I received an ARC for Soul in a Shell by Dylan Byall (linktree link provided at the back of the book itself) and am writing this post as an honest review. The book is not yet on GR and I am too fed up of GR librarians and the slow process to change stuff there that I will not make a request to add this. If and when that happens I will post a shorter review on GR too. Keeping up with the tradition, this post will not be linked there.
Now to the book. It's mostly a poetry collection with some prose sprinkled here and there. It was published in September 2025. The author mentions being a fan of Gertrude Stein, John Steinbeck, Fitzgerald and Hemingway from his teenage years. Except for the last I can't claim to be familiar with his literally lineage in the sense of reading their works. But the author characterizes their style as observational and a voice of the subaltern. The author well managed to try score of those axes. The author is a US Navy man posted for much time in Japan and the writing of the book began during the Corona Pandemic.
The author manages to integrate well the black redactions in this poems. An extreme example is this:
I don't know if the technique is used much or the author is a pioneer but it seems to work a lot of times. They seem to capture the current trend of blacking out information well, something even the US government is recently much criticized in relation to Epstein Files. Or closer home, the secrecy surrounding the recent failures of ISRO. The author has even experimented with use of emojis alongside redacted text on the poem titled "I look at my phone and the world, spinning like a bullet, slows". This captures the reality of modern day social media very well with the trolling, censorship, power moding and low level discourse. Redaction technique works well in the poem entitled "Catch-22" too which links censorship of soldiers letters (my mind immediately goes to Feynman messing with the censors) during WW2 to current day censorship by an agency whose name itself is redacted showing that the book is not beyond the laws of the era. The author also tries visual poetry like in "The Wax Candle/ Its Source Code" and many other titles but I don't really like it. But even I don't even get Chitrakavya so maybe it's just me. My edition of छन्दः सूत्रम्: had some of them by the commentator (who was an Arya Samaji and managed to let that influence his commentry) at the end, but they were never explained. And I never tried much on my own too.
The author's naval career anchors a huge part of the book. Beginning from the very description of his recruiter in "The man had many masks", to dates of finalizing of his papers, him leaving the house (July 25, 2017 by the way). He doesn't view it in a favourable way. It seems to be a traumatic experience for him. He compares the soldiers to Zoo animals, in "Zoo" he writes:
Now, I feel like I am part of
Uncle Sam's private collection,
And he's suicidal.
He's just freed me into a new world,
where I'm authorized to be shot on sight
or shipped off
to another zoo.
This was in context of
Zanesville Massacre, when a person committed suicide after releasing 56 animals, including apex predators like lions and tigers, loose. I don't usually like these sort of anti heroic view of the armed forces. I am very much a सर कटा सकते, मगर झुका सकते नहीं person. But Joe Abercrombie seems to make it work in
Before they are Hanged. And Byall also comes very close here. I think my view on the post world war bases imposed by Americans on Japan also helps. This poem is followed by a prose writing entitled "The Fukuoka Supreme Store & The Fall of Rome". The author writes it towards the end of his service in Japan. He writes that
Some people see the U.S. as a dignitary trying to pay leader. But in 2023, I imagined it as Maximus Aurelius entering the Colosseum, wounded beneath it's armour. Even though it knew the wound was there, it knew it had to fight. And even though it might collapse on the world stage, it would still step into the arena — because that's what empires do.
Standing in the Supreme Store, I felt the pulse of something decaying beneath the surface, something true, hidden under the brand's glossy sheen. Maybe that's what made it Supreme, made America supreme. Maybe that's what makes us all.
Something waiting to fight, even when it could already be lost.
Much tragic realism isn't it? The author was a aboard USS Ronald Reagan (he later mentions that some of the poem were actually written during that stint). The motto of the supercarrier (and its a mighty super one at that, which can house the entire fixed wing inventory of Indian Navy aviation arm at the same time) is "Peace Through Strength" which I thought was a Trumpism but while writing this post I learnt otherwise. From this mighty ship, the author circles back to the "Zoo" theme in the poem "Ghost Stories":
as if the gory could outweigh
the cost of the crown.
At multiple other places the author returns to similar themes. In "Tom and Jerry" he says:
America likes to think itself
the best of both.
The big cat with the small mouse' mind.
We'll make anything out prey.
The next poem to catch my eye was "Portrait in Red". It is about the portrait His Majesty King Charles III. The poet notes that the painting captures realism, his age and such. Much a far cry from when every Tom, Dick and Harry could have crowned themselves the Lord of Totality of Fourier Corners. I think it further evaluates the need or Monarchs in today's day and age. Only today can we except to open newspaper and see pre adolescents second in line to the British throne use that as a brag in their school to gain clout. The King is dead, long the Republic when? Sadly nothing came out of Elizabeth's death. Even India declared a day of National mourning over it! As I write the son of deposed Shah of Iran tried to topple the Islamic Republic to sit on the throne. The author writes:
In these times
they say a social contract
feels like a deal with Devil.
But I know every deal breeds a devil of its own.
There is a sister poem "Portrait in Blue". A few others have similar sister poems or continuation.
The author was posted in Japan, specifically Yokusuka base. He writes "On High Alert (2021 to 2025)" to show that it was not an Eastern holiday posting. He took was on high alert during entirety of his deployment.
"This is the geopolitical hotspot of the world,"
they drill into our heads at sea
so we remain on high alert.
Machoism of the falling wounded gladiator?
The poem "United States" touches both the declining empire as well as man as slave of machine themes that form the bulk of the collection. I especially like the ending stanza:
The iPhone,
stuck to my hand,
charging off me,
types:
Sent from my Human.
This does sends a chill. Does send a chill.
I think the poems that focused on these two theames were the most memorable. There were many others too, but they didn't call my attention that much. Truth be told I forgot about the book midway due to all the mess around the New Year and was only recently reminded of it my a reminder e-mail from the ARC agency.
But the beauty of poetry is that it can sometimes be given a completely different meaning depending on the listener. The extreme example is, of course, Magha' Sishupal Vadh's 16th Canto. But I had a similar (but unintentional on part of the author) moment while reading "Even in War Zones". The entire poem is:
Even in war zones
the lotus dares bloom
in murky, oil- slick ponds
plunked with bullet shells.
To me this is just dedicated to victory of BJP MLA Shagun whose father were uncle were killed by Kashmiri terrorists.
Length of this poem is similar to a lot others in the collection. However some poems span 3 pages too. Overall the lengths are very mixed. The style is mostly free verse, but a few have some sort of well rhyme scheme, especially in the second part called "Ctrl". This I think is a conscious choice.
There seems to be only one other public review at the time of writing, which is by Dr Dudas on Reedsy. He calls it a 'Must Read' but I will be much held back in my praise. The author mentions that he has already started work on its sequel "Ad Disastra" but it won't be an automatic TBR for me. Perhaps my tastes in poetry are already too strong, but it was still a nice way to get out of my comfort zone.
In summary it's a 2.5/5 for me. And if you (like GR) wants to force an integral value, I must round it up to 3/5.
