right.Kirkus Reviews, (starred review)

Raymer impresses with heart-rending characters and clear-eyed exploration of class differences. . . . Theres a great deal of life on the page.Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Beth Raymer is the author of Lay the Favorite, a memoir about her years in Las Vegas and her work in the sports betting industry, which was made into a feature film directed by Stephen Frears and starring Rebecca Hall and Bruce Willis. She received an MFA from Columbia University and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship. Her journalism has been published in The Atlantic and The New York Times Magazine. This is her first novel.