Cover image from Goodreads.com
The Compound is a sprawling house in the middle of the desert, where contestants compete to be the last one living there. Each contestant has a small screen that assigns them Personal Tasks, which offer tailored rewards if the task is completed. There’s also a big screen for Communal Tasks, which everyone on the compound must complete in order for the reward to be granted.
Sometimes the producers make sure the contestants complete the communal tasks by withholding resources.
Lily knows she’s not very smart, but she’s beautiful. She has a dead-end job and lives with her mom, but as much as she wants a better job she knows she doesn’t have the skills or qualifications to get one. Living on her own is something else she’d like, but isn’t motivated to move out, plus, her job doesn’t pay all that much. So getting selected to be a contestant is her dream come true, her way out of her dreary life. She’s watched the show and knows all the ins and outs, all she has to do is be the last one there.
Often, Lily wonders why she’s still there. The Communal Tasks seem more and more like the producers are trying to be rid of her, yet she doesn’t get banished and she manages to out-smart other contestants just enough to remain.
While she’s there, she notices that all her Personal Task rewards are clothes, makeup, hair products, and other items to make her look and feel pretty. She knows this is a reflection of herself; that she has no substance other than being beautiful, but doesn’t have any notion on how, or even if she should, try to correct this.
The story felt like an allegory to our lives right now; we are told to buy things to make us happy but the foundation of things that would make us truly happy (job security, employment in general, a livable wage, food security, healthcare in America) are out of reach for many. Given the opportunity to ask for anything we want, many would choose material items that wouldn’t actually improve our day-to-day living.
The novel is thoughtful and a great in-depth look at a character who has little ambition, knows this, but doesn’t have any help in figuring out how to acquire some.
Should Be Writing 