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.
Smart and provocative ... So damn addictive ... The premise itself is the novel’s first achievement—the TV show is a wonderfully abhorrent and ethically dubious monstrosity, and a testament to Rawle’s imagination ... A fantastically and uncomfortably fun drama, one that is particularly enjoyable because of a profane truth: It’s entertaining to watch hot people do psychotic things ... The final third of the book in particular is a hair-raising suite of terrors.
With such a juicy conceit, it would be easy to view the novel as just an easy summer romp. But Rawle is up to something more thoughtful; The Compound joins a budding genre of fiction that uses disturbing televised competitions to critique our social norms ... Thrilling and haunting.
Rawle’s narrative is compulsively readable, written with an understated, sharp grace that lets the surreal details shine. From the first page you feel in safe hands, and it’s wonderful to surrender yourself to such a book. ... The book becomes increasingly addictive. The characters are well observed, and the plot moves with balletic precision towards a bleak and gory finale ... Though marketed as a satire, the political edge is the novel’s least persuasive element. Its critiques of consumerism are broad and familiar; in truth, Love Island functions as a far more layered and unsettling commentary on the world we live in, and it’s not as if viewers are unaware of the show’s dystopian undertones ...The novel’s real power lies elsewhere: in its atmosphere, its pacing and the completeness of Rawle’s narrative control. It’s one of the most engrossing and confidently executed novels I’ve read in a long time.
A masterful, captivating story of materialism and the search for meaning amidst climate crisis and economic instability ... With nuanced characters and a sharp examination of the tearing threads of modern society, The Compound is an astounding must-read.
