The Compound

This is one of the few books that manages the status of a thriller without constant action. A book that moves consistently from action scene to action scene inevitably becomes dull, strange as it may sound. This book keeps up an aura of suspense because there is also an aura of claustrophobia as Eli moves throughout the Compound. Despite the small physical space in which he moves her characters, Bodeen does an excellent job of portraying the characters going throughout a routine they have no choice but to embrace. The theme of choice quickly evolves into our era's greatest moral questions (emphasizing birth control and cloning) as the pace of the book quickens, and as Eli is presented with more and more choices, he discovers more about show more the people around him. Everyone in the Compound, with the exception of Eli's father, is distinctly out of their element despite the length of time they have had to adjust to the small space. The concept of teenage rebellion is incorporated into that of moral choice in an excellent confrontation of moral and familial responsibility. An aggressive and mature commentary, but still more than worthwhile. Highly recommended. show less

4.5 stars. I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I picked this up. It had been recommended to me as dystopian fiction, but once I got sucked in, it felt more like horror or an especially disturbing episode of The Twilight Zone.

The main character Eli isn't very likeable, and that's usually the first thing that starts me squirming when I'm in the deciding-if-I'm-going-finish stage of reading a book. He is the narrator, and he's cold and resentful. But it's not very long before we realize that Eli doesn't like himself very much and that he's carrying around a lot of guilt and regret (regret for the past and for the future he's anticipating) with no hope of relief or redemption. I listened to the audio book, and the reader did a nice show more job with Eli.

The description of the Compound where Eli and his family have lived for 6 years, believing they have escaped a nuclear attack, is intricate and thorough. Too much description can be a turn-off for me too, but this was so well done that I was fascinated. I especially liked how she imagined different types of psychosis would manifest in that situation.

There was a moment when I thought I'd hit the point of no return, and that was when Eli started talking about the "supplements". I had a very hard time believing that his mother would go along with it, that his father would demand it, and that Eli and Lexi expected to go along with it too. But the further I read (listened) the author pulled me back, and I saw that things weren't exactly as they seemed at first. It's still a little bit of a sticking point for me, rating-wise, but the quality of her writing and storytelling overrode any impulse to write off the entire book because of it.

Once something happens that gives Eli a glimmer of hope and horror at how his father has deceived them all , his character starts a rapid transformation into a person we can admire. Some might say too rapid, but I think all he needed was to see that redeeming himself was possible. It made sense to me.

The suspenseful race against time and his father at the end had me so worked up I had to bring the audio book inside and finish it over the weekend (this was my audio book for my work commute) since I didn't have the book on hand. For me, that's the true indicator that a book has made it-when I can't wait to hear more. The riddle to figure out the code was the only other thing that bothered me enough to downgrade my rating-it just seemed too far-fetched that his father would have set that up.

This book won me over despite some longstanding prejudices of mine about what types of plot and character I like. That's a testament to the author's excellent writing. I'm glad to see there's a sequel due out this year. show less

OVERVIEW
All right, let’s clear something up first. Most of the time, I find the goodreads summary to be beyond adequate, but I feel it’s a little lacking for this book. The basic premise is that Eli and the surviving members of his family hide in the underground bunker his rich father built in case of a nuclear war attack. As to be expected, this makes everyone a bit restless and life seems overwhelming pointless at times for the family. Eli starts looking for answers to the world that’s been built around him. I will say that I loved this book, but I think many people who look at the “dystopia” tag on goodreads and look for something filled with political corruption and intrigue will be disappointed. The story is confined show more mainly to Eli’s family. This is not your Hunger Games or Divergent with all these forces of society playing at once.

CHARACTERIZATION
One of the main things I loved about The Compound was Eli’s characterization. I find that most of the Young Adult books I’ve read this year, while good, haven’t been quite what I was looking for in the characterization department. There are certainly wonderful characters in this genre, but I feel many are three-dimension while still lacking the subtlety I crave. We see Eli as a child of nine, and he is clearly different six years later. He starts out being a not-so-great brother, but ends realizing he really does love his family. What makes this believable is that we see glimpses — but only glimpses– of the ability of Eli to care for his family before his character growth. He doesn’t change in an instant, though it does happen quickly. However, it doesn’t seem out of place because it’s not something that just comes out of left field. It’s been fermenting in his character from the beginning of the novel.

PLOT
This is really where this book shines. Yes, I love the characterization, but I think many readers could overlook bad characterization in this novel because of the plot. There’s always a new twist, that’s foreshadowed enough for it to make sense and yet still deliver impact. I will say my one less-positive thing about this book is that the foreshadowing is quite overt in times; sometimes the “twists” can be see coming. However, because of what those twists are(some of which are truly horrifying), its impact is not diminished.

PACING
Unfortunately, this is where this book lost its fifth star for me. Throughout most of the book, the pacing is great, but towards the end everything starts to seem rushed and the main character gets into a situation that should take a bit of time to solve, and instead more or less breezes through it. It’s a sequence of events that goes just a little too fast to make me as a reader feel there was any actual conflict.

OTHER ELEMENTS I ENJOYED
The writing. It’s simple, but effective.
The opening line, “T.S. Eliot was wrong. My world ended with a bang the minute we entered the Compound and that silver door closed behind us.” Aside from being just a really great opening, the T.S. Eliot reference was enough to hook me.
The lack of romance. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for romance when it’s called for, but it’s nice to know that Young Adult books can be written without authors thinking it’s a necessary ingredient.

Final Impression: I thought this was an amazing book all around, with one exception in the pacing area. It’s not quite what I was expecting, but I think that’s why I loved it so much. I am now determined to read some of Bodeen’s other books. I give it a 4.5/5 stars.

Review originally appeared on my blog at Book.Blog.Bake. show less

All his life Eli has been prepared for the eventuality that there will be a nuclear fall-out and that his family is ready for such an event. His billionaire father has spared no expense in creating the Compound, a three-story underground shelter that will house the family for 15 years in the event of a nuclear war. When the family actually has to use it, things go a bit awry and Eli's twin brother and grandmother are left on the other side. Now Eli's been in the Compound for six years, guilt over his missing brother eating away at him, when he discovers evidence that there may not have been a nuclear event at all. The only one who knows for sure is Eli's dad, an intimidating, power-hungry man who relishes having control over people. Eli show more will have to find out the truth in order to save his family.

Okay, you're reeeeally going to have to suspend your disbelief for this one. That said, it had me on the edge of my seat. The beginning really reminded me of Life As We Knew It or City of Ember, so I'd try this one on fans of those. Twists and turns abound and, although the plot is ridiculous, it's certainly not predictable. show less

Eli and his family have been living underground in a steel and concrete bunker (albeit one with lots of luxuries) for years. They entered the compound to escape the coming nuclear attack, and are still mourning the loss of Eli's twin brother, Eddy, and their grandmother, who didn't make it in before the door shut, not to be opened for 15 years. Life in the compound has its routines–study, exercise, read, chores. Dad stocked the place with thousands of movies and music cds. But some things have started to go wrong. Poison grain has killed their livestock–no more eggs and milk. Temperature sensors have failed and ruined much of their other frozen food. It won't be enough for 15 years. Other strange happenings make Eli wonder if they show more really need to be in the compound at all. And his father's survival ideas are getting scarier every day. What is really going on outside, and will they ever escape the compound? show less

This book is one of the Texas Lonestars. I bought it last spring, but did not get around to reading it until school was starting this year. If you think being the kid of a billionaire would be really awesome, think again. What if your billionaire dad was really psycho, but you didn’t realize it until you discover what he has done for your protection is really some very sick experiment? I hope I haven’t given too much of the book away, but this book has the potential to creep you out. Since I like this kind of creeping-out in a story, I really liked this book. The story moved quickly, keeping me engaged throughout. What really appealed to me was the main character learning who he could and could not trust and what to do about his show more discoveries. Bizarre circumstances (billionaire dad and living in an underground compound), but very real problems (who do I trust and when do I take a stand) we all confront on the journey to maturity make this a good, fairly quick read. show less

(#16 in the 2009 Book Challenge)

I can't decide if this is brilliant, or what. YA novel about a family that flees to an underground bunker after a nuclear attack. The book opens with 15 year old Eli reflecting back on how they got there, and remembering his twin brother, who didn't make it in before the door was sealed. It's a little bit like On the Beach meets Flowers in the Attic. It' has insanity, deceit, dwindling supplies, and a weird salacious vibe that is even creepier because it's never addressed directly in the text. This book is pretty over the top, the plot is implausible to the point of being ridiculous. If you can get past that, and decide to embrace the goofy premise, it's actually quite riveting.

I remember knowing kids in show more middle school who weren't big readers, and in fact, rarely if ever read books outside of class, yet for some reason would stick on one book. There was a guy who never read anything willingly, except he read The Chocolate War something like 50 times. This book reminds me of that -- the plots aren't similar, but it feels like one of those books that is fundamentally voyeuristic in how depressing and satisfying it is at the same time. I would completely believe that a kid who seldom read fiction would pick this up and like it enough to read it again and again.

Grade: This is one of those books that ends up being better than it has a right to be, so I'm going to say it's a B on its own, but it gets an A if you look at it more as camp.
Recommended: I bet reluctant middle school readers, especially boys, would get into this. show less