#48 in Dystopian
The Compound
- 305
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
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About the book
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 A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, THE NEW YORKER, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, OPRAH DAILY, THE GLOBE AND MAIL, CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY 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.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 6.8 across 163 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 47% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Dystopian average of 7.5. That is how 7.3 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 6.8 | 163 | 100% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“3.5 stars. I read this against my better judgment, on the basis of very strong reviews. I didn't ‘enjoy' this so much as find it thought-provoking. It did make me think about how the mad behaviour you see on reality TV is engineered behind the scenes. It felt very Foucauldian, in the sense that they were all pawns in a game being manipulated by forces they couldn't see, and which were ubiquitous. Having said that, I failed to see any broader point to the story, which, ultimately, fizzled out.”
Frequently asked
What is The Compound rated?
7.3 out of 10, from 163 reader ratings across 1 independent sources.
Is The Compound worth reading?
Readers give it 7.3/10 from 163 ratings, which puts it ahead of 10 % of the Dystopian shelf.
How long does it take to read The Compound?
About 6 hours at an average reading pace — 305 pages.
Where does The Compound rank?
#48 in Dystopian on the current snapshot.
How long is The Compound?
It has 305 pages — shorter than 64% of the ranked books in Dystopian.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Dystopian — with scores between 7.3 and 7.4, closest to this book.
