Senescence: A Year in the Canadian Rockies

by Amal Alhomsi

184 pages, Paperback

Published October 8, 2024

Reviews

[Brendan Monroe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful ruminations on life, nature, and how the seasons connect us all.

[C Hinz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely phenomenal. Easily digestible. A must read. Alhomsi draws lots of inspiration from both the thoughts and observations people before him, as well as nature (and its quiet insights), tying them together in a melody which is both blissful and haunting, matching that of the seasons.

Bravo Amal.

[Alberta Views Magazine]

Senescence explores the process of aging and setting down new roots in a place when one has come from another landscape entirely. Alhomsi is a Syrian writer and artist who has lived in Banff since 2018. His debut book is written in layered, lyric dialogue with the land and water; at the same time, it is in constant conversation with other writers and thinkers whose work explores the natural and the spiritual. Considering the state of a heat dome summer, the Bow Valley landscape around him turning sere and brittle, he reflects, “Nearly 40 degrees C. Nearly Riyadh’s weather. I would look at a tree and wonder: How is it not on fire? Is it not just dry sap and timber? I have never seen things rattle without being touched by wind. Natalie Rice writes, ‘Grass is a fire / before it knows it is a fire.’ So are the mayflies, so is this body; lumps of damp mud left until they turn into tar, until they’re burnt out of their clinging.” The language in Senescence is exquisite, delving into the intimate connections between the human and the more-than-human, forging elegant links between the aging body and the land suffering through the climate crisis....

Review by Jenna Butler
Full review at https://albertaviews.ca/senescence-tr...

[T P Kennedy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't often feel like hurling a book across a room but this is the exception. I thought this would be a ruminative account of a year in the Canadian rockies. It proved to be a disconnected series of ramblings - it's like a very bad retelling of Thoreau. The writing is self obsessed and glories in non sequiturs. Possibly a bit too new age for me. Definitely my worst book of the year!

[Enid Wray]

DNF

[Shinemoos · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful reflection! I first thought it was a random mumble of a sentimental poet, however, as I read on, I felt an intuitive mind and tender heart searching for god amongst everything. How he subtly brings up the family stories: the faith that passes down from mother to son, the family tragedy in the background of a falling apart nation. More than telling you a story, Amal turns you into him, make you see with his eyes. Great storytelling!

Let us all become the mountains. Let the mountains find each other.