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The Compound
The Compound
The Compound
Audiobook5 hours

The Compound

Written by S. A. Bodeen

Narrated by Christopher Lane

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

Eli and his family have lived in the Compound for six years.
The world they knew is gone.
Eli’s father built the Compound to keep them safe. Now, they can’t get out.
He won’t let them.

Dad asked me if I wanted to see more of the Compound.

I didn’t. We would have to wait fifteen years before it would be safe to go outside. Which left more than enough time to see the rest of the Compound.

Our new world.

A world I would soon hate.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 1, 2008
ISBN9781423365617
Author

S. A. Bodeen

S. A. Bodeen is the author of The Garden and The Compound, which earned her an ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults, a Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year, and a Publishers Weekly "Flying Start." She is also the author of several picture books, including Elizabeti's Doll, winner of the Ezra Jack Keats Award. Bodeen grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Her first friends were cows, which she named after characters in books. From there she went on to be a Peace Corps volunteer in East Africa, and has lived in seven states, as well as a remote Pacific island. She adores books and is a big fan of cheese. She lives in Oregon.

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Reviews for The Compound

Rating: 3.751613088172043 out of 5 stars
4/5

465 ratings53 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I enjoyed every aspect of this book EXCEPT that the sequel isn’t available as an audiobook. I want moooooorreeeee
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Eli has lived in the compound with his family for the last six years. Most of his family, anyway. When his father sealed them in to escape the nuclear bombs, he didn't wait for Eli's twin brother or their grandmother. Eli uncovers evidence that there may not have been a nuclear holocaust, but the family can't get out - dad won't let them.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    **SPOILER** There are times when I am willing to suspend incredulity when a story is just a little too incredible to believe and I'll go along for the ride, ala Haddix's "Running Out of Time." "Compound" isn't one of those stories. It just wasn't conceivable to me that a billionnaire would lock his family underground in an extensive compound for 15 years, even if he was mentally ill. And even less believable that his wife would go along with the plan.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It was awesome I woke up and read this book and I’m trying to write my own but this was so awesome
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It was a good read. Narrator was excellent kept me wanting to continue reading book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    loved it. creepy dad, troubled sisters, evil twin turned hero, potential cannibalism, nuclear bunker, and great ending.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Eli has been living in an underground compound with his dad, mom and two sisters for about 6 years waiting till the world is safe to go out into again after the nuclear war. Although most of the time down below has been very routine, Eli starts to notice some unusual things when the food supply runs low and his dad starts acting wierd. As a young teen, Eli is shocked when he finds out the alternate food source his dad has initiated. As more questionable things come to light about his dad's sanitiy, suspense builds as Eli needs to decide if he has the courage to stand up to him and save his family.This book has a lot of potential for discussion for a teen group as it covers all kinds of exciting topics like survival, deception, multi-billionaires, and ethics but is not suitable for general discussion under grade 7. 248 pages.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I feel like the events going on beneath the surface of the situation in this book were pretty obvious, but I still wanted to know what would happen next. Pretty engrossing book, and well narrated.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Wow! What an exciting read "The Compound" turned out to be. The plot line reminded me a little of The City of Ember, but on a much smaller scale with only a billionaire and his family seeking safety underground from a nuclear explosion. However, "The Compound" had far more twists and turns, and I was on the edge of my seat all through the second half. The story started well and continued to gather speed as Eli slowly uncovered shocking surprises and secrets that were never supposed to be revealed. Insanity, dwindling food supplies, unexplained discrepancies and creepy goings-on led Eli on a frantic mission to save his family.At the start, I wasn't a fan of Eli. He was sullen, selfish and antisocial, but he did step=up and mature as he realised that things weren't what they seemed, despite his father's assurances. Once he started questioning what was happening and why, he became far more likeable and his interactions with his siblings finally won my approval.If you're looking for a suspenseful, thrilling and action-packed read, "The Compound" , is certainly worth a try.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Slow start but it gets much better. I enjoyed it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    When Eli is only 9-years old, he and his family (minus his Gram and twin brother, Eddy), run to their underground compound and manage to escape the nuclear bomb outside. After six years in the compound, their food supply begins to run low, even though the original planning and stocking took into account 15 years. Eli's billionaire father has some odd ideas about what to do next, and Eli discovers a few surprises. I really enjoyed this! I did figure out some of what was going on before it was “revealed”, but I was still reading on the edge of my seat to find out what would happen next.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I first picked the book up because it was recommended to me. I was told it was amazing and the best book in the world, but I don't think it quite lived up to my standards.At first the book was good, but then there was no action literally just Eli going through his day. He went to the gym, he watched a movie, he read a book, that is all it was.Then all of a sudden everything happened all at once. It felt very rushed.Right now I am debating wether or not I should read the next book because I'm afraid it will be the same as the first.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A good book, and much more interesting and surprising than I thought it would be judging from its summary.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Kind of see that coming. I need a bit more than what I got for the ending.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a great teen fiction. Was recommended to me and now I suggest it to many people.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Gearing up for a different read, I pick up this book because the synopsis intrigued me. Being trapped in a compound for years captures me. I want to know what happen down there and most of all, I want to know how it all started.Plot: This story is really well written in dialogue and back round history. Learning how they got down there in the first place, really puts the reader in the characters shoes. How they live, eat and the things they do to keep themselves busy makes me wonder what is going on topside. Each chapter brings forth new details in which you can't help but follow. It's like a trail of bread crumbs leading up to some truth that you never see coming.Family: One thing this story does focus on is on family. It's all about trusting the father and being loyal to each other. But when things come to question, where does your loyalty lye then? What do you do? Do you trust your father or do you investigate? Well, this is where things get very tricky. I like that these questions posed for some great action and some heart-pounding sneaking around. Ending: Over the course of the story, parts are revealed that help the reader piece together the story beautifully. Once the reader learned the truth, it raised the hair on the back of my neck. Not only what this father did was brilliant but it was down right freaky!After concluding the story, I want to continue it. I think the ending gives the story another base to jump onto. There are still many unanswered questions and I'm hoping that the second book will give more answers. Nicely written and intriguing, The Compound is an excellent unfolding tale.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In this young adult novel, by S.A. Bodeen, we find Eli, a twin without his other half, stuck in an underground compound with the rest of his family after a nuclear attack. They have been living in this luxurious shelter for six years and the plan is stay in for another eight years. It is only when food supplies begin to dwindle and unspeakable alternative options are presented, that Eli begins to question his situation.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Due to copy and paste, formatting has been lost.First off, I only picked this up because of the freaking amazingly intriguing description. It was a serious steal. But when I started reading it, well, I realized...the description isn't the best part of the book. *high-five-score* It was well written and interesting-- and above all, really weird.Sometimes this is a good thing. But other times? Well...ummm. It was almost too weird. Take this: how do you feel about living in an underground bomb shelter for 15 years? Me, well, underground? No. This is going to work out, and on top of that, there's too many flaws to the plan. What if, say, your underground shelter blocks you down there? All manner of things could fall on the exit, trapping you in a whole in the ground forever. It has the same problems as a storm shelter.Which have you ever been in one of those? Even for a short time, maybe even to just clean it out...it's not pleasant in any manner of the word. I may be a bit claustrophobic.Moving onto the next problem, which we run into in this book-- food shortage. They start to run out of food early on. Just a simple shortage of flour and it all goes downhill. Their livestock dies underground. So six years in, their flour has gone bad, their livestock has died and on top of that they don't even know for sure that there was a nuclear blast. Does this remind anyone else of that movie...what is it called....Blast from the Past? Is that it? I don't know.But anyway. They have food sources dwindling. They don't know why they're down there...and well, Eli starts to investigate. Thank God, someone who doesn't believe everything that he's fed. So he investigates. And guess what? Things aren't always what they seem. They're at the mercy of a complete and total mad man.*SPOILER* Honestly, Eli's dad is completely fruity. Totally off his rocker, needs meds full time, how does this weirdo have kids crazy. Here's my first issue with him: he's power hungry. How is it that all of the random psycho guys in books have power? He has power and he wants more, so he takes his family, minus one son, into an underground bomb shelter and plans to stay for 15 years. He PURPOSEFULLY makes sure that they run out of food, just so he can see how far his family will go to survive. He starts having as many kids as possible, because when the food runs out, he wants his family to eat them. What kind of a sick bastard has kids and calls them "supplements" and wants to see whether or not his family will eat them? AND THEN. Turns out that he left one son in the real world accidentally-- but nothing has happened in the outside world. He just wanted to prove that his family could do it! They had funerals! O.O *SPOILER END*Freaking A! The entire idea just makes me freak the heck out. So much, like seriously. But I can't discount the fact that for this book to freak me out so much, well, it had to be something special. It was well written and gripping, and although I didn't really care all that much about the characters, I still wanted to know what happened to them. So there is that. If you can get past the downright psycho-ness of the story, it's definitely worth a read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    When Eli’s family gets word that a nuclear bomb has been launched, they have, at most, about 40 minutes to find shelter. Fortunately, Eli's billionaire father saw this coming: he's constructed, and stocked, an underground compound that can support them for the next fifteen years while they wait for the radiation to clear. Eli is pushed into the shelter with his mom and sisters, but as Dad seals the hatch, he notices two people still missing: his grandmother and his twin brother, Eddy. It's too dangerous to go back out for them. And Eli knows it was his fault that they got left behind.

    Now six years have passed. The food stores have been contaminated—or sabotaged. Dad’s acting a little weird, and his smooth answers about the sporadic internet access seem too rehearsed to be the truth. There's only one way out—and the person who knows it is the one who won't let them leave.

    It's an engrossing, page-turning story, moving quickly through a number of betrayals and deceits. At times it moves too quickly: the shift from "we have nothing but time" to utter urgency is jarring; Eli is not by nature a suspicious teen and his embrace of doubt is very sudden. The writing varies in quality from mediocre to painful, but the plot is compelling enough to carry the reader through regardless. I'd pass this along to teens interested in post-apocalyptic survival, but not without also recommending Z For Zachariah or other titles.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Eli and his family have lived in the underground Compound for six years. The world they knew is gone, and they've been accustomes to their new life. Accustomed,but no happy. For Eli, no amount of luxury can stifle the dull routine of living in the same place, with only his two sisters, only his father and mother, doing the same thing day after day after day. As problems with their carefully planned existence threaten to destroy their sanctuary--and their sanity--Eli can't help but wonder if he'd rather take his chances outside. Eli's father built the Compound to keep them safe. But are they safe--or sorry?
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Eating babies? How long were they "okay" with this? And then it was just some big joke/experiment? Not for me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Imagine this: your dad is a Bill-Gates kind of billionaire, and he has decided to build an underground fortress to protect your family in case of nuclear attack. It's got everything you can possibly ever want, and is a self-sufficient place made to last 15 years -- including a time-release lock on the main exit hatch that won't open for 15 years once locked. Eli's father is just such a man, and Eli has been locked in the Compound for 6 years with his parents, sisters, and new siblings born after the family was locked underground. Eli's twin brother and grandmother were tragically left outside and locked out, and Eli believes that they are both dead. Problems are growing steadily worse in the Compound, as the food supply isn't lasting as long as his father had predicted, and Eli realizes his father may not be sane any more. His father has been lying about many things, and Eli starts to question everything, which is a dangerous thing when you are dealing with someone who may well be psychotic. Where does the truth lie, and what price would you pay to find it out? 7th grade and up.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    To start off, when i started The Compound I didn't know what genre it was. Thriller, sci fi, survival. By the end of the book i had realized it was all of these and more.This book kept me wondering with amazing compositions of both twists and enough cliffhangers that made this book a great page turner.From front to back this book was filled to the brim with action and suspense. It starts off with a boy, Eli, living in a compound his multimillionaire father built in case of an inevitable nuclear war. The book takes place 6 years after the initial attack. Soon enough problems arise, food shortages, contamination, their sanity is challenged at points.S,A.Bodeen does an amazing job balancing diologe and description. She had won awards for her previous work, The gardener, which I hope to read next.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Eli has been locked with most of his family in the compound, an underground luxury bunker built by his father, for 9 years since a nuclear explosion. Eli grows increasingly suspicious of his controlling, overbearing father as things stop adding up and his father's behavior becomes more and more erratic. A page-turner.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a great read, and was centered around a very interesting theme. The desperation and selfishness of human beings. I agree with most of the reviews here. There were gaps in the story that left unanswered questions. The first half really grabbed my attention, but the last half was boring. It stopped with the suspenseful changes in pace. The ending was a little iffy, and I think S.A. Bodeen could have done a better job, as I have read her other books. They are all very well written.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    @dgoo I have to agree with you. The first half of the book was filled with a lot of twists and turns, but the second half of the book seemed as though the author just had no ideas left. I know the author had to end the book with the happy ending, but I don't think that he should have ended it so suddenly. After the truth is realized it almost seemed like the author ran out of ideas. The truth is the climax of the story but it's in the middle of the book. Did the author think it through? In the end, I will say that S.A. Bodeen is a very talented author, but I can't help saying that she could have done a much better job.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I liked the idea for this story and thought the first half of the book was better than the last. It felt like there were quite a few things that could have been explained better, in a way that wouldn't have taken away from any mystery or suspense, except some things really weren't explained at all--just sort of proffered up. I'm all for wacky things happening in books but when there is no explanation, no modus operandi for any perpetrators, it takes away from the mystery, instead making it just annoying and a missing part of the story. Take, the "supplements" for instance. These (children bred for consumption by original family members inhabiting the compound????!! and kept in a room with ample toys and some? amount of nurturing) are supposed to be an alternate food source if they run out of all other sources in the underground deluxe radiation shielding bunker. This issue isn't delved into much. The characters don't talk about something else they could do (starve possibly, ration food severely to subsistence or near starvation levels) besides this horrific plan set in to motion by their twisted father. There seemed to be a cognitive dissonance about it, but, again, not quite sure as we aren't taken inside the characters' heads that much except for some light forays into that of the jaded teenaged narrator.Ultimately, this book had a lot of potential, it just didn't fulfill it for me.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Overall, a pretty intersting concept. The characters are believable and easy to like, but the plot line has giant gaps in it. This book left me with a lot of unanswered questions, but not about just the text, about humans in general. How desperate to you have to get in a situation to save someone you love? This book will bring readers back to a scary reality that the answer to that question might be more than they can face.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I actually listened to this audio book (the first I have ever made it through) while I was working. It was well written enough that I didn't get lost if I had to turn my attentions away for a moment or two. The characters were well made. The narrator did a good job giving each character his or her own voice. Recommended!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I had read so many good reviews of this book and decided this weekend that I was going to sit and read it. I read it from cover to cover. Eli's father has built a large underground compound in the event of nuclear war. He, his twin Eddy, his two sisters, grandmother, father and mother are all supposed to go there if they are attacked. Through a series of events when they enter the enter the compound and shut the door, Eddy and the grandmother are not in the compound. Believing them to be dead they carry on with their life inside the compound. When food starts to go bad and run out their father creates "supplements". They live in the yellow room and are attended by Eli's two sisters and mother. They are not allowed to leave the room and Eli refuses to meet them. He believes his father is lying to them but he has no proof. One thing he is sure of, his father is in control until the Eddy discovers...What, did you really think I was going to tell you what they discover? You really need to read this book to find out what he discovers and what he can do about it. I was totally repulsed by the lengths to which this man would go for his own agenda. Crazy does not really describe this man but until you read it you will have to deal with that. This is a must read. I can't wait to put it on my shelves tomorrow.