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Rockhead
In Rockhead, 27 year old geographer, Atlas, is obsessed with the intense, athletic world of technical rock climbing—and with the question of whether he should leave his brilliant, controlling girlfriend for an exciting fellow climber. As he and his climbing partner, Dade (whose pregnant wife can't decide if she wants him at home or not), travel across America towards Yosemite, they find themselves searching for the ‘rockhead’—a state of intense mental and physical focus that will help them climb better.
During their travels they also struggle with a set of questions that initially overshadow—and ultimately encompass—the rockhead: How do you do a single thing well—like repair your ailing van? How do you love in the right way? And, perhaps the key to it all: how do you live your best life?
At the end of the novel Atlas finds his own, powerful answers. He's taken an enormous fall and huddles on a tiny ledge, 2,600 feet high up on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley—so high up that the blood dripping from his broken tooth will evaporate before it ever reaches the ground.
Dade might be dying and the rope that Atlas needs to reach him is in shreds. Atlas must make a fateful decision: to wait for rescue and risk Dade's death, or to try and reach Dade himself by climbing without a rope on the most dangerous section of the route.
How Atlas gets to this moment is the story of Rockhead. And how he tackles it, living as if it's last thing he'll ever do, is something that will transform his life--whether he lives for six more decades, or the six seconds it would take for gravity to rip him to the valley floor.
During their travels they also struggle with a set of questions that initially overshadow—and ultimately encompass—the rockhead: How do you do a single thing well—like repair your ailing van? How do you love in the right way? And, perhaps the key to it all: how do you live your best life?
At the end of the novel Atlas finds his own, powerful answers. He's taken an enormous fall and huddles on a tiny ledge, 2,600 feet high up on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley—so high up that the blood dripping from his broken tooth will evaporate before it ever reaches the ground.
Dade might be dying and the rope that Atlas needs to reach him is in shreds. Atlas must make a fateful decision: to wait for rescue and risk Dade's death, or to try and reach Dade himself by climbing without a rope on the most dangerous section of the route.
How Atlas gets to this moment is the story of Rockhead. And how he tackles it, living as if it's last thing he'll ever do, is something that will transform his life--whether he lives for six more decades, or the six seconds it would take for gravity to rip him to the valley floor.
- GenresFiction
336 pages, Paperback
Published September 3, 2019
3 people are currently reading
344 people want to read
About the author
Sean Toren
1 book11 followersSean Toren has an M.F.A. in fiction from the University of Arizona. He has published short stories and non-fiction, written relationship columns, and worked for almost two decades as a copywriter and German translator. After rock climbing all over the world, he settled down in Minneapolis with his wife and son and became a psychotherapist.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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November 17, 2019(This note is from the author.)
Rockhead came out of a lifetime obsession with rock climbing, ‘dirtbaggin’ (now known as the ‘vanlife’), mindfulness, and how to ‘live right’. I had several transformational moments as a younger climber and focused my efforts for many years on how to access not only athletic ‘flow’ states, but also compassionate mindfulness. The obsession/interest led me to climb on several continents, a B.A. in philosophy, an MFA in Creative Writing, over 15 years as a marketing, technical and magazine writer, and finally to a career as a psychotherapist.
I’ve climbed in all the places mentioned in the novel—the Black Hills, Devil’s Tower and Yosemite big walls—and although the characters in Rockhead are not based on me, their internal experiences are rooted in my own experiences on rock. My first time dropping into the Valley, at age 20, I hung myself out the passenger window of a rattly Datsun and whoo-hooed! at the top of my lungs, in awe of the immensity of the walls and so much rock. Of all the mountains and crags I’ve been to, I still love Yosemite most of all.
From a climbing standpoint it’s got huge granite walls, massive falls, intense climbing, and deadly accidents. It also has troubled romantic love and a powerful platonic friendship between the two main climbing partners. That friendship is at the heart of the novel.
From a therapy/mental health standpoint, Rockhead has anxiety, mindfulness, non-ordinary states of consciousness, existential questions about determinism and free will, and nature versus nurture. It asks the question: How do you live your best life?
Rockhead came out of a lifetime obsession with rock climbing, ‘dirtbaggin’ (now known as the ‘vanlife’), mindfulness, and how to ‘live right’. I had several transformational moments as a younger climber and focused my efforts for many years on how to access not only athletic ‘flow’ states, but also compassionate mindfulness. The obsession/interest led me to climb on several continents, a B.A. in philosophy, an MFA in Creative Writing, over 15 years as a marketing, technical and magazine writer, and finally to a career as a psychotherapist.
I’ve climbed in all the places mentioned in the novel—the Black Hills, Devil’s Tower and Yosemite big walls—and although the characters in Rockhead are not based on me, their internal experiences are rooted in my own experiences on rock. My first time dropping into the Valley, at age 20, I hung myself out the passenger window of a rattly Datsun and whoo-hooed! at the top of my lungs, in awe of the immensity of the walls and so much rock. Of all the mountains and crags I’ve been to, I still love Yosemite most of all.
From a climbing standpoint it’s got huge granite walls, massive falls, intense climbing, and deadly accidents. It also has troubled romantic love and a powerful platonic friendship between the two main climbing partners. That friendship is at the heart of the novel.
From a therapy/mental health standpoint, Rockhead has anxiety, mindfulness, non-ordinary states of consciousness, existential questions about determinism and free will, and nature versus nurture. It asks the question: How do you live your best life?
November 27, 2019
I loved meeting Toren’s characters, unique and interesting people that populate the world of climbing (and their friends and loved ones). His story is captivating, both the climbing quest and the personal journey Atlas undertakes.
In this day of short attention spans, I found myself making sure Rockhead accompanied me everywhere, getting a few precious pages or chapters in at every opportunity. His language evokes other worlds and paths and I found myself fully drawn in, all senses focused on what might be next.
The story unfolds with passion and precision, sharing what clearly are personal experiences with climbing, all building to a powerful climax, filtered through Atlas’s resolve to get it right. And the author has a great glossary on his website that covers climbing terminology in depth.
Rockhead is a powerful read, thoughtful and adventurous, with meaty prose. A great gift for the readers on your list!
In this day of short attention spans, I found myself making sure Rockhead accompanied me everywhere, getting a few precious pages or chapters in at every opportunity. His language evokes other worlds and paths and I found myself fully drawn in, all senses focused on what might be next.
The story unfolds with passion and precision, sharing what clearly are personal experiences with climbing, all building to a powerful climax, filtered through Atlas’s resolve to get it right. And the author has a great glossary on his website that covers climbing terminology in depth.
Rockhead is a powerful read, thoughtful and adventurous, with meaty prose. A great gift for the readers on your list!
January 2, 2020
I received this book as a Goodreads Giveaway. There were so many emotions triggered by this story: love, hate, anger, frustration, sadness, hope, joy. While I have no desire to rock climb, I was exhilarated reading some of those passages and fascinated by the philosophies that were presented. It was not an easy book to read, but definitely worthwhile. The only drawback was all of the rock climbing lingo, everything from gear to maneuvers to names of various formations, that I was unfamiliar with and I couldn't quite wrap my head around all of it. I'm sure that anyone with climbing experience would breeze through those parts, but, for me, they made parts of the story slow and painful and I found myself re-reading entire passages. It was still a very good book and, again, worth reading for the characters, relationship-building, and philosophical aspects alone.
December 31, 2019
I cannot tell you exactly when this book came alive for me, however I can narrow it down to when I felt like I was on the rock, following Atlas and Dade on a hot day and was fully invested in their wellbeing, even though I've never climbed a mountain in my life! And maybe when I began to feel the van becoming a character, which was as full of impactful details as the well thought out prose.
The line, "He put another lid on another jar of gravity" breathed more life into this suspenseful and contemplative journey, full of gear, rugged landscapes, complex people and human nature.
Thank you for the enjoyable read.
The line, "He put another lid on another jar of gravity" breathed more life into this suspenseful and contemplative journey, full of gear, rugged landscapes, complex people and human nature.
Thank you for the enjoyable read.
January 27, 2020
Everything you could hope or expect for from a climbing novel. Great story that keeps you flipping the pages.
June 30, 2022
This book has everything: adventure, suspense, mindfulness, humor. Great read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews