chasing lights
what happens after the story ends?
On a heavy Chicago afternoon in June, with the world locked away by COVID quarantines, Gunnar Branson stood alone outside a garage. He watched his wife, college-aged daughter, and two cats drive away. A thirty-year marriage ended as he stood in the alley. Dark thunderheads loomed overhead, alternating with bursts of hot sun. A light breeze fluttered the Linden tree.
Story over.
But maybe not. There are answers to be found in the past. This is a book about a boy growing up in Alaska and an older man waking up to the best part of his life. The story is not over. The world does not have to end. Not yet, anyway.
What happens when you chase the lights?
Where is the light?
At a certain age, it becomes tempting to believe that the light is behind you. That’s it, end of story. I’m either blessed or cursed forever. But there is always more to the story, always more light ahead.
The lights are clear. Accept smallness as a fact and let go of small fiction. Burn with memory, story, and light, even if it’s a small gesture. Even after it goes wrong, there is joy to be found. No matter what, it’s great to be alive.
Keep reaching for the lights.
“A fascinating and deeply moving meditation on place, identity, and meaning, Gunnar Branson explores the tension between cities and nature, darkness and light, isolation and belonging, and how where we live shapes who we are and who we can still become.”
Richard Florida, Author of The Rise of the creative class
“Gunnar Branson didn’t want to write a memoir, which is perhaps why this is such a good one. The vast bounty of Alaska is the grand canvas for this earnest Bildungsroman that deftly shuttles between past and present. Many people chase the light, but few can imbue it with insight the way Gunnar does.”
Dr. Parag Khanna, Founder & CEO of AlphaGeo and author of MOVE: Where People are Going for a Better Future
“Chasing Lights” is compelling due to the author’s willingness to look at his life without illusion. Gunnar Branson’s honest self-examination transforms memory into meaning and makes the book resonate long after the final page.”
General Stanley A. McChrystal, Author of On Character: Choices That Define a Life
“Let Gunnar Branson tell you, with stunning imagery and just a hint of bittersweet nostalgia, the story of his extraordinary Alaska childhood. It’s all here: the deep snow drifts and dazzling glaciers, the dog-sleds and the bush planes, the midnight sun and the bears and salmon and whales. Most of all, Chasing Lights is about a boy growing up in a wilderness bursting with possibilities–and, inevitably, about a man trying to recapture that early sense of wonder.”
Meil Howe, Author of The Fourth Turning is hear
“Chasing Lights is a wonderful coming-of-age story, set in a time that will be familiar to many, but in a place that isn’t. But the book is more than that. It is also a story of healing. All of which makes for a great read.”
Mark Zandi, Chief Economist of Moody’s Analytics and author of Paying the Price: Ending the Great Recession and Beginning a New American Century
“Chasing Lights is a great American story of coming of age in Alaska, poetically juxtaposed with the ups and downs of adult life and rebirth. A lyrical meditation on solitude and belonging, nature and civilization, and the redemptive power of love, Chasing Lights reminds us that where we grow up lives on inside us, whether that’s Anchorage or Manhattan. Few people have lived a professional life at the heart of international capital markets and also binge-read Shakespeare in a rural cabin while applying hot tar to wooden cross-country skis. Having lived at the edge of wilderness and the heart of the city, Branson brings a special insight into our condition and the choices we make.”
Joshua Benaim, Author of Real Estate, a Love Story