What do you think?
Rate this book
Compulsion
‘A smart, swaggering love letter to smart, swaggering youth, told in a voice that’s racing hot, icy cool and always on the verge of losing its composure.’ Ronnie Scott
‘Strap in and let an unforgettable story of sex, drugs and electroclash rush past you like the wet neon blur beyond the windows of a speeding Trans Am.’ Clare Fletcher
It’s the turn of the new millennium, and the bright young things are partying like it’s the end of the world. Dark glamour and debauched music reign, gigs culminating with everyone on stage – or undressed. Lucy, editor of a music magazine, is at the blazing neon centre, ecstatically seeking oblivion. But as her life (featuring a stalker, a not-quite ex-husband, and an affair with a cold, charismatic musician) veers from complicated to chaotic, she burns it all down, decamping to the remote seaside town of her childhood – to start again.
In Abergele, Lucy recreates her old existence in hothouse miniature. Past friends and compulsions reappear, along with new fascinations. One of them is Robin, photographer and lonely son of a famous producer. Recognising in each other a fellow exile and a rich source of distraction, they fall into step on daily rambles across the cliffs. Their charged conversations about music and philosophy function as both high-stakes flirtation and a stealth mechanism for understanding themselves, resulting in an intense bond that disarms them both.
Compulsion is a razor-sharp debut about the transcendence of new highs, the allure of new lows, and the relentless power of our obsessions. Music, sex, food, drugs, fashion and nature coalesce to overwhelm the senses on every page.
‘Strap in and let an unforgettable story of sex, drugs and electroclash rush past you like the wet neon blur beyond the windows of a speeding Trans Am.’ Clare Fletcher
It’s the turn of the new millennium, and the bright young things are partying like it’s the end of the world. Dark glamour and debauched music reign, gigs culminating with everyone on stage – or undressed. Lucy, editor of a music magazine, is at the blazing neon centre, ecstatically seeking oblivion. But as her life (featuring a stalker, a not-quite ex-husband, and an affair with a cold, charismatic musician) veers from complicated to chaotic, she burns it all down, decamping to the remote seaside town of her childhood – to start again.
In Abergele, Lucy recreates her old existence in hothouse miniature. Past friends and compulsions reappear, along with new fascinations. One of them is Robin, photographer and lonely son of a famous producer. Recognising in each other a fellow exile and a rich source of distraction, they fall into step on daily rambles across the cliffs. Their charged conversations about music and philosophy function as both high-stakes flirtation and a stealth mechanism for understanding themselves, resulting in an intense bond that disarms them both.
Compulsion is a razor-sharp debut about the transcendence of new highs, the allure of new lows, and the relentless power of our obsessions. Music, sex, food, drugs, fashion and nature coalesce to overwhelm the senses on every page.
- GenresFiction
263 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 10, 2023
13 people are currently reading
341 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
January 22, 2023
⭐️3 Stars⭐️
Compulsion by Kate Scott is a debut inspired by the music, art and fashion of the early 2,000’s and the authors own experience as a music journalist.
In this story we discover a life of drugs, hipster music, sex and parties… 24 year old Lucy lives her life in the pursuit of new highs and obsession and a journey of self discovery.
There are plentiful music references throughout the book of which I mostly couldn’t identify with, and much drug taking in between an inkling of a love story. I found the writing too wordy and sometimes nonsensical to me, I wanted to love it but it wasn’t for me unfortunately.
Publication Date 10 January 2023
Publisher Penguin Random House Australia (Imprint Hamish Hamilton)
Thank you to the wonderful team at Penguin Books Australia for sending me this book to review
.
Compulsion by Kate Scott is a debut inspired by the music, art and fashion of the early 2,000’s and the authors own experience as a music journalist.
In this story we discover a life of drugs, hipster music, sex and parties… 24 year old Lucy lives her life in the pursuit of new highs and obsession and a journey of self discovery.
There are plentiful music references throughout the book of which I mostly couldn’t identify with, and much drug taking in between an inkling of a love story. I found the writing too wordy and sometimes nonsensical to me, I wanted to love it but it wasn’t for me unfortunately.
Publication Date 10 January 2023
Publisher Penguin Random House Australia (Imprint Hamish Hamilton)
Thank you to the wonderful team at Penguin Books Australia for sending me this book to review
.
January 11, 2023
the first third of the book was good and quite engaging, i was excited to see where lucy’s character would go (spoiler the characters had little to no development), but the rest of it fell flat for me. i found it too wordy like 90% of the time and i didn’t understand the music reference’s at all which is obviously not the author’s fault i just personally thought it was boring and skipped over them. i’m not saying this book was bad, just wasn’t for me. and the parts that i did like were fleeting.
December 21, 2022
A very interesting premise and story that I just couldn’t get into. The writing style and layout of the story just did not engage me and I couldn’t like it as much as I wanted to.
August 9, 2025
In a word: luscious.
Took me twice as long to read because the deep cuts kept me going down Google and Spotify rabbit holes. Hedonistic romp and cultural history lesson in one book.
Took me twice as long to read because the deep cuts kept me going down Google and Spotify rabbit holes. Hedonistic romp and cultural history lesson in one book.
July 3, 2023
Compulsion is a hedonistic tale of excess. Lucy and Robin are young, music obsessed beautiful people who like booze, benders and breaking hearts. Set in the early 00s, amongst a backdrop of music that I mostly didn't recognise, some 20 somethings who have too much spare time and no self control, drink, fuck and snort their way through life, but at what cost?
Part love story, part cautionary tale, Compulsion is a wordy, music elitists Gatsby. Lucy is insufferable but Robin broke my heart. Superb writing, perhaps a touch affected. However, once you get used to the rhythm, wonderful. Also, there's a bloody soundtrack, info which would have been better situated at the start of the book and not the end! Looking forward to reading whatever Kate writes next.
Part love story, part cautionary tale, Compulsion is a wordy, music elitists Gatsby. Lucy is insufferable but Robin broke my heart. Superb writing, perhaps a touch affected. However, once you get used to the rhythm, wonderful. Also, there's a bloody soundtrack, info which would have been better situated at the start of the book and not the end! Looking forward to reading whatever Kate writes next.
February 4, 2023
This book was simply not for me. I found the book very hard to engage with and the writing style hard to follow.
I really wanted to like this.
:(
I really wanted to like this.
:(
March 26, 2023
2.5/5 stars
It felt like I was reading self indulgent nonsense the whole time, thank goodness I’m finally done with this book.
It felt like I was reading self indulgent nonsense the whole time, thank goodness I’m finally done with this book.
January 31, 2024
1 star- did not enjoy.
I have no clue what this was. This feels like a snippet of a story, rather than a complete one, because I couldn't find the purpose in it. I feel like there should be more, and I kept waiting to see if there would be. This really isn't my type of book— aimless, full of the meaningless debauchery. It was just incredibly weird and I didn't understand the book or its purpose.
what I liked:
-the cover.
what I did not like:
-the characters. Robin felt like a child to me, so his getting together with Lucy was weird. The other characters were odd and I didn't understand them or like them.
-the writing was confusing. I really did not understand anything that happened in this book.
-the plot was purposeless, and I didn't like how it drifted aimlessly.
-the vibe of the book was not for me. The characters think they're too cool for life— I mean, Robin told Lucy his grandmother died once and she told him, "that's goth"— and they act in childish and confusing ways. I didn't like their whole drinking-parties-sex vibe either.
-the romance, if you could call it that? I didn't understand what was between Robin and Lucy.
I have no clue what this was. This feels like a snippet of a story, rather than a complete one, because I couldn't find the purpose in it. I feel like there should be more, and I kept waiting to see if there would be. This really isn't my type of book— aimless, full of the meaningless debauchery. It was just incredibly weird and I didn't understand the book or its purpose.
what I liked:
-the cover.
what I did not like:
-the characters. Robin felt like a child to me, so his getting together with Lucy was weird. The other characters were odd and I didn't understand them or like them.
-the writing was confusing. I really did not understand anything that happened in this book.
-the plot was purposeless, and I didn't like how it drifted aimlessly.
-the vibe of the book was not for me. The characters think they're too cool for life— I mean, Robin told Lucy his grandmother died once and she told him, "that's goth"— and they act in childish and confusing ways. I didn't like their whole drinking-parties-sex vibe either.
-the romance, if you could call it that? I didn't understand what was between Robin and Lucy.
October 19, 2023
At times this book truly captured the hedonism and destructive forces of being young and selfish. Unfortunately, most of the time it was more like listening to wasted pseudo-intellectual uni students spout unnecessary but very strong opinions about ultimately pointless stuff… and you’re completely sober. I’ve been to those kinds of parties and they are not much fun. The author’s tendency to just list stuff in lieu of description or deeper character exploration became predictable. And the attribution of things the author wanted to say as dialogue was unsubtle. Ultimately this book didn’t live up to my expectations, which was disappointing as I really wanted to love it.
January 16, 2023
THIS HAD SO MUCH FUCKING POTENTIAL
March 28, 2023
I just couldn’t continue… I made it only a couple of chapters in, but the overuse of over complicated language for otherwise simple story progression just ruined it entirely for me.
January 22, 2023
Compulsion by Kate Scott is a rather unique read. It combines debauchery (drugs, a lot of drugs; drinking and sex) with quieter internal struggles. The pace varies from frantic to slow and to be frank, some words I didn’t understand and some parts I didn’t really ‘get’. While there is reference to a lot of music, silly old me thought it would be mainly contemporary for the 2000s setting but it’s firmly set in the 1980s.
The story jumps right in to the wild life of Lucy, music magazine editor, recent divorcee and not so proud owner of a stalker. She’s in with every band in town (hell, she even named some of them) and nights are wild with music, alcohol and drugs. One long night starts with a band and ends three days later after she kicks Julian, a known enigma in that world, out of her bed. It’s time to give it all up and seek rest and solace in her grandfather’s house in a small coastal town. But really, the party just moves to another location. People come down from the city and Robin is pulled into Lucy’s life. Robin is a dreamer without direction, and it’s pretty easy to continue that way while there are drugs to be taken and music to listen to. A fair chunk of the book is taken up by taking drugs of all sorts and discussion of music. The last section slows everything down as Lucy and Robin grow older and occasionally wiser.
I found the first section confusing, as though I’d walked into a movie partway through. So much is happening and the reader is not so much introduced to the characters but expected to jump in the way they all do. It starts to make some more sense as the story moves out of the city but it wasn’t really until the last 50 pages that I felt comfortable in knowing the characters. The majority of them weren’t particularly likeable for me – Robin is a dreamer who is all too easily led and Lucy is impossible to follow what she will do next (let alone why she does it). A lot of time they are under the influence of drugs so their character was acting unusually anyway. (Also, I’m not sure where they got the money from for the booze, drugs and fancy cheeses and other food). The story drifts from party to comedown, then repeat for a lot of the novel. The last part where Lucy and Robin try to make an ordinary go of it (jobs, apartment etc) was the easiest to read, but after the previous hedonism, kind of dull.
I did like the music references, although my 1980s music knowledge is not all that strong. I appreciated the references to contemporary music more, such as LCD Soundsystem and The Killers. (Although, on page 92, one of Lucy’s writers tells her to put The Killers on the cover of the magazine. It was August 2003 – Mr Brightside, their debut single, wasn’t released until September 2003. It didn’t do well until it was re-released in 2004, and the rest is history. Clearly, Jake the writer was a man with an incredible talent to spot great music). I do wonder why Lucy and her mates eschewed music like The Strokes, The White Stripes, Franz Ferdinand and Muse in preference for older works. (Lucy does seem to have a deep love of the 80s though).
Overall, I didn’t really warm to the story or the characters – it all felt a bit messy to me.
Thank you to Penguin for the copy of this book. My review is honest.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
The story jumps right in to the wild life of Lucy, music magazine editor, recent divorcee and not so proud owner of a stalker. She’s in with every band in town (hell, she even named some of them) and nights are wild with music, alcohol and drugs. One long night starts with a band and ends three days later after she kicks Julian, a known enigma in that world, out of her bed. It’s time to give it all up and seek rest and solace in her grandfather’s house in a small coastal town. But really, the party just moves to another location. People come down from the city and Robin is pulled into Lucy’s life. Robin is a dreamer without direction, and it’s pretty easy to continue that way while there are drugs to be taken and music to listen to. A fair chunk of the book is taken up by taking drugs of all sorts and discussion of music. The last section slows everything down as Lucy and Robin grow older and occasionally wiser.
I found the first section confusing, as though I’d walked into a movie partway through. So much is happening and the reader is not so much introduced to the characters but expected to jump in the way they all do. It starts to make some more sense as the story moves out of the city but it wasn’t really until the last 50 pages that I felt comfortable in knowing the characters. The majority of them weren’t particularly likeable for me – Robin is a dreamer who is all too easily led and Lucy is impossible to follow what she will do next (let alone why she does it). A lot of time they are under the influence of drugs so their character was acting unusually anyway. (Also, I’m not sure where they got the money from for the booze, drugs and fancy cheeses and other food). The story drifts from party to comedown, then repeat for a lot of the novel. The last part where Lucy and Robin try to make an ordinary go of it (jobs, apartment etc) was the easiest to read, but after the previous hedonism, kind of dull.
I did like the music references, although my 1980s music knowledge is not all that strong. I appreciated the references to contemporary music more, such as LCD Soundsystem and The Killers. (Although, on page 92, one of Lucy’s writers tells her to put The Killers on the cover of the magazine. It was August 2003 – Mr Brightside, their debut single, wasn’t released until September 2003. It didn’t do well until it was re-released in 2004, and the rest is history. Clearly, Jake the writer was a man with an incredible talent to spot great music). I do wonder why Lucy and her mates eschewed music like The Strokes, The White Stripes, Franz Ferdinand and Muse in preference for older works. (Lucy does seem to have a deep love of the 80s though).
Overall, I didn’t really warm to the story or the characters – it all felt a bit messy to me.
Thank you to Penguin for the copy of this book. My review is honest.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
February 19, 2023
'Compulsion' is the debut adult-fiction novel by Australian author Kate Scott, published by Penguin Random House and released in January of 2023.
I was very kindly gifted this copy while I was attending a meeting at PRH, and getting a squiz at their new Melbourne office location. I had this one pressed into my hands as a great read if I wanted some Y2K nostalgia, given that this novel is set in 2003 and 2004 and very much speaking to my millennium young-adulthood (I also loved its purple Vox Lux vibes!)
I don't know if the way I want to describe this novel is one the author will appreciate. Because I'm going to make a very millennial reference as a teenager of the early-00s that is such a specific pop-cultural definition of "cool" because it was so far removed from my actual life and youth (and yet I think the author was an *actual* cool person of the time, so might cringe at me reaching for this). Here it goes; ... imagine if Skins continued into the character's early-adulthood and their 20s. I'd also say there's a way I'd categorise this as a millennial The Great Gatsby if the 'green light' everyone reaches for is the bygone era of the 80s which, they're all convinced had better music, drugs, and sex ... even as in the most meta-way possible they're currently toiling in a novel about nostalgia for the early-naughties (and so we all beat on). Maybe this is a Y2K Almost Famous in which some characters are trying to grasp at the new music-scene, the new way of talking, and writing about said scene.
I don't know. There's a lot in here - but if you cook it all down, that logline is pretty accurate; Set against the backdrop of the new millennium, a seductive summer read about obsession, sex, friendship and music from an exciting new talent.
It's basically a novel revolving around the characters of Lucy and Robin who find themselves in their hometown of Abergele, in Wales - Lucy is a music magazine editor trying to write her first book, and fleeing some toxic romantic entanglements, who retreats to the seaside town of her childhood. Robin is a photographer and son of a famous music producer, back in town to be by the bedside of a sick relative. They stumble and slide into each other (Robin happens to be maybe-dating one of Lucy's ex-classmates and mean girl-ish nemeses who still lives in town). They form a walking-friendship and then Lucy forms a little cohort of friends old and new who come to her dining table at least once a week for lavish dinners, deep-and-meaningfuls, drugs, booze, and rapid-fire music listacles.
A good chunk of the novel is revelling in their revelry, getting across some hyper-specific and niche music opinions that kinda feels like those intense pop-culture asides in a Tarantino movie ... but eventually the path reveals itself, and there's a love story buried in here as Robin and Lucy flit and fumble towards some semblance of connection they're both clearly craving.
Straight up; if you're not in the mood for this novel, it'll piss you off (but isn't that true of most things?) I just mean; this is a novel that is buoyed by language and nostalgia. Maybe because I was in that "this is Skins!" headspace, but reading the novel's thirst for nostalgia even as the characters are living in the moment, I was reminded of this bit by UK comedian Simons Amstell where he talks about being a teenager and running screaming through the streets with his friends and even then thinking; "this is fun, this is what being young looks like, I better remember this because this is definitely what being a teenager is all about," in this never-ending paranoia narration of remembering not to forget, and not living enough in the moment while you're trying to imprint the moment;
Robin is struck by how beautiful everyone looks in the sky's humid matt-black embrace. He mustn't forget this, he thinks; he mustn't forget how young they are tonight.
The novel is almost lackadaisical in its plotting, but manic in its language and dialogue - some of which is so *lush* and delectable. Some sentences made me gulp, they were so delicious on the page; The air outside crackled and rasped. Our cab pulled away from the curb, and Anika opened the windows to drink in the dissolving afternoon. It carried the perfume of jasmine, frangipanis on the edge of rot, and trace elements of promise. The sunset gathered like a flock of flamingos and broke apart with fanfare.
See, I read that as an Aussie ‘Weetzie Bat,’ some real Francesca Lia Block vibes. And I dig it!
But even as I admired and loved some of this writing, even I can admit - it gets a little overwrought (especially when the plot itself is so languid) and huge chunks of the novel do indeed read like whatever tome and ode to music that Lucy is working on for her manuscript, but I really could have just done without (the descriptions of a song could be beautiful, but rapid-fire espousals on niche and obscure musical references just made me feel deeply uncool and head-spinny).
The other part of this novel that I didn't get (but just rolled with) is ... it's set in Abergele - why? Like, the whole time I was thinking that it *sounds* Australian. I could picture this all happening in an Aussie seaside town. The characters sound Australian, to me. The early-00s being drawn is the Y2K I remember living through (and I grew up on the Mornington Peninsula) ... but then I'll be walloped over the head with "actually, this is Wales." And I'm not sure *why*? The author (I don't think?) has ever lived in Wales? (I see she's lived in Newcastle and Brisbane though, and YES! - that's what this place reads like!) Was Abergele just to settle my "this-is-an-ode-to-Skins" opinion even more? Maybe the songs and artists being referenced were mostly European (I honestly could not tell you, most of the references were over my head) so they thought that music-diet should inform location? Was it so that Lucy could more easily scoot over to Berlin to write about the concert scene over there?
The setting isn't really drawn out overly (like I said: I read most of this thinking it was Australia) and apart from Lucy casually throwing off a fisherman's jumper or the author outright saying she needed to return to Abergele, I really wasn't getting "Wales" from it? And it's a shame. I think this novel could have had a whole new life and appreciation had the author accepted and promoted it as a Gatsby does millennial Brisbane.
Overall I really liked this when I was in the mood to pick it up. On a language and syntax level some of it is overwrought, but GOSH - is it fun! The author has a real talent that I look forward to tracking. Maybe 'Compulsion' is a little navel-gazey and too focused on sounding clever (much like the characters), and some aspects sound good on blurb but read empty on the page (like the aforementioned Abergele setting - nothing against Wales! But ... you're an Aussie author, embrace it!)
But as a debut I'm pretty impressed that the author has such a voice on them. I'm also not in the least surprised to discover the Kate Scott has come from the Zeitgeist Agency stable, who I think are very voice-y literary agents and tend to nail it (brava). This one rather tickled me, but maybe I'm just a millennial chasing that nostalgia-hit that Scott blows out so prettily ... if that sells it to you, then; this is like a Skins redux for millennial adults.
I was very kindly gifted this copy while I was attending a meeting at PRH, and getting a squiz at their new Melbourne office location. I had this one pressed into my hands as a great read if I wanted some Y2K nostalgia, given that this novel is set in 2003 and 2004 and very much speaking to my millennium young-adulthood (I also loved its purple Vox Lux vibes!)
I don't know if the way I want to describe this novel is one the author will appreciate. Because I'm going to make a very millennial reference as a teenager of the early-00s that is such a specific pop-cultural definition of "cool" because it was so far removed from my actual life and youth (and yet I think the author was an *actual* cool person of the time, so might cringe at me reaching for this). Here it goes; ... imagine if Skins continued into the character's early-adulthood and their 20s. I'd also say there's a way I'd categorise this as a millennial The Great Gatsby if the 'green light' everyone reaches for is the bygone era of the 80s which, they're all convinced had better music, drugs, and sex ... even as in the most meta-way possible they're currently toiling in a novel about nostalgia for the early-naughties (and so we all beat on). Maybe this is a Y2K Almost Famous in which some characters are trying to grasp at the new music-scene, the new way of talking, and writing about said scene.
I don't know. There's a lot in here - but if you cook it all down, that logline is pretty accurate; Set against the backdrop of the new millennium, a seductive summer read about obsession, sex, friendship and music from an exciting new talent.
It's basically a novel revolving around the characters of Lucy and Robin who find themselves in their hometown of Abergele, in Wales - Lucy is a music magazine editor trying to write her first book, and fleeing some toxic romantic entanglements, who retreats to the seaside town of her childhood. Robin is a photographer and son of a famous music producer, back in town to be by the bedside of a sick relative. They stumble and slide into each other (Robin happens to be maybe-dating one of Lucy's ex-classmates and mean girl-ish nemeses who still lives in town). They form a walking-friendship and then Lucy forms a little cohort of friends old and new who come to her dining table at least once a week for lavish dinners, deep-and-meaningfuls, drugs, booze, and rapid-fire music listacles.
A good chunk of the novel is revelling in their revelry, getting across some hyper-specific and niche music opinions that kinda feels like those intense pop-culture asides in a Tarantino movie ... but eventually the path reveals itself, and there's a love story buried in here as Robin and Lucy flit and fumble towards some semblance of connection they're both clearly craving.
Straight up; if you're not in the mood for this novel, it'll piss you off (but isn't that true of most things?) I just mean; this is a novel that is buoyed by language and nostalgia. Maybe because I was in that "this is Skins!" headspace, but reading the novel's thirst for nostalgia even as the characters are living in the moment, I was reminded of this bit by UK comedian Simons Amstell where he talks about being a teenager and running screaming through the streets with his friends and even then thinking; "this is fun, this is what being young looks like, I better remember this because this is definitely what being a teenager is all about," in this never-ending paranoia narration of remembering not to forget, and not living enough in the moment while you're trying to imprint the moment;
Robin is struck by how beautiful everyone looks in the sky's humid matt-black embrace. He mustn't forget this, he thinks; he mustn't forget how young they are tonight.
The novel is almost lackadaisical in its plotting, but manic in its language and dialogue - some of which is so *lush* and delectable. Some sentences made me gulp, they were so delicious on the page; The air outside crackled and rasped. Our cab pulled away from the curb, and Anika opened the windows to drink in the dissolving afternoon. It carried the perfume of jasmine, frangipanis on the edge of rot, and trace elements of promise. The sunset gathered like a flock of flamingos and broke apart with fanfare.
See, I read that as an Aussie ‘Weetzie Bat,’ some real Francesca Lia Block vibes. And I dig it!
But even as I admired and loved some of this writing, even I can admit - it gets a little overwrought (especially when the plot itself is so languid) and huge chunks of the novel do indeed read like whatever tome and ode to music that Lucy is working on for her manuscript, but I really could have just done without (the descriptions of a song could be beautiful, but rapid-fire espousals on niche and obscure musical references just made me feel deeply uncool and head-spinny).
The other part of this novel that I didn't get (but just rolled with) is ... it's set in Abergele - why? Like, the whole time I was thinking that it *sounds* Australian. I could picture this all happening in an Aussie seaside town. The characters sound Australian, to me. The early-00s being drawn is the Y2K I remember living through (and I grew up on the Mornington Peninsula) ... but then I'll be walloped over the head with "actually, this is Wales." And I'm not sure *why*? The author (I don't think?) has ever lived in Wales? (I see she's lived in Newcastle and Brisbane though, and YES! - that's what this place reads like!) Was Abergele just to settle my "this-is-an-ode-to-Skins" opinion even more? Maybe the songs and artists being referenced were mostly European (I honestly could not tell you, most of the references were over my head) so they thought that music-diet should inform location? Was it so that Lucy could more easily scoot over to Berlin to write about the concert scene over there?
The setting isn't really drawn out overly (like I said: I read most of this thinking it was Australia) and apart from Lucy casually throwing off a fisherman's jumper or the author outright saying she needed to return to Abergele, I really wasn't getting "Wales" from it? And it's a shame. I think this novel could have had a whole new life and appreciation had the author accepted and promoted it as a Gatsby does millennial Brisbane.
Overall I really liked this when I was in the mood to pick it up. On a language and syntax level some of it is overwrought, but GOSH - is it fun! The author has a real talent that I look forward to tracking. Maybe 'Compulsion' is a little navel-gazey and too focused on sounding clever (much like the characters), and some aspects sound good on blurb but read empty on the page (like the aforementioned Abergele setting - nothing against Wales! But ... you're an Aussie author, embrace it!)
But as a debut I'm pretty impressed that the author has such a voice on them. I'm also not in the least surprised to discover the Kate Scott has come from the Zeitgeist Agency stable, who I think are very voice-y literary agents and tend to nail it (brava). This one rather tickled me, but maybe I'm just a millennial chasing that nostalgia-hit that Scott blows out so prettily ... if that sells it to you, then; this is like a Skins redux for millennial adults.
July 23, 2023
My first introduction to Kate Scott was her arresting speech at a NSW State Library night for new books. She riffed through a deck of cue cards with some of the books references; Sonny Crockett, Gary Numan, David Lynch movies, Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies - an exercise of controlled chaos. I regret not meeting her. It was my first night out in a conscious effort to engage more with new local fiction. Now finally I have sat down with her debut book ‘Compulsion’.
The novel introduces Lucy in the midst of a night of decadence before she decamps up to the coast. Lucy plans to write and recharge but is naturally followed by her vices, as hosting parties and curating playlists are her true art. It is a novel of atmosphere (my type of novel) however once the characters are established there is still a compelling romantic arc. Further payoff is the particularly striking sex scene in the later chapters, showcasing Kate’s perceptiveness in documenting the sensual. I particularly connected to the character of Robin, also being an observer that can still interject with the right comment or reference when called upon.
There are parallels between Compulsion and another of the best books of 2023 so far, Bret Easton Ellis’ The Shards - Both character cliques talk in a self-consciously performative manner and perpetually reference the books respective playlists.
The novel’s playlist on spotify is a must and I would suggest exploring it before and during your time with the novel. I liked hearing the songs in my head while reading and honestly who else would be cool enough to know all these deep italo disco and post punk cuts already? Top discoveries for me included ‘Eleven Pond – Watching Trees’ and’ Helen – Witch’.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/615...
The novel introduces Lucy in the midst of a night of decadence before she decamps up to the coast. Lucy plans to write and recharge but is naturally followed by her vices, as hosting parties and curating playlists are her true art. It is a novel of atmosphere (my type of novel) however once the characters are established there is still a compelling romantic arc. Further payoff is the particularly striking sex scene in the later chapters, showcasing Kate’s perceptiveness in documenting the sensual. I particularly connected to the character of Robin, also being an observer that can still interject with the right comment or reference when called upon.
There are parallels between Compulsion and another of the best books of 2023 so far, Bret Easton Ellis’ The Shards - Both character cliques talk in a self-consciously performative manner and perpetually reference the books respective playlists.
The novel’s playlist on spotify is a must and I would suggest exploring it before and during your time with the novel. I liked hearing the songs in my head while reading and honestly who else would be cool enough to know all these deep italo disco and post punk cuts already? Top discoveries for me included ‘Eleven Pond – Watching Trees’ and’ Helen – Witch’.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/615...
January 8, 2023
✍️Twenty four year old music editor Lucy is seeking oblivion in any form she can get. Sex, drugs, music, books. She decides to leave her job and marriage and goes to her childhood home to reconnect and start over whilst reuniting with old friends and old compulsions.
This was an Electric and Original Debut. I will concede that although it wasn't my normal style of reading I did enjoy the storyline and the compelling storytelling that was so well written and will have readers hooked.
I was transported on a vivacious journey to 2004 and to a dark and whimsical place of Sex, Drugs, Obsession and Music. This book had a way of giving me a feeling of nostalgia and mawkishness in the plot and the way the characters were portrayed.
The characters were very well developed with unique and strong personalities. There were many distinctive and heavy themes in in the book to keep readers interested and intrigued.
This book is being released 10 January.
This was an Electric and Original Debut. I will concede that although it wasn't my normal style of reading I did enjoy the storyline and the compelling storytelling that was so well written and will have readers hooked.
I was transported on a vivacious journey to 2004 and to a dark and whimsical place of Sex, Drugs, Obsession and Music. This book had a way of giving me a feeling of nostalgia and mawkishness in the plot and the way the characters were portrayed.
The characters were very well developed with unique and strong personalities. There were many distinctive and heavy themes in in the book to keep readers interested and intrigued.
This book is being released 10 January.
August 31, 2025
As someone who enjoys lush, vivid, detailed descriptions with a strong sense of place and atmosphere, the writing in this book hit all the right points. I also loved the extremely close third-person narration which I wish was more common because I adore it.
Another thing I appreciated is the book’s refusal to moralise. While the narration is in third person omniscient, the reader is still given plenty of room to think about the characters in all their complexity.
The non-linear story telling story telling combined with the deeply atmospheric yet sharp prose reminded me of Virginia Woolf at times. I also found it entertaining (and a touch meta) that the characters are in the early 2000’s with a romantic nostalgia for the 80’s, just as the readers being immersed in a similarly nostalgic portal of the early 2000’s.
Overall, a really unique and entertaining piece of Australian literature.
Another thing I appreciated is the book’s refusal to moralise. While the narration is in third person omniscient, the reader is still given plenty of room to think about the characters in all their complexity.
The non-linear story telling story telling combined with the deeply atmospheric yet sharp prose reminded me of Virginia Woolf at times. I also found it entertaining (and a touch meta) that the characters are in the early 2000’s with a romantic nostalgia for the 80’s, just as the readers being immersed in a similarly nostalgic portal of the early 2000’s.
Overall, a really unique and entertaining piece of Australian literature.
June 17, 2023
Whilst it is Australian and a time frame I remember with clarity, at just over a third of the way through I’m finding it boring. Standing on the outside of the story is the issue I think. I know a lot of the music being spoken about but there are too many mentions and not enough story. Adjectives don’t make a story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 23, 2023
This read like an autobiographical novel of the music scene ...full of sex and drugs and synthesisers.I'm not sure whether it was really good or utter drivel.It's of its time, the time of being and feeling young.
Perhaps the most pertinent line in the book is the one right at the end: 'How vital something feels at the time, and how silly it all seems later.'
Perhaps the most pertinent line in the book is the one right at the end: 'How vital something feels at the time, and how silly it all seems later.'
August 1, 2023
Gatsby and Perks of Being A Wallflower meets early 2000s Melbourne music culture.
Wonderfully written and immersive, but just not for me. The music references all flew over my head and the intensity and meaning of the moment was lost. The building tension of a relationship was beautifully rendered.
Wonderfully written and immersive, but just not for me. The music references all flew over my head and the intensity and meaning of the moment was lost. The building tension of a relationship was beautifully rendered.
February 26, 2023
Great language and awesome sentences but the plot fell a bit flat, the characters were a bit too indulgent and the whole paragraphs that were just a list of the music being played were skimmed over. I usually enjoy books with this plot and character style but this one was trying too hard.
May 8, 2023
Compulsion by Kate Scott
Friends to Lovers | Drugs | Romance
•Lucy is an editor for a music magazine. She discovers the highs and lows or music, sex, friendship and drugs.
•This was almost a book that I couldn’t finish. If the rambling and unnecessary musical references weren’t included this would have been an okay read. The beautiful cover and the premise of the story was promising, but just didn’t deliver.
Feels: like a bad acid trip that I badly wanted to escape.
★ 1/5
Friends to Lovers | Drugs | Romance
•Lucy is an editor for a music magazine. She discovers the highs and lows or music, sex, friendship and drugs.
•This was almost a book that I couldn’t finish. If the rambling and unnecessary musical references weren’t included this would have been an okay read. The beautiful cover and the premise of the story was promising, but just didn’t deliver.
Feels: like a bad acid trip that I badly wanted to escape.
★ 1/5
December 31, 2023
A good holiday read but ridiculously pretentious and overwritten in parts. I look forward to listening to the Spotify playlist though and am delighted at some of the music that was referenced in this book.
December 17, 2022
Moments of fun, sometimes lyrical but mostly self indulgent.
Want to read
February 15, 2023Recommended new reads from Australian women writers by Readings
Read
May 7, 2023The writing is too much and borders on non-sensical superfluousness
July 30, 2024
I want to shipwreck myself on the poetry of this novel! Indescribably delicious.
December 7, 2024
DNF @ Page 30
June 5, 2025
Pretentious, moi?
What’s with all of those tedious lists?
Maybe she’s taken too many drugs?
Some good ideas and quotes, but drowned in a sea of mess.
What’s with all of those tedious lists?
Maybe she’s taken too many drugs?
Some good ideas and quotes, but drowned in a sea of mess.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews