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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Described as ‘Love Island meets Lord of the Flies’, ‘The Compound’ follows Lily, a conventionally beautiful girl looking for an escape from her dreary life, as she enters a reality TV show. 10 women and 10 men live in a compound in the middle of a dessert, and have to complete tasks to improve their lives, coupling up to ensure they remain on the show. As the numbers begin whittling down, the rewards become more extravagant, but as secrets are revealed, the residents begin to question their lives, their choices, and each other…
I listened to this as an audiobook, after seeing it on a publisher newsletter. As someone who watches Love Island religiously (and hates themselves for it), the premise sounded very interesting.
The story is told in a first person narrative, from Lily, our main character. It is, essentially, just a constant stream of inner monologue, starting from when she wakes up in the compound and following her journey on the show. It was very easy to get invested into the plot, with Lily’s view of the world being somewhat simplistic. I think this worked, as it allowed for a more neutral narrative that gave me space to decide on how I felt about certain characters and plot points.
Lily herself was an interesting main character. Described as aesthetically very beautiful, but lacking in personality. She herself admits she is not that smart or funny, but knows she is good looking. I think where this blank slate approach worked for the writing, it did make it hard to become deeply emotionally invested in the character herself. I feel she could have had a smidge more personality (be that ‘positive’ or ‘negative’), but I did really like watching her grow and evolve. What I did enjoy is despite her rather lacklustre personality, it was consistent and her decisions were believable. Several other characters were far more interesting, such as Candace and Jacintha, and I really enjoyed the relationships the girls formed.
Obviously, the coupling up element did lead to romances, and I found Lily’s romance a little… unbelievable, I suppose. So as not to spoil anything, I won’t say with whom she had a relationship with, but I will say that I personally didn’t understand how it developed so deeply, with both characters being, at their core, very different people with wildly different priorities.
The plot, as I’ve said, had a fantastic premise. Essentially, if you aren’t sleeping in a bed with a member of the opposite sex, you are banished by dawn. There were also group tasks that led to necessary rewards for the group (food, building materials, furniture) but also personal tasks, which could give out luxury items - just don’t forget to thank the brand! As the show progresses, the items become higher in value, and sometimes the task involves the group banishing a resident. I think the first two thirds of this book truly slapped, especially as the interpersonal relationships began to gain some real depth, which led to the tasks being affected by the group dynamics. Throughout the middle portion, particularly, the sense of foreboding began to emerge and made for some excellent tension. Unfortunately, I just didn’t really feel this amounted to a super satisfying payoff.
This book gives big dystopian vibes, with mentions of the outside world infrequent, but interesting - it seems to be set in a not-too-distant reality from ours, which both helped and hindered the story. Sometimes it felt a little Orwellian with mentions of this war going on, but then the reality of the show felt a little dissonant. The war felt like a very significant thing to be going on, and yet there is still the resources for a show like this to be on.
But that leads me to the book’s themes, the biggest one of which being consumerism, and our relationship with the material. Lily is almost a caricature: she knows she’s pretty, she knows she’s not ‘intelligent’, and she’s sick of the day in, day out, 9-5 life. She wants a life of luxury and she doesn’t want to work for it. She wants things and stuff and a quiet life in which she will want for nothing. So, maybe, in a way, the fact there is some big war on while a bunch of adults live rent-free in a house being rewarded a pair of diamond earrings for complimenting a guy they hate kind of makes sense. I just think, like with the whole downward spiral vibes of the plot, it just didn’t quite land how I had hoped. Again, I think the first half was stronger, and I really enjoyed the commentary on reality shows, with Jacintha’s experience of being a Black woman on reality TV being pretty spot on (especially as I was watching my girl Billykiss on Love Island being messed around). I just think that as more residents were banished, we lost some of that rich material to work with and while I felt we got the ‘Love Island’ part of the book well, the ‘Lord of the Flies’ aspect felt a little lacking.
Lastly, the narration: honestly, fantastic. This was incredibly well-narrated and I loved narrator’s voice - she really did a wonderful job with this.
Overall, I think this book was fun, dark, and a decent attempt at relevant social commentary. I wish I hadn’t spent so long between listening (damn you, Spotify audiobook limits!!) because it does feel like a book that should be binged, or else you lose the momentum and the tension, like I sort of did. I would recommend it to anyone who loves a reality show but hates themselves for it, who enjoys a smidge of dystopia and a few thrills.
3.5 🌟
I listened to this as an audiobook, after seeing it on a publisher newsletter. As someone who watches Love Island religiously (and hates themselves for it), the premise sounded very interesting.
The story is told in a first person narrative, from Lily, our main character. It is, essentially, just a constant stream of inner monologue, starting from when she wakes up in the compound and following her journey on the show. It was very easy to get invested into the plot, with Lily’s view of the world being somewhat simplistic. I think this worked, as it allowed for a more neutral narrative that gave me space to decide on how I felt about certain characters and plot points.
Lily herself was an interesting main character. Described as aesthetically very beautiful, but lacking in personality. She herself admits she is not that smart or funny, but knows she is good looking. I think where this blank slate approach worked for the writing, it did make it hard to become deeply emotionally invested in the character herself. I feel she could have had a smidge more personality (be that ‘positive’ or ‘negative’), but I did really like watching her grow and evolve. What I did enjoy is despite her rather lacklustre personality, it was consistent and her decisions were believable. Several other characters were far more interesting, such as Candace and Jacintha, and I really enjoyed the relationships the girls formed.
Obviously, the coupling up element did lead to romances, and I found Lily’s romance a little… unbelievable, I suppose. So as not to spoil anything, I won’t say with whom she had a relationship with, but I will say that I personally didn’t understand how it developed so deeply, with both characters being, at their core, very different people with wildly different priorities.
The plot, as I’ve said, had a fantastic premise. Essentially, if you aren’t sleeping in a bed with a member of the opposite sex, you are banished by dawn. There were also group tasks that led to necessary rewards for the group (food, building materials, furniture) but also personal tasks, which could give out luxury items - just don’t forget to thank the brand! As the show progresses, the items become higher in value, and sometimes the task involves the group banishing a resident. I think the first two thirds of this book truly slapped, especially as the interpersonal relationships began to gain some real depth, which led to the tasks being affected by the group dynamics. Throughout the middle portion, particularly, the sense of foreboding began to emerge and made for some excellent tension. Unfortunately, I just didn’t really feel this amounted to a super satisfying payoff.
This book gives big dystopian vibes, with mentions of the outside world infrequent, but interesting - it seems to be set in a not-too-distant reality from ours, which both helped and hindered the story. Sometimes it felt a little Orwellian with mentions of this war going on, but then the reality of the show felt a little dissonant. The war felt like a very significant thing to be going on, and yet there is still the resources for a show like this to be on.
But that leads me to the book’s themes, the biggest one of which being consumerism, and our relationship with the material. Lily is almost a caricature: she knows she’s pretty, she knows she’s not ‘intelligent’, and she’s sick of the day in, day out, 9-5 life. She wants a life of luxury and she doesn’t want to work for it. She wants things and stuff and a quiet life in which she will want for nothing. So, maybe, in a way, the fact there is some big war on while a bunch of adults live rent-free in a house being rewarded a pair of diamond earrings for complimenting a guy they hate kind of makes sense. I just think, like with the whole downward spiral vibes of the plot, it just didn’t quite land how I had hoped. Again, I think the first half was stronger, and I really enjoyed the commentary on reality shows, with Jacintha’s experience of being a Black woman on reality TV being pretty spot on (especially as I was watching my girl Billykiss on Love Island being messed around). I just think that as more residents were banished, we lost some of that rich material to work with and while I felt we got the ‘Love Island’ part of the book well, the ‘Lord of the Flies’ aspect felt a little lacking.
Lastly, the narration: honestly, fantastic. This was incredibly well-narrated and I loved narrator’s voice - she really did a wonderful job with this.
Overall, I think this book was fun, dark, and a decent attempt at relevant social commentary. I wish I hadn’t spent so long between listening (damn you, Spotify audiobook limits!!) because it does feel like a book that should be binged, or else you lose the momentum and the tension, like I sort of did. I would recommend it to anyone who loves a reality show but hates themselves for it, who enjoys a smidge of dystopia and a few thrills.
3.5 🌟
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
tense
medium-paced
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes