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.
Genre: Science Fiction
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.
Genre: Science Fiction
Praise for this book
"This is the book to read this summer. I was riveted from the first page and couldn't put it down." - Cecelia Ahern
"Riveting and deeply unsettling . . . Aisling Rawle has written a book for our times: I flew through it and kept thinking about it long after the last page." - Janelle Brown
"In The Compound, Rawle has built an eerily familiar yet unparalleled landscape - one that expertly juggles the most gruesome and tender human traits - with page-turning, nail-biting force. Just like the reality shows we all can't stop watching, this book is utterly bingeable." - Olivia Gatwood
"I couldn't put The Compound down - it is that rare combination of propulsive and brilliant. I read it in one big gulp and then brought it up at two different dinners to talk about its mix of gender dynamics, capitalism, and power." - Megan Giddings
"A clever and delicious treat that's even more addicting than the reality television it lambastes . . . I dare you not to tear through The Compound at lightning speed." - Zakiya Dalila Harris
"A fresh, original debut, searing in its interrogation of modern life - utterly engrossing, everyone should read it." - Andrea Mara
"Innovative, captivating, and impossible to put down . . . an exquisitely entertaining look at escapism that simultaneously confronts the thing we're most desperately trying to escape: ourselves." - Leila Mottley
"The Compound is a debut so gripping and propulsive that it beats reality TV at its own game. Why watch TV when Aisling Rawle does it better?" - Torrey Peters
"The Compound is a blistering takedown of reality TV in our capitalist world, where the gamification of love and power is sold as entertainment. Aisling Rawle masterfully ratchets up the stakes in this sinister and juicy read until the line between paradise and dystopia becomes dangerously blurred." - Michelle Min Sterling
"This smart, stirring eyeball-peeler of a debut slices into our modern morass of capitalism and media with the appeal of the most transfixing reality series. You will have your face pressed to the windows of The Compound." - Katie Williams
"Riveting and deeply unsettling . . . Aisling Rawle has written a book for our times: I flew through it and kept thinking about it long after the last page." - Janelle Brown
"In The Compound, Rawle has built an eerily familiar yet unparalleled landscape - one that expertly juggles the most gruesome and tender human traits - with page-turning, nail-biting force. Just like the reality shows we all can't stop watching, this book is utterly bingeable." - Olivia Gatwood
"I couldn't put The Compound down - it is that rare combination of propulsive and brilliant. I read it in one big gulp and then brought it up at two different dinners to talk about its mix of gender dynamics, capitalism, and power." - Megan Giddings
"A clever and delicious treat that's even more addicting than the reality television it lambastes . . . I dare you not to tear through The Compound at lightning speed." - Zakiya Dalila Harris
"A fresh, original debut, searing in its interrogation of modern life - utterly engrossing, everyone should read it." - Andrea Mara
"Innovative, captivating, and impossible to put down . . . an exquisitely entertaining look at escapism that simultaneously confronts the thing we're most desperately trying to escape: ourselves." - Leila Mottley
"The Compound is a debut so gripping and propulsive that it beats reality TV at its own game. Why watch TV when Aisling Rawle does it better?" - Torrey Peters
"The Compound is a blistering takedown of reality TV in our capitalist world, where the gamification of love and power is sold as entertainment. Aisling Rawle masterfully ratchets up the stakes in this sinister and juicy read until the line between paradise and dystopia becomes dangerously blurred." - Michelle Min Sterling
"This smart, stirring eyeball-peeler of a debut slices into our modern morass of capitalism and media with the appeal of the most transfixing reality series. You will have your face pressed to the windows of The Compound." - Katie Williams
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Used availability for Aisling Rawle's The Compound