Reviews for The compound : a novel
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Love Island meetsLord of the Flies in this debut novel narrated by a reality TV show contestant. The story begins—and remains—at a vast, dilapidated compound in the desert where narrator Lily and nine other young women await the arrival of “the boys.” (The compound’s setting is unspecified, and there are hints about dystopian times: Lily wonders if any of the boys have fought in “the wars,” and at one point she muses, “We all would probably be dead in twenty years, maybe thirty if we were lucky.”) Once the nine young men arrive at the compound, the game begins. Long a fan of the (unnamed) reality series in which she’s now co-starring, Lily knows the drill: Hidden cameras record contestants vying to be the last one standing. “The big screen” delivers instructions that yield group rewards (e.g., “Task: Every boy and girl must discuss their previous relationships. Reward: Outdoor seating”); each contestant’s “little screen” delivers instructions that yield personal rewards (“Task: Tell someone in the compound a secret / Reward: Comb”). As the tasks get crueler (“Banish a resident of the compound”) and weirder (“Spit in your bedmate’s mouth”), participant numbers dwindle, food grows scarce, and nerves and loyalties fray. Rawle, an Irish writer, has fully imagined this rapacious world. She takes a risk by imbuing Lily, who sold makeup at a department store before she became a contestant, with qualities that don’t scream “fan favorite”: She admits to being passive, shallow, and not especially interesting. Lily’s self-awareness will dawn too gradually for some readers, and the story takes a while to gather steam, but Rawle ultimately balances a shrewd indictment of reality TV’s contrived survivalism with a celebration of the same. Manna to fans of reality TV and some haters as well. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal
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DEBUT Rawle's attention-grabbing dystopian novel depicts a deadly contest. It opens with twentysomething Lily waking up inside a nearly empty compound. She is one of 20 contestants—10 women, 10 men—on a popular reality TV competition show in which the winner is the person who can stay in the compound the longest. When all 20 contestants are gathered, the big screen in the house turns on, and they receive their first assignments. Readers follow the contestants as they complete group tasks as well as personal challenges, each of which earns them different rewards. It's all showbiz with the contestants flaunting their newly won watches, slippers, and jewels, until one communal task cannot be successfully performed by the entire house. All of sudden, the line blurs for the contestants, between pushing themselves beyond their limits and being put in real danger. Will everyone make it out? Surely they wouldn't let anyone die on TV…right? VERDICT Suitable for mystery or contemporary lit book clubs but BISAC'ed as literary fiction, this debut is a must-read for those who like the fast pace of Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games or Veronica Roth's Divergent but with the literary flair of Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.—Brittany Burchett
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Irish author Rawle’s debut is a masterful, captivating story of materialism and the search for meaning amidst climate crisis and economic instability. Twentysomething Lily wakes up in the Compound, the setting of a long-running reality show. She finds the other nine women who are participating in the show scattered around the property. They see the improvements made by the last set of contestants while they wait for the show's 10 male contestants to cross the desert to join them. At first, the rules are straightforward. At dawn, each resident must share a bed with a participant of the opposite gender or be eliminated. When only nine men arrive from the desert, the women know one of them will be sent home immediately. Residents complete communal tasks to win rewards, alternating between building community and competing with each other. Meanwhile, unseen producers manufacture conflict, while Lily strives to be the last woman standing, reaping unlimited rewards and never returning to her previous life. With nuanced characters and a sharp examination of the tearing threads of modern society, The Compound is an astounding must-read.
Publishers Weekly
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Rawle debuts with an addictive tale of a fiercely competitive and increasingly dangerous reality TV show. It’s narrated by Lily, a beautiful 20-something contestant lured by the promise of luxury consumer goods and hot men. In the beginning, she and the show’s nine other women await the arrival of the 10 male cast members at a beautiful but unfurnished desert compound. Only nine arrive—while the women were shuttled there by the producers, the men have been trekking for miles across the desert—leaving the women at a disadvantage in the show’s dating challenge (each day, a contestant is sent home if they haven’t managed to spend the night with a member of the other gender). The gender split is kept unbalanced as cast members participate in competitions and tasks for rewards such as a coveted hair straightener. As Lily sees other cast members dismissed, some of whom she mistook for friends, she strives to be the last one standing, even at the risk of betraying the one man she feels a genuine connection with. Rawle’s fast-paced plotting keeps the reader turning pages, as does Lily’s intriguing character development. This portrait of a vapid world contains remarkable depth. Agent: Mollie Glick, CAA. (June)
