The Compound Book Club, Love Island Connections, and a Mormon Wives Check-In (with 2 Black Girls, 1 Rose)
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What is *The Compound* and why does it feel like a Love Island‑style novel?
Welcome to Glamorous Trash. This is a podcast that book clubs celebrity memoirs, trashy discourse, and all things literary to elevate your life. I'm your host, Chelsea Devantes. I'm a TV writer, comedian, filmmaker, author, and sometimes I'm in stuff too. And despite the intro, today we're actually book clubbing a novel. That's right, a novel. So if you like this episode, I need to hear from you. And if I don't hear from you, we're never doing a novel again, okay? But this novel specifically felt like something that must, must, must come on this podcast. It had been recommended to me a million times, and when I finally read it, I was dying to talk about it. So I know you're gonna want to hear about it, and you can listen to this episode whether you've read it or not.
We will Give you a recap so you can enjoy. It is called The Compound by author Ashling Rawl. It was published June 2026. Now, if you are a person who likes shows like Love Island or hates shows like Love Island, then this is the book for you. I thought this book was fantastic and a couple of really interesting facts about The author. This is her first novel ever. It's her debut, which I think is just stunning. She works as an English teacher in a secondary school. And in the back of the book, she actually thanked her students for having such smart conversations with her about reality TV shows that led her to want to write this book. She also teaches piano in her spare time. And one of the quotes about writing this book is that she said she wrote it in a six-week fever dream.
I cannot wait for her next book after reading this one. Let's dive in. Let's book club it all. My guests today are Justine and Natasha, the brilliant women behind the hit show Two Black Girls One Rose, a podcast discovering what we can learn about modern dating, love, and relationships from popular television. Now, over on your podcast, I was doing an episode with you, Justine, and somehow the book The Compound came up. And you were like, you have to read this book, and so many cookies on my Patreon. had already told me to that that that was the final straw. I picked it up, I read it. We said, your audience is gonna wanna hear you guys talk about this. I think our audience is gonna wanna hear it too. Natasha, you also read the book.
I did. Or you listen to it. Or you listened. I listened which I listened. Which is which is the same. Which is the same. Same as reading. We don't discriminate. You don't discriminate. Okay. Okay. Okay, so before we get into our recap, I just wanna hear, cause Natasha, I actually haven't heard your take. Overall thoughts. Did you love this book? Did you hate this book? Is it something that you needed to discuss?
As someone who talks about these shows all the time, and oftentimes it feels like we're watching. Almost like we're watching a movie. We're watching social experiments.
Yeah.
This was really interesting to read or listen to because it was like seeing what we already watch in the most extreme form, which I'm sure we'll get into this like dystopian version of America, a society that's so obsessed with material things, people who are trying to get ahead and maybe using love or charm to do that, which we kind of watch on the violin every single season. It was really cool to see it play out in such an extreme form and I'm excited to talk more, you know, with you guys about your thoughts.
Okay, great, great recap. And now Justine, I know you loved this book as well.
I do, I do. I think, especially after this season of Love Island, where it was like really, really blatantly obvious that they were not there for love. Right. And Trinity recently said, I wanna say in Cosmopolitan magazine, and I wanted to pull the quote before we got here, but she was basically saying that she was working at the hardware store and crying every night because she saw people her age on yachts and running around and very rich and with celebrities and how could she not get there and she'll never get there? Meanwhile this woman is twenty Years old. Okay. And now she went on Love Island, she won, and her whole life changed.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is *The Compound* and why does it feel like a Love Island‑style novel?
0:05–5:53
2
How do Justine and Natasha react to the book’s portrayal of reality‑TV culture?
5:53–12:25
3
What parallels do the hosts draw between the novel’s dystopian setting and today’s reality‑show dynamics?
12:25–17:19
4
Why is Lily’s character described as “mediocre” and how does that shape the story?
17:19–23:12
5
What does the discussion reveal about gender, race, and queer representation on shows like Love Island?
23:12–29:04
6
How does the book critique capitalism and the endless pursuit of fame in reality TV?
29:04–33:33
7
Why do the hosts say reality TV serves as an escapist yet unsettling mirror of our lives?
33:33–39:06
8
What are the takeaways for listeners who want to watch *Mormon Wives* after this episode?
39:06–40:57
Speakers
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