Fireworks Every Night, by Beth Raymer
“Florida, we got it all. Motor sports, ribs, beer. You can drive on the sand right on up to the ocean. Fireworks every night.” That's how twelve-year-old C.C.’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 burned 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 picked largely at random, because the living seemed easy. C.C.’s mother is thirty-five going on seventeen, a housewife who just wants to drive a Mustang and hang out at the mall. C.C.’s sister goes from being a sweet, cheerful pre-teen 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 chaos, C.C. 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 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.
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September 18, 2025 - Book Discussion @ 12:50 -1:50 pm
October 16, 2025 - Student Panel @ 12:50 - 1:50 pm
November 20, 2025 - Author Appearance @ 12:50 - 3:00 pm
All events will be held in person (CSS Building room 217) and online via Zoom on the 3rd Thursday of the month.
Beth Anne Raymer is an American writer and journalist. Her work in both fiction and non-fiction explores subcultures and issues relevant to the lives of lower and middle-class families. Raymer received an MFA from Columbia University. As a Fulbright fellow, she studied offshore gambling operations in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama. Raymer is the author of several books including Lay the Favorite, a memoir of her experience in the sports-betting industry. The memoir was adapted into a film in 2012.] Her journalism has been published in The Atlantic, Lapham’s Quarterly, Sports Illustrated, and The New York Times Magazine. Raymer's debut novel Fireworks Every Night, Random House (2023), explores class differences, the lasting effects of childhood dysfunction, and complex family bonds.