S. F. Prescott

An exciting premise with dark turns

Aisling Rawle is an ex-bookseller from Leitrim in the West of Ireland, and now works as a secondary-school English and music teacher in Dublin.

The Compound is her first novel.

I don’t watch a lot of reality TV (except anything real-estate related), but I do find the concept fascinating. One of my favorite things about these types of shows are the wildly different personalities that clash on screen, creating the drama we all cringe at but can’t turn away from. Which brings me to The Compound by Aisling Rawle. I initially thought the story started off on the slower side, until I realized Rawle was using a unique narrative structure to mirror that of a reality TV show. Slowly unveiling new characters, the curious setting, and strange tasks each contestant is faced with to win personal items and eventually, survive. Little is known about the outside world, but hints are dropped which caught my attention. Specifically the mention of increased suicide rates by former contestants who are banished from the compound. By the time I reached the midpoint the story took a sharp dark turn and I was completely hooked.

It highlighted some dark truths about society and reality TV as entertainment that disturbed me. How destructive and obsessive consumerism has become. How low some people will stoop to be liked and gain certain comforts, and how meaningless it all is in comparison to living outside the compound in the real world. There were a few scenes that emphasized these points, including Lily, poolside, calling her mother after months of being apart. It was the first time she had spoken to another person outside the compound and I expected her mother to be happy to hear from her. Instead she didn’t have much interest in the show and made general chit-chat before they eventually hung up, calling attention to their strained relationship and Lily’s general isolation in life. It was, perhaps, one of the sad reveals behind her motives for joining the show. In another scene, Lily listening to a voicemail from a contestant who had left, Sam, updating her on his life outside the compound, including sailing his boat around the world and trying to find joy in the day to day. I hoped she would learn from her experiences inside, and run toward a less materialistic future, maybe with Sam. The ending left me feeling curious but hopeful, and deeply disturbed.

For readers watch reality TV shows, are interested in the dark side of entertainment, and who enjoy stories about flawed characters.

Synopsis:

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?