The Compound

The main premise made the book sound promising, but it was kind of boring. Maybe it was going for subtle but for me a lot of it was pointless and vague.

I did like a lot of things in the book: some of the drama between the contestants, some of the ways the producers manipulated the contestants, some of the ways it presents performance culture and consumerism, the concept of the show. But all of it was in bits and pieces stringed on a lot of meh - daily minutiae, uninspired flirting, repetitive thoughts.

It was interesting to see a reality show from the POV of a contestant but at the same time the MC is not a very interesting character.

The world in the book is slightly worse than our real world (and terribly vague) and I kept wondering why - it doesn’t make it more interesting or dramatic or dystopian or whatever but at the same time distances the book further from reality.

But overall, I had a decent time with the book, there were enough bits I liked, and it made me think, so it’s not too bad, I guess.