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The Compound: A GMA Book Club Pick: A Novel
GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK
Nothing to lose. Everything to gain. Winner takes all.
“Every bit as addictive as your favorite guilty pleasure binge-watch, but with all the substance of a literary classic.”—Oprah Daily
“It’s fun to watch hot people do psychotic things in this novel. . . . Smart and provocative [and] so damn addictive.”—The New York Times Book Review
ONE THE BOOKS OF THE SUMMER: The New York Times, Vulture, Time, Harper’s Bazaar, Good Housekeeping, Forbes, Betches, Publishers Weekly
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.
Nothing to lose. Everything to gain. Winner takes all.
“Every bit as addictive as your favorite guilty pleasure binge-watch, but with all the substance of a literary classic.”—Oprah Daily
“It’s fun to watch hot people do psychotic things in this novel. . . . Smart and provocative [and] so damn addictive.”—The New York Times Book Review
ONE THE BOOKS OF THE SUMMER: The New York Times, Vulture, Time, Harper’s Bazaar, Good Housekeeping, Forbes, Betches, Publishers Weekly
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.
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
“We had built up a kind of immunity to the harshness that was necessary to live in the compound. And so, a few days later, in exchange for a Persian rug, we banished two people.”
This book is based on reality TV—Big Brother or Love Island, who knows—and starts out at a crawl with little by way of tension. Enough strikes in my book, so I can’t believe I plowed through this addictive read. Maybe it’s a case of mistaken identity. I have a mental checklist of expectations by genre and, at first, nothing was sticking. When it hit me that this story is as much about characters as plot, the light bulb clicked on. Reality TV is about fame and money, yes, but this book is also about the persons who seek it and why. Why go on television knowing their every word and facial expression will be critiqued, criticized, or mocked in the off chance that some viewer will adore them, brands will offer contracts, and money will flow. It also critiques the ways in which reality TV producers sow distrust and fear; encourage betrayal; bait contestants by targeting their weaknesses and compulsions.
“It felt like a vulgar thing, to admit to how much it thrilled me: the promise of material things, the rush you get from obtaining something new, something better than you had before. I was frequently anxious, feeling as though whenever I wasn’t requesting something I was wasting my opportunity.”
Rawle exposes the darker side of reality TV and assembles a cast worth studying. After a slow start, she quickly adds tension and mystery that will keep fans of plot-driven writing captivated.
“People did die after the show though—there was a long list now of people who’d taken their lives after they returned home—but that was a separate issue.”
Thank you to Random House Publishing—Random House and NetGalley for providing this e-galley.
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