Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - The Compound

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Compound by Aisling Rawle, Aisling Rawle

8 reviews

tarareadsalot's review against another edition

4.0

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

ehindmon's review against another edition

4.0

dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Man, I really enjoyed reading this book. All the characters were kind of train wrecks of human beings and it was really hard for me to put the book down and go to sleep. I just kept needing to see what craziness they’d get up to next.

Content Warnings

liminalorchid's review against another edition

3.25

reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I’m very surprised at how well-rated this book is. I was convinced to read this after hearing it was “Hunger Games meets Love Island.” Boy, was I disappointed.

Overall, this book was pretty underwhelming with no real point or message. The vast majority of it is focused on a flat, directionless romance and there is no form of class commentary nor exploration of complex relationships between interesting characters as one would expect per the premise. The motivations of the protagonist were shallow and pointless.

The only reason I’m giving this a slightly positive rating is because the actual writing and narrative style was good at balancing the protagonist’s thoughts and descriptions of the scenes. It kind of reminded me of the narration in “I Who Have Never Known Men.” It was very matter-of-fact and unemotional, which I found made it easy to get through the book which is why I didn’t DNF it.

Content Warnings

soobooksalot's review against another edition

4.5

fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

hunni_reads's review against another edition

3.75

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

melissa_b_67's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Do you love reality television? How about people behaving badly for material items? Are you a fan of coming-of-age stories with morally grey characters? Do you love books with a dystopian setting? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, The Compound, would be a good book for you to try. Even if you don’t like any of those things, you may still enjoy this book! I do not watch reality television, but while reading the very binge-worthy, The Compound, by Aisling Rawle, I totally get the hype. Even though my personal experience as a viewer of reality TV is quite minimal, as I turned the pages of The Compound, I was able to understand why this sort of television is so riveting. In the same way that viewers become invested in the characters of reality TV, this reader became equally invested in the outcome of the characters and the “game” they were playing, so much so that I found my heart rate accelerating with each turned page.

With characters that I wanted to love, but loved to hate, I couldn’t help but wonder what choices I would make if I were in their shoes. Mainly I was pretty sure I would never put myself in their shoes. Although I remained conflicted about the purpose and benefit of such a show/game, as I learned more about what drove some of the characters to apply to the show, I had more empathy for them. Ultimately, I couldn’t stop turning the pages because I had to know who was going to be voted off the compound next, and who would be the last contestant standing.

This was a fun and immersive reading experience, albeit a disturbing commentary on our materialistic culture, that I will not soon forget. If you are looking for a bingeable story that will take you outside your own daily existence, make The Compound the next book you pull from the shelf.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC of The Compound by Aisling Rawle in exchange for my honest review.

Content Warnings