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A Novel
by Aisling Rawle
Book Reviewed by:Love Island meets Lord of the Flies in this must-talk-about-it read, as bingeable as the best reality TV.
Lily—a bored, beautiful twenty-something—wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside nineteen other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards like champagne and lipstick, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home, like food, appliances, and a front door.
Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave: why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur. If Lily makes it to the end, she'll receive prizes beyond her wildest dreams—but what will she have to do to win?
Addictive and prescient, The Compound is an explosive debut from a major new voice in fiction and will linger in your mind long after the game ends.
Fusing an addicting page-turner of a narrative with a potent social commentary, debut author Aisling Rawle elevates a simple reality dating TV show premise into an unforgettable literary achievement. Contestants are subjected to heartbreak and humiliation in the name of entertainment for the unseen audience, which they submit themselves to willingly for the vague promise of a better life—the grand prize is really just more of the same; the winning contestant is allowed to continue to live in the compound for as long as they want, where they are granted all the luxuries they ask for. For Lily, an infinity of mindless consumerism is the only ambition she can dream up. For the reader, it's unsettling to confront the fact that Lily's existence in the compound may not be so different from our own under late-stage capitalism...continued
Full Review
(665 words)
(Reviewed by Rachel Hullett).
Michelle Min Sterling, New York Times bestselling author of Camp Zero
The Compound is a blistering takedown of reality TV in our capitalist world, where the gamification of love and power is sold as entertainment. Aisling Rawle masterfully ratchets up the stakes in this sinister and juicy read until the line between paradise and dystopia becomes dangerously blurred. Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby
The Compound is a debut so gripping and propulsive that it beats reality TV at its own game. Why watch TV when Aisling Rawle does it better? Zakiya Dalila Harris, New York Times bestselling author of The Other Black Girl
A clever and delicious treat that's even more addicting than the reality television it lambastes ... I dare you not to tear through The Compound at lightning speed..png "Novels about reality TV")
Aisling Rawle's debut novel The Compound takes place on an unnamed reality competition television show, where contestants live together, compete in challenges to earn rewards, and gradually get banished until only one remains to win the grand prize. As it borrows recognizable elements from popular reality shows like Survivor and Love Island, The Compound feels almost like turning on the TV on a Friday night to binge the latest Netflix series. But it's hardly the first novel to utilize the backdrop of reality television—a premise that has been explored through a variety of genres, from literary fiction to thrillers to romance to science fiction.
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