Trying to Float

Hysterically droll, touching, elegant, and wisea coming-of-age story from someone who possibly came of age before her parents (Patricia Marx, New Yorker writer and bestselling author), Trying to Float is a seventeen-year-olds darkly funny, warmhearted memoir about growing up in New York Citys legendary Chelsea Hotel.Meet the family Rips: father Michael, a lawyer turned writer with a penchant for fine tailoring; mother Sheila, a former model and renowned sculptor who matches her welding outfits with couture; and daughter Nicolaia, a precocious and wry high school student at work on a highly unusual extracurricular activity, an official record of her peculiar childhood. Nicolaia is a perpetual outsider who has struggled to find her place in schools populated by cliquish girls and loudmouthed boys. But at the Chelsea, Nicolaia she has found her tribe. Theres her neighbor Storm, a tall albino woman who keeps a pink handgun strapped to her ankle; her babysitter, Jade, who may or may not have a second career as an escort; her friend Artie, former proprietor of New Yorks most famous nightclubs. The kids at school might never understand her, but as Nicolaia endeavors to fit in, she realizes that the Chelseas motley crew could hold the key to surviving the perils of her adolescence. Nicolaia Rips is an old-soul sophisticate. Trying to Float is like Eloise meets Wes Anderson (Elle), and not since Holden Caulfield has there been such a fabulously compelling teen guide to New York City. Ripss debut is charmingly self-deprecating and very funnyat once highly insightful and deeply familiar (W Magazine), a triumphant parable for the power of embracing difference in all its forms. Her engaging story with a big heartwill appeal to adults and teens alike (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).