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A review by bobthebookerer
A Line Above the Sky: On Mountains and Motherhood by Helen Mort
4.0
This is a beautiful memoir where Helen Mort traces a few overlapping stories- that of her idol and fellow mountaineer Alison Hargreaves, Hargreaves' son- a mountaineer himself, and Mort's own personal adventure to find her own path through life.
In it, Mort recounts her childhood and her desire to follow in the footsteps of her idol, but also how being alone against the challenges of nature also give her the distance to grow, to think, and to convalesce.
Her perspective about the unique challenges for women in her field is fascinating- not only the lack of role models and the sexism faced directly when climbing, but also in the external perceptions, and how they enter into her own thinking- for example, is she being selfish by taking time away to climb and be outside, even though men rarely, if ever, get the same treatment.
A deceptively short read, this book was a beautiful insight into her world and the joys of being small in the presence of nature.
I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
In it, Mort recounts her childhood and her desire to follow in the footsteps of her idol, but also how being alone against the challenges of nature also give her the distance to grow, to think, and to convalesce.
Her perspective about the unique challenges for women in her field is fascinating- not only the lack of role models and the sexism faced directly when climbing, but also in the external perceptions, and how they enter into her own thinking- for example, is she being selfish by taking time away to climb and be outside, even though men rarely, if ever, get the same treatment.
A deceptively short read, this book was a beautiful insight into her world and the joys of being small in the presence of nature.
I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.