Publisher's Synopsis
'They were like balloons that had escaped a child's grasp - pointlessly floating.
"Focus!" I would plead with my mother. And my father was forever being
diverted.'
Allow us to introduce you to the Rips family: Michael, Sheila and
daughter Nicolaia, the last denizens of New York's famous Chelsea
Hotel. Better yet, allow Nicolaia to introduce them, since it's her
earnest, wry, occasionally wicked, but always affectionate observations
that you'll find in her memoir, Trying to Float. Not only a coming-ofage
story set in an enigmatic New York landmark, this is also the
clever love story of a family, navigating the curiosities of their home
