Trying to Float: Coming of Age in the Chelsea Hotel

Growing up in New York City is an adventure, but growing up in the city’s famed Chelsea Hotel is an adventure that high school student Rips chronicles in her droll memoir. While it’s not uncommon to be cramped for space in N.Y.C., Rips and her preoccupied but loving parents live together in a one-room apartment in a hotel that’s known for its unusual characters. Rips was always more comfortable in the company of adults than children, and she spent most of her childhood friendless, hanging around hotel inhabitants such as the Mr. Crafties, two men who perpetually sat arguing in the lobby. She recounts failed attempts to join a variety of activities in her elementary school, most of them ending comically and badly. Her parents didn’t seem to care that their daughter was the least popular girl in school. This changed in middle school when she found her own tribe of misfits. What doesn’t change are Rips’s indefatigable sense of humor about her own circumstances and her confidence. Readers will be impressed that this young author has written such a powerful memoir, and that she persevered through adolescence and her atypical upbringing to emerge as a strong, if eccentric, individual. This heartfelt memoir balances pathos and humor, proving that Rips, still only a senior in high school, is a promising writer who is wise beyond her years. [em]Agent: Nicole Aragi, Aragi Inc. (July) [/em]