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A review by barefootmegz
A Line Above the Sky: On Mountains and Motherhood by Helen Mort
4.0
A poet, a mountain climber, and a mother: one person. Helen Mort’s essays in A Line Above the Sky trace her experiences with climbing, motherhood, and climbing-and-motherhood, often by superimposing them on what she knows of her climbing idol, Alison Hargreaves.
When reading a memoir focussed on an author’s passions, some parts will ring true, and some may not. The memoir, after all, is the author’s truth. And passionate it is indeed - I have had but brief experiences with climbing, but Mort has the gift of transporting the reader to those crisp mountain mornings with gear on your back and a peak in the distance.
Slightly longer narratives are interspersed with short, poetic flights of thought - the latter following a direction I struggled to understand fully, but the rest gripping enough to keep going.
Mort’s reflections on the similarities and differences between herself and Hargreaves - that thought-experiment of looking into another’s life in order to find answers about your own - is something I can relate to, easily. It is notable that Mort explores the complicated relationship between climbing and motherhood: motherhood threatening to remove her from climbing, while climbing teaches her more about motherhood every day.
There is a trend where people - sportspersons, celebrities, authors - write books about motherhood; how it changes them. Not being a mother, I can’t claim to understand it all, but the uncomfortable sense that women must profess the impact that motherhood has on their lives, prevails. Yet Mort manages to steer clear of sentimental tropes, and makes no excuse for her loyalties to self and climbing.
Helen Mort has a gift for gently dissecting the history within her own passions - eventually delving deeper than her own experiences, to explore the history of climbing women, and how the climbing world’s treatment of women has been reflective of greater societal attitudes.
I imagine fans of the author will readily read this collection - as for me, I had never heard of her before this, and will recommend A Line Above the Sky to climbers of all levels of experience (including those who climb mostly in their dreams), as well as lovers of the outdoors. And yes, to mothers, too.
I received an eARC of this book via Netgalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.
When reading a memoir focussed on an author’s passions, some parts will ring true, and some may not. The memoir, after all, is the author’s truth. And passionate it is indeed - I have had but brief experiences with climbing, but Mort has the gift of transporting the reader to those crisp mountain mornings with gear on your back and a peak in the distance.
Slightly longer narratives are interspersed with short, poetic flights of thought - the latter following a direction I struggled to understand fully, but the rest gripping enough to keep going.
Mort’s reflections on the similarities and differences between herself and Hargreaves - that thought-experiment of looking into another’s life in order to find answers about your own - is something I can relate to, easily. It is notable that Mort explores the complicated relationship between climbing and motherhood: motherhood threatening to remove her from climbing, while climbing teaches her more about motherhood every day.
There is a trend where people - sportspersons, celebrities, authors - write books about motherhood; how it changes them. Not being a mother, I can’t claim to understand it all, but the uncomfortable sense that women must profess the impact that motherhood has on their lives, prevails. Yet Mort manages to steer clear of sentimental tropes, and makes no excuse for her loyalties to self and climbing.
Helen Mort has a gift for gently dissecting the history within her own passions - eventually delving deeper than her own experiences, to explore the history of climbing women, and how the climbing world’s treatment of women has been reflective of greater societal attitudes.
I imagine fans of the author will readily read this collection - as for me, I had never heard of her before this, and will recommend A Line Above the Sky to climbers of all levels of experience (including those who climb mostly in their dreams), as well as lovers of the outdoors. And yes, to mothers, too.
I received an eARC of this book via Netgalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.