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.


Gloriously Cynical   August 7, 1999
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

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!


My favorite Sterling to date   January 9, 2001
 8 out of 12 found this review helpful

Having read _Holy Fire_ and _Heavy Weather_ I have to say that I enjoyed this Sterling the most, and I've enjoyed all three very much indeed.

Sterling's writing is quirky, intelligent, and real. He makes implausible situations (such as a cold war between the US and the Netherlands) feel both believable and appropriate.

The characters are wonderfully drawn. I was in love with Oscar-- the fast-talking campaign manager who isn't quite human but can always find the angle in a situation. I believed in his odd relationship with the unlikely and awkward Dr. Penninger simply because it was so improbable but at the same time so true.

I can understand why the ending felt unsatisfying to a lot of readers, because it fails to hand you simple or predictable resolution. Indeed, a lot like life, the plot almost fades away, leaving us with the main characters' relationship as the primary movement in the novel. Oddly appropriate for a book written about a time where everyone seems to be frantically sitting still, but grantedly atypical for science fiction.


Hilarious and Cynic political satire. Read this book.   December 31, 1999
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

Bruce Sterling has changed tack from the elegaic feel of his previous book HOLY FIRE for a fast and furious satire of the American political system. In the form of a genetically mutated political spin doctor and a brilliant neuroscientist, the hero and heroine are hopeful monsters, brilliant outsiders able to see a better future that no one else can, and have set out against the odds to bring it on, even if it kills them. Readers with short attention spans have accused the characters of being two dimensional when the opposite is true; Sterling depicts them from a standpoint of total objectivity, as if they were specimens being examined from the outside, yet with complete understanding of their inner workings. The twists and turns are fast and furious, and the portrait of an insanely fractured American political system is exhilarating and not improbable, with a deeply cynical twist at the end when the President unveils his solution to America's political mess... a twist so unexpected that even the hero loses his remaining shred of innocence. As the world changes, so the protagonists adapt, and thrive, retaining their curiosity to see what comes next. A wise and funny novel, filled with enough throwaway ideas that usual fill up dozens of lesser writers' books.


Confirming once again the whole genre of Sci-fFi   September 1, 2003
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

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.