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Irish Examiner
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Aisling Rawle: 'I feel like we're living in The Truman Show'
Since the days of Big Brother, reality TV has been a world ripe for extreme behaviour — making it the perfect setting for a thrilling novel about what happens when the experience goes wrong. Irish author Aisling Rawle describes her debut, The Compound, as 'Love Island meets Lord of the Flies' and 'Animal Farm — but if everyone was hot and wanted skincare'. In the opening pages, its protagonist Lily — a young, attractive 20-something — wakes up in a large house surrounded by an expansive desert. She's willingly taking part in The Compound, a reality show that sees young men and women couple up and compete for prizes. But from the off, it's clear that life in the compound will be anything but easy. There are several striking things about Rawle. One is that she's so softly-spoken that my recording device barely picks up her voice in the busy cafe, but what she has to say about reality TV, materialism, and social media is deeply wise. The second is that she's not a die-hard reality TV fan. The third? She's not on social media. Despite this, the 27-year-old Leitrim-born, Dublin-based former English teacher (she's currently on a break to focus on her writing) is an astute guide to what reality TV can tell us about human behaviour. Aisling Rawle, author: "I woke up with this image in my head, which was the first scene of the novel: two beautiful women, walking around the house and finding the bodies of other beautiful women strewn around like litter," Photograph Moya Nolan The idea for the book emerged during Rawle's summer break two years ago. 'The first day of the holidays, I woke up with this image in my head, which was the first scene of the novel: two beautiful women, walking around the house and finding the bodies of other beautiful women strewn around like litter,' she says. 'I wrote that scene and then I wrote the rest of it in this mad rush. When it was finished, I knew so little about the publishing industry that I was brazen enough to reach out to an agent and she very kindly took me on.' The book was written in a six-week 'fever dream' and soon multiple publishers were bidding to publish The Compound in Ireland and overseas. The novel picks apart the 'extreme' gender stereotyping across many reality TV shows. 'While the girls are thinking 'who's the prettiest in the house?', the boys are fighting in the desert,' Rawle says of The Compound. 'I think that it is such a cruel aspect of dating shows and reality TV shows — the appearance of women is so scrutinised, and it's seen as the most important thing. I think we take it for granted. Even things like the Kardashian [family], it feels like so many conversations revolve around their relative attractiveness. They'll even do it amongst each other. I remember one viral moment of [Kim] Kardashian saying [to her sister Kourtney], 'you are the least interesting to look at'.' Aisling Rawle, author: 'While the girls are thinking 'who's the prettiest in the house?', the boys are fighting in the desert' Photograph Moya Nolan While watching Love Island during the pandemic, Rawle and her friends started to jokingly describe it as 'heterosexual paradise'. 'The heteronormativity is astounding,' she says with a baffled laugh. 'It does present the idea not only that the norm is heterosexuality, but that the people worth viewing are heterosexual.' She examines this in the novel, with readers guessing whether characters are really as straight as they present themselves. The book is set in the not-too-distant future, and hints at climate issues and ongoing wars. 'We don't know a whole lot about the outside, but it's burning and there's conflict and tension and Lily desperately wants to get away. To me, that didn't feel very dissimilar to the world today,' says Rawle. The producers in The Compound come off as manipulative, faceless people who push the participants to do terrible things. 'I wanted to put a little bit of finger-pointing towards the people who create these really toxic situations and pass it off as entertainment,' she says. As readers, we know the producers have the power, but we recognise that the viewers are culpable too. Rawle watched a lot of Love Island during the covid lockdowns. 'I think that reality television shows normalised having people that we don't know inside our house as entertainment, which I think probably also paved the way for influencer culture, which I also wanted to criticise a little in this book,' she says. Aisling Rawle, author: 'I think that reality television shows normalised having people that we don't know inside our house as entertainment, which I think probably also paved the way for influencer culture." Photograph Moya Nolan While she sees influencing as a valid way of making a living, the 'transactional nature' of it can feel inauthentic and lead to people second-guessing what is a genuine human interaction or not. 'We all know that social media is fake, and we've known that for years, but I think the more it creeps into our lives, the more we've normalised that fakeness is the exchange of reality,' she says, adding later with a laugh: 'I feel like we're living in The Truman Show … I feel like that's just the norm now,' referring to the 1998 film starring Jim Carrey about a man whose entire life is filmed. She says that with reality television shows, 'there is a strange line between entertainment and exploitation', something that Lily discovers in the house. In The Compound, the participants know that to win the approval of the producers and viewers they must adhere to certain rules. These reflect larger societal expectations on people, says Rawle. 'The three driving forces of the reality TV show were, the driving forces of young adult life. Which is, you have to find a partner, you have to get a house, and then you have to get nice things. That's what it means to be a successful adult. I wanted to turn that up to the extreme.' Aisling Rawle, author: 'Once someone is told they are 'stupid' — and I don't like that word — it is so incredibly difficult to unburden them, and you'll find adults who are 50, 60, 70, still having it in the back of their head, because someone told them [once] 'you're stupid'.' Photograph Moya Nolan Lily is a character who thinks a lot about how people view her, and adjusts herself to meet their expectations. But she also has negative ideas about herself, believing she is stupid. She sees her worth as being tied up in her looks. Lily's belief that she is stupid is something Rawle noticed in students: how judgement can have a lasting impact. 'Once someone is told they are 'stupid' — and I don't like that word — it is so incredibly difficult to unburden them, and you'll find adults who are 50, 60, 70, still having it in the back of their head, because someone told them [once] 'you're stupid'.' The competition in The Compound pits beautiful people against beautiful people, creating a hierarchy of attractiveness. Lily believes she has to be the most desirable person in the compound, and compares herself to everyone else, 'which I think is a horrible way to be', says Rawle. The book is written in the first-person so that the reader could potentially 'understand Lily's experience, but also feel removed enough that you would confront your own associations of judgment'. Aisling Rawle, author: 'It can be a very despairing place, social media.' Photograph Moya Nolan The book helped Rawle work through some of her own frustrations about the issues she explores in it. 'It was very cathartic,' she says. She never knew what the next scene was going to be, comparing herself to an 'evil producer' of the show. 'But I also felt like a viewer of the show going 'who's going tonight?'' The book is underpinned by Rawle's feminism. Growing up with a younger brother and older sister, she says her teenage feminist awakening was spurred on by books such as Jane Eyre. More recently, the novel Detransition Baby by transgender writer Torrey Peters further helped her ideas of gender evolve. Though she once joined Facebook, she isn't on social media. Why? While she says there is a lot of good on the apps, for her staying focused is a priority. She adds: 'It can be a very despairing place, social media.' This gentle refusal of social media is a sign of how Rawle is able to decide what social norms she does and doesn't want to take on board. Part of the book is influenced by her experiences of earning more money after college, and finding that 'life revolved around what was the next thing to purchase, which to me didn't feel like there was a lot of fulfillment or meaning in it'. The Compound by Aisling Rawle The characters in The Compound undertake tasks in order to win expensive items. The tasks can be deeply unpleasant but are seen as worth it because of the result. As someone in her late 20s, she is part of a generation dealing with multiple stresses, most notably the housing crisis. She feels extremely lucky to be able to rent on her own, but recalls teaching piano in the evenings while being a teacher by day. 'I knew teachers who would go home on the weekend and do carpentry jobs, or personal trainer jobs,' she says. Excitingly for an Irish author, The Compound is being published in America and was recently chosen for the Good Morning America book club for July. Rawle remains sanguine: 'The book was the success for me. Everything else was secondary.' While The Compound does end at a moment that's a good jumping-off point for a sequel, Rawle's next book is about something totally unrelated. 'It's funny, the protagonist of the next book is very superstitious, and I've become superstitious — so I'm reluctant to say too much,' she offers. It's an exciting time for Rawle, but she seems well capable of dealing with the whirlwind of publishing a book on both sides of the Atlantic. All that's left is to ask the burning question: would she ever go on a reality show herself? 'It's a definite no,' she says, laughing. 'You couldn't pay me enough!' The Compound by Aisling Rawle, published by Harper Collins, is out now Read More Diary of a Gen Z Student: The differences between Irish and Portugese men when it comes to flirting
ABC News
23-04-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Japanese encephalitis is spread by mosquitoes. Here's how to protect yourself
If you live in an area that's recently been impacted by flooding or unrelenting rain, you may have noticed an increase in mozzies. The damp, humid conditions are ideal for mosquito breeding and raise the risk of outbreaks of diseases such as Japanese encephalitis is a mosquito-borne viral infection that has been slowly spreading through eastern states and other parts of the country since 2022. Last month an ACT man died from Japanese encephalitis after contracting the disease while holidaying in the Murrumbidgee region — the fourth death from the virus in Australia this year. And in the last month, So how do you protect yourself from mosquitoes in your backyard and home? And what do you need to be on the lookout for? What are the symptoms of Japanese encephalitis? Daniel Rawle, head of the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute Emerging Viral Diseases Lab, says most people who contract Japanese encephalitis develop a mild case of the virus within five to 15 days of being bitten. But some people can become seriously ill. Symptoms include: Confusion Severe headaches Changes in conscious state Seizures Fever Abdominal pain, vomiting "In a small number it can be very severe, lead to encephalitis or brain infection and inflammation, and unfortunately a proportion of those people won't survive," Dr Rawle says. Experts say it is important for anyone experiencing those symptoms to seek urgent medical attention. A JEV vaccine is available in most states and territories at selected general practitioners, pharmacies, and community immunisation providers. How can I stop mosquitoes from biting me? If you're heading outside — especially around dusk or in the early evening, when mosquitoes are most active — wear long-sleeved shirts and insect repellent and make sure you don't bring any back inside with you. Make sure you have good flyscreens to prevent mosquitoes coming into your home. And a surprisingly low-cost method is using a good old-fashioned pedestal fan to create a strong enough air current to prevent the insects flying around. Photo shows A woman touches multiple mosquito bites on her shoulder, learns how to manage them in her home and yard. There are some simple steps you can take around your home and garden to reduce mozzie numbers. Do mosquito zappers work? While mosquito zappers will kill flying insects generally speaking, mosquitoes aren't very attracted to them. Every mozzie they kill is one less to bite you, but it's probably the least effective way to control mozzies. Do natural mosquito coils, patches and wristbands work? Devices that release citronella and other plant-based materials will offer a little assistance, but not enough to provide complete protection. Mosquito wristbands and patches have been shown not to really work at all. Apart from a centimetre either side of the band or patch, you're not really going to get any protection. Does natural citronella spray work? Some plant products will help camouflage your smell against the mosquitoes, but they're still buzzing around trying to find you. On the other hand, proven repellents include the widely used Diethyltoumide (DEET) which effectively prevents mosquito bites and has repeatedly been shown to have minimal adverse side effects if used as directed. Is DEET bad for me? The short answer is no. Insect repellents in Australia have been tested by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, who make sure they're safe and effective to use. DEET has been available for more than 70 years now, and it's used by billions of people around the world. Generally speaking, the only adverse reactions that people have is if they get it in their eyes, drink it or put it on very young babies. Sign up to the ABC Lifestyle newsletter Get a mid-week boost and receive easy recipes, wellbeing ideas, and home and garden tips in your inbox every Wednesday. You'll also receive a monthly newsletter of our best recipes. Your information is being handled in accordance with the Email address Subscribe But if you're concerned, you could think about the strength of the repellent, which often determines how long it lasts, not how many mosquitoes it keeps away. So if you're only outside for a short period of time, you don't necessarily have to reach for the strongest tropical-strength repellent. You can choose a lower dose, kid-friendly type repellent, because over a shorter period of time it's probably still going to provide you the same level of protection. And you might find that that's a product you're more happy to use on a regular basis. How do I stop mosquitoes from breeding at my home? The most important step you can take to reduce mosquito numbers in your yard is regularly getting rid of any standing water (especially after rain events), including in your gutters, plant trays, buckets and plants like bromeliads which hold pools of water. A pot of stagnant water surrounded by green plants in a garden, which can attract mosquitoes and allow them to breed. ( Supplied: Adobe Stock ) Mozzies breed in water and they don't need much of it to lay their eggs — a thimble full of stagnant water is enough. Doing this at least every week will break their life cycle. Especially in the warmer weather when their life cycle shortens so they breed and grow more quickly. The entrance and overflow of rainwater tanks should have sieves with mesh small enough to prevent mosquitoes, and it's worth checking for cracks if you have a plastic tank, or for rust holes if you have a metal one.
