Book Review #49: To Chase the Sun by Craig Randall

Hello Dear Reader!

Welcome to my first indie poetry book review! This poetry book is by the wonderful Craig Randall, and you can find him on Instagram @craigrandallwriting. He posts a lot of beautiful haikus and is just a source of positivity on my feed, so if that’s content you’re interested in, go check him out!

Before I dive into this review, I will say it’s going to take a completely different format than my other ones since it is poetry. Since I am not well-versed in poetry, this is mostly going to be my own personal opinion, but I will try to keep it as objective as I can with my own limited knowledge. With that said, here is the back-cover summary (from Goodreads):

To Chase the Sun is a collection of work that charts one poet’s journey from the darkness back into the light. This search for hope is reflected in his stages of healing from Chaos, to Order, and Beyond.

"I find that I am in love with the night, perhaps it's nought but an ache for the sun." – Craig Randall

End synopsis! Now, let’s get into the review!

To Chase the Sun is a collection of poems Randall penned throughout his journey of growth, his struggle with anxiety and depression. To represent this journey, they’re published in the order they were written in and separated into their three respective stages: Chaos, Order, and Beyond. As someone who has had my own experiences with both, I found the overall collection of poems very relatable. I don’t know much about poetry, but the way these poems were written, the order in which they were written, and their content really spoke to me as someone who has gone through something similar to the author. It takes a lot to get me to tear up while reading something, and that is what happened when I read certain poems in this book.

The purpose of this book is to provide people with hope. Hope that things will change and improve and tough times will pass. In my opinion, this collection of poems is more for subjective and emotional enjoyment than objective, and if you or a loved one has had experience with anxiety and/or depression, you may find yourself relating to this collection as a whole. Of course, if you are sensitive to topics surrounding mental health, then this may not be for you. Though, I will say it does bring a sense of comfort seeing a journey through anxiety and depression condensed into a small collection of poems.

So, To Chase the Sun rating:

5/5 and really happy I chose this book to ease my way into reading more poetry! I really recommend this collection of poems, and I also highly recommend checking out Crag Randall on his Instagram, @craigrandallwriting. His haikus are fantastic, and his content is just full of positivity. It’s a very encouraging account.

Thanks for reading!