Lay the Favorite
A Story About Gamblers
by Beth Raymer
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Pub Date Nov 20 2012 | Archive Date Sep 01 2012
Random House Publishing Group | Random House
Description
Beth Raymer waited tables at a dive in Las Vegas until a customer sent her to see Dink, of Dink Inc., one of the town’s biggest professional sports gamblers. Dink needed a right-hand man—someone who would show up on time, who had a head for numbers, and who didn’t steal. Beth got the job.
Lay the Favorite is the story of Beth’s years in the high-stakes, high-anxiety world of sports betting—a period that saw the fall of the local bookie and the birth of the freewheeling, unregulated offshore sports book, and with it the elevation of sports betting in popular culture. As the business explodes, Beth rises from assistant to expert, running an offshore booking office in the Caribbean. As the men around her succumb to their vices—money, sex, drugs, gambling—Beth improbably emerges with her integrity intact, wiser, sharper, nobody’s fool. A keen and compassionate observer of the adrenaline-addicted roguish types who become her mentors, her enemies, her family, Beth Raymer depicts an insanely colorful world teeming with pathos and ecstasy.
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
“Candid, smart, funny, wild and crazy.”—Elle
“Raymer gleefully shatters the myth of the modern gambler. . . . Seduced by her stories, we long for this strange, sleazy and alluring landscape.”—Los Angeles Times
“[Raymer depicts] a sordid, florid microworld lurching along the edge of society, not to mention legality. . . . She never condescends or indulges in reality-show caricature; she finds charm in the charmless, a point of light in the most lost of souls.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Lay the Favorite reads more like a novel than a memoir. The rich characters are drawn in depth, yet simply and honestly.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Entertaining (and often quite funny) . . . a delight to read.”—The New Yorker
Advance Praise
"Betting on the come in her wickedlyfunny debut, Beth Raymer's prose is like a virgin in asandy bikini festooned with C-notes. From Vegas to Rio, from theboxing ring to the stripper's pole, she rubs shoulders and otherthings with the sickest crew of action junkies since Roulettenburg.Her ear for sports bettors' patois, for the ins and outs of pleasure,self-pleasure, and getting the best of it, makes Lay the Favorite akaleidoscope of high-test debauchery." -James McManus, author of PositivelyFifth Street
"Strange as hell, wildly affectionate and very, very funny. It is a worldfilled with scoundrels, thieves, and gamblers. It is a world we allrecognize, where everyone is looking to somehow come out on top while doingwhat they love. The book is wise and has a relish for life that is atreat." -Stephen Frears
"Beth Raymer possesses one of the most original voices I've encountered inyears of teaching, reading, and reviewing young writers. And she puts thatvoice to ideal use in depicting the demimonde of sports gambling, the placewhere she finds an unlikely but uncanny surrogate family. Lay the Favoriteis a coming-of-age saga like no other you're ever likely to read." -Samuel G.Freedman, author of Letters to a Young Journalist
Lay the Favorite reads more like a novel than a memoir. The rich characters aredrawn in depth, yet simply and honestly."-Wall Street Journal
"[A] very funny and smart book."-Robert Siegel, NPR/All Things Considered
"Seduced by her stories, we long for this strange, sleazy and alluringlandscape, even as the stakes get higher and Raymer's search for ‘the best ofit' turns into a worst-case scenario. With a film adaptation in the works, it'sa safe bet that Raymer's memoir will find a wide audience. In fact, herengaging voice makes her a shoe-in for a sequel. I'm setting the odds at 3 to1."-Los Angeles Times
"Raymer's crackling, hilarious memoir ricochets through the gambling underwoldin Las Vegas, and is peopled with all manner of lovable wack-jobs, none of whomis quite as wacky-or lovable-as Raymer herself."-Marie Claire
"Candid, smart, funny, wild and crazy."-Elle, Top 10 Summer Books for2010
"It's hard not to like the breezy, ingenuous voice of this plucky protagonistwho proves she's game for any kind of new experience."-Publishers Weekly
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780385526463 |
| PRICE | $15.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 240 |
