A Feeling for Rock

by Sarah-Jane Dobner

Book Review by Jen Roberts

ISBN: 978-1-8384004-1-5 (paperback)

ww.dobdobdob.co.uk

For those of us who have returned to the crags we’ve been missing, it will be the guidebooks we’ll have been reaching for. However, if you have a moment there is a new book by Sarah-Jane Dobner that may complement your collection of technical tomes.

While many of us were looking forward to getting back onto rock and climbing routes we had been dreaming about, this book breaks down the entire process of climbing into its minutiae, often the unspoken elements - emotional, sensory – making it feel more intimate and heightening our awareness. Even the cover image encourages a double take, highlighting the similarity between textured rock and rough climber’s skin, a theme that Dobner develops, illustrating a life that has been formed and transformed by climbing. She asks us to scrutinise and explore why we do what we do, and questions whether developments in the sport actually denote progress.

A Feeling for Rock is described by the author as an “artsy, feminist book on a hobby”, which is succinct, if a little reductive. The pages are filled with reminiscences, short stories, interviews, photographs, cartoons, essays and poems, which make it perfect for dipping into in a spare moment. You’ll be amused, entertained and, potentially, challenged by the content, and regularly have a wry smile on your face thanks to the universal understanding of what it means to be a climber.

One minor area for improvement would be the inclusion of colour photographs. The colour cover image really draws your attention to the lines and ridges of the skin, and its contrast with the colour of the rock. However, the black and white images used within are rather grainy. They don’t draw your attention in the same way as the cover and I found myself glossing over those pages. The lack of colour and sharpness is a shame, but they are interspersed and do not detract from the rest of the collection. Some of the images are available on the author’s website if you are curious.

This book was first read during the end of lockdown in the UK and it made me nostalgic for something I had been missing. What I have found interesting, since I am back on rock again, is that my appreciation now extends beyond the freedom of being allowed to climb, helping me to think about the process of climbing in a different way.

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