Trying to Float by Nicolaia Rips: book review

Trying to Float: Coming of Age in the Chelsea Hotel (2016) is set in the Hotel Chelsea, New York, from 1998 to 2015. This is a Young Adult book - the memoir of a 17-year-old school girl who has lived her whole life in the infamous Hotel Chelsea.

This is not just a memoir, it is also about the historic Hotel Chelsea, famed since it was built in 1966 for its legendary guests, such as Arthur Miller, Dylan Thomas, Gore Vidal, Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Satre, Leonard Cohen, and Patti Smith.

Father Michael, a writer, and mother Sheila, an artist, moved into a one-room apartment in the hotel and set about finding a school for Nicolaia (Nicki). Slow academically, and slow to fit in socially, Nicki was nevertheless gifted in public speaking. Shy at school yet precocious in her home-hotel setting, this is her story of trying to make friends among a motley crew. For not only is the school the institution for children of well known celebrities or wealthy people, but it is also a school of cliques, and the hotel is not only a place for the artistic but also for home to drug addicts, ladies of the night, misfits and mavericks.

At school there are Pippi the dance teacher, Doris, Uhura, Fan, Janie, Greta, Noah, Roberto, Ned and the secret group. In the hotel there are The Crafties, an 80-year-old sexually ambiguous Storme, the Capitan, Artie and his wife Colleen and daugher Dahlia.

Although there is a cast of characters, this is predominantly about outcasts and awkwardness, friendlessness and loneliness. There is nothing fancy in the writing, but there are witty and comical life-episodes, with a blend of self-deprecating humour and sassy initiative.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...

The Knight in the Panther Skin by Shota Rustaveli (2015 translation): book review

The Knight in the Panther Skin (12th century, this edition 2015) is a recent translation by American poet and author, Lyn Coffin. The author, Shota Rustaveli, is Georgia’s most loved poet. This poem is mammoth, a magnum opus – it is 1,656 verses long, separated by chapters. But readers, don’t give up, because every verse is worth reading. It is akin to 1001 Arabian Knights, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, or Shakespearean poetry. King Rostevan of Arabia has a daughter, Tinatin. She loves the knight Avtandil and he loves her. Verse 368 from Avtandil: ‘The doctor’s could do nothing. A dark twilight on my heart now pressed, I was on fire because of love, but nobody knew or guessed. They blamed my blood. The king decided bleeding my arm would be best; I let it be done to hide the suffering I had not confessed.’ But a knight in panther skin is seen weeping, and subsequently kills the king’s soldiers, sparing the king. Before Tinatin weds Avtandil she r...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog