BookReader's Full Review: Bruce Sterling - Distraction
Distraction, Bruce Sterling, Bantam Spectra Books, 1540 Broadway, New York NY 10036, 1998, ISBN 0-553-10484-5, hardback, 439 pages, US $24.95
Nominated for the 1998 Hugo Award.
About 20 pages into Distraction I realized the book is absurd. On purpose, yes, but still absurd. In the hands of a lesser talent I suspect I'd have given up on the book rather quickly.
The United States of 2044 is pretty much the same as it is now. Only a lot stranger. The federal government is broke and cannot meet its payroll. The US Air Force regularly extorts money from tourists to pay for fuel oil. Inexplicable terrorists acts are committed by equally
enigmatic groups of people. The French have a large naval force poised for the invasion of Louisiana while the United States manufactures a war with Holland. Huge tribes of nomads roam the US countryside. Genetic engineering is almost common place with unusual results.
Into this mix drop one Oscar Valparaiso, a political mastermind who works behind the scenes to get people elected. (It is impossible for him to run for office himself because of his "personal background problem.")
Somewhere along the line Oscar decided he wanted to help make America great again, which is a very worthy goal but it could get him killed.
As a reward for services rendered, Oscar is given the job of regaining control of a huge, domed science facility located in the wilds of Texas. Many strange and wonderful experiments are taking place there, some of which can change the nature of humanity. Unfortunately for Oscar, the
science facility is the clandestine project of the renegade governor of Louisiana, who has his own ideas for humanity in general and the United States in particular.
Whatever is sent after him, Oscar puts his own political spin on it and sends it back. Even the ordeal of having his consciousness expanded is just a minor distraction. (Okay, being kidnapped by French commandos set him back a little, but not much.)
Sterling seems to be on a social commentary kick recently. (I guess all good fiction is a commentary on the society which spawned it.) In Distraction he takes some of the ideas he hinted at in his book Holy Fire and expands on them. Unlike Holy Fire though, Distraction is written in a
more amused/amusing fashion. Is Sterling laughing to avoid crying?
None of the various parts of Distraction are far-fetched. Sterling makes them all seem like logical extensions of current day happenings. Wrap the together and the feeling of absurdity gets to be a bit much.
I'd ignored Distraction mainly because the reading Sterling did when he was Principal Speaker at Philcon was, well, less than sterling. He made his work sound deathly dull. (Just another example of why most authors should not be permitted to read their own work aloud.)
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.