Distraction [Paperback]

Bruce Sterling (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam (1998)
• ASIN: B000GTPVV8
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,210,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pleasant escapist fare, January 3, 2000

By 

Daniel H. Bigelow (Cathlamet, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Distraction (Mass Market Paperback)

Bruce Sterling eats Neal Stephenson's lunch with Distraction, a near-future techno-political thriller that's strongly reminiscent of Stephenson's Cryptonomicon and Interface (which Stephenson and his uncle wrote under the pen name Stephen Bury). I don't mind this because I loved those other books, though it's strange to see Sterling borrowing rather than being borrowed from.

Sterling's technological and political speculations are interesting and plausible, and his plot moves right along, propelled by informal but evocative language and a lot of humor. The best part of the book, though, is its protagonist, Oscar Valparasio, who combines the genius and audacity of Lois Bujold's character Miles Vorkosigan with a personal reserve and opacity that makes us even more interested in finding out what he's really like. Sterling actually manages to keep Oscar mysterious even though we're seeing through his eyes throughout the book.

Distraction is mostly about the ride -- like another of my favorite Sterling books, Heavy Weather, it has little pretension to epic scope or deep literary meaning -- but it has enough depth to make it a worthwhile read. My chief complaint is that it drowns in cynicism towards the end, leaving us with a downbeat and overlong ending and nothing much in the way of climax. A classic character like Oscar deserved a better sendoff.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Confirming once again the whole genre of Sci-fFi, September 1, 2003

By 

C. E Sutter "Fujisawa" (Fujisawa-shi, Kanagawa-ken Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Distraction (Mass Market Paperback)

I've recently felt compelled to re-read 'Distraction', and I've been really enjoying myself. The character of Oscar Valparaiso has snuck up on me and won me over; my copy is all marked up in pink and purple highliner. There are so many great and clever lines.

The people who don't like the plot are probably looking for a conventional Triumph of the Individual Against All Odds adventure. "Distraction" is that rarity in speculative fiction, character-driven Sci-Fi. For an S-F novel to be character-driven, the character(s) must be recognizable and well-observed, but also modified by some speculative concept. The ability to observe well a person who cannot yet exist requires an intuitive vision that, if successful, confirms the whole genre of Sci-fi as a literary artform. I think Bruce Sterling pulls it off.

The whole delightfully wierd rambling plot, about feuding anarchistic nomad bands and the power-grappling over a national
biological laboratory by 16 political parties and neurological Gumbo a la Bayou, are loaded with flip ideas and throw-away shaggy-dog genius, but are ultimately a... well, a distraction. The real story is about Oscar himself, whose plight as the ultimate outsider seems like it must be a sublimation of something the author knows about personally. I'm sorry to say that I worry that Oscar's in-vitro birth as a genetic experiment in a black-market off-shore Columbian Mafia baby-selling operation may be occurring in real life right now. How the scary dark unavoidable abuses of our unprecedented technology impact on human souls is the real subject of this book.

Oscar's dark alter-ego, Green Huey, says to him,"I finally got you all figured out... You're always gonna have your nose pressed up against the glass, watchin' other folks drink the champagne. Nothing you do will last. You'll be a sideshow and a shadow, and you'll stay one till you die. But, son, if you got a big head start on the coming revolution, .... you can goddamn have Massachusetts." But Oscar consistantly chooses quietly perserving his own dignity over exploiting his tremendos gifts, which would only re-enforce his alienation. 'Distraction' is for anyone who's ever found their nose pressed up against the glass in this present bewildering Cyber-Age.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gloriously Cynical, August 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Distraction (Hardcover)

I have read one or two of Bruce Sterling's short stories butonly picked this novel up on the strength of it's Hugo nomination. Iam glad I did! This is gloriously cynical satire. Sterling examines the twists and turns of a very plausible future US political landscape. Worryingly plausible!!

Other reviews here have alluded to the main characters of this novel being two-dimensional. I disagree - Sterling's protagonist is engaging and witty, brilliant and suave and wonderfully flawed to boot. I found great pleasure being in his company for the duration of the book.

Much of the book is cleverly and compellingly written in dialogue form - allowing the author to warm to his subject through his characters instead of off-loading his political philophies as wordy exposition. Sterling handles this expertly, drawing the reader in and entertaining them thoroughly in the process.

Worth the bother? Definitely!