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Shellback: A Novel
Boatswain's Mate First Class Dale Staunch is troubled. Follow this salty sailor through his SOUTHCOM deployment where he finds doubt, love, and lands on jaded cynicism as he shows boot camp Smithy how to be a Navy sailor, authentically.
This debut novel is a contemporary reimagining of the classic sea taverns by the sea, smugglers, a girl in every port. Dale is a sailor through and through, but while loathing the landlubbers on the shore, with their mundane lives and plastic houses, he struggles balancing life at home and at sea, and what to do with himself should he ever be moored to the pier permanently.
This debut novel is a contemporary reimagining of the classic sea taverns by the sea, smugglers, a girl in every port. Dale is a sailor through and through, but while loathing the landlubbers on the shore, with their mundane lives and plastic houses, he struggles balancing life at home and at sea, and what to do with himself should he ever be moored to the pier permanently.
334 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 14, 2022
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 15, 2023
Raw and Gritty
While I couldn't always feel good about the protagonist's choices, the author did a great job at making me care about and empathize with Dale. What I enjoyed most about Shellback was the gift of words the author has. He told a story about a world in which I'm unfamiliar, placing me in the heart of it and bringing this world to life for me. At times, I could almost smell the salt of the sea as I read. This is no cheap, beach trash novel, but one that probably should be read multiple times to enjoy its depths. I'm reminded of Hemingway or Cormac McCarthy, not because of the style of writing (the author has his own unique voice) but because this story holds more than what you see at first glance. The imagery is something you don't find in most novels written nowadays.
While I couldn't always feel good about the protagonist's choices, the author did a great job at making me care about and empathize with Dale. What I enjoyed most about Shellback was the gift of words the author has. He told a story about a world in which I'm unfamiliar, placing me in the heart of it and bringing this world to life for me. At times, I could almost smell the salt of the sea as I read. This is no cheap, beach trash novel, but one that probably should be read multiple times to enjoy its depths. I'm reminded of Hemingway or Cormac McCarthy, not because of the style of writing (the author has his own unique voice) but because this story holds more than what you see at first glance. The imagery is something you don't find in most novels written nowadays.
Displaying 1 of 1 review