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Politics is the art of the possible, the "doable", as Sterling's skewed hero, Oscar Valparaiso, keeps calling his wild improvised plans as if saying the word made them so. Oscar's usually successful schemes are as cobbled together as his own genetics--Oscar is not quite human. Investigating a genetic research facility for a Senate committee, he finds a potential power base, and an enemy worth his attention--the Governor of Louisiana has taken to conquering federal facilities using gangs of the homeless as his deniable mercenaries, and his interest in biotech makes the genetically anomalous Oscar, and the scientist he has fallen for, attractive acquisitions. Having a senator he has just help get elected go stark mad, and finding himself on the Net-wide hit list of every nut with a grudge, are the sort of things with which Oscar copes all the time--love and other altered states of consciousness are a bit more of a problem. Endless witty extrapolations of social and scientific paradoxes and a constant cheeky elaboration of already convoluted plot lines give this the brio of Sterling's best short fiction

I've read most of Bruce Sterling's books, and I think this is the best since Schismatrix. Many of his stories are about characters who find their situations in constant motion - not adventures as such, but adaption and evolution to events that coincide with them. This sees the pattern reach a kind of high-point - Oscar Valparaiso is essentially addicted to social change and crisis management.
Sterling uses Oscar as a lightning rod for the sorts of changes that he has speculated about in blogs and essays - biotech, IT, alternative social structures, environmental issues - in what is a romp through the almost total collapse of mid 21stC America. It's funny, weird and times breathtaking in the extremity of change envisaged. Reading it ten years later, many aspects seem almost familiar, proving Sterling once again to be an ace futurologist.
It is big, and a little daunting, best read slowly in little chunks. But it is bulging with imagination, and the author's clear concern about how the rapid changes surrounding us now will reap disaster or otherwise in the future. ( )

Bruce Sterling has a lot of great ideas. However he isn't so good at creating either likable or memorable characters. This book was a chore to read. I kept hoping that something would redeem it - and that redemption,I'm sorry to say, never came.

I will admit that political operators in and of themselves I find loathsome. However at no point does Oscar ever come across like a living human being but more as a a character that is intended to follow the footsteps of plot and narrative that Sterling's laid out for him. He just seems to be going through the motions.

Perhaps I am naive but I would think that even the most savvy political operative has some sort of passion. That everything isn't just some goal to be conquered. The sense I get is that either Sterling can't quite put himself in Oscar's shoes or that he believes that since these people are essentially soulless he doesn't have to work as hard. Most of all it comes across as a thoroughly minor work.

In my opinion Holy Fire is his best. If you're only going to read one book by the man make it that one. ( )

http://bactra.org/reviews/distraction... ( )

Most people seem to regard this as rather minor Sterling, but I quite enjoyed it.

Near future science fiction and political satire. Hilarious. Great for people who think they hate SF. ( )

Bruce sterlings books are always interesting and original. I find the ideas aren't familiar so you need to process what's going on a bit. Perhaps he's just not a very good writer but I find that I have to keep switching gears in order to keep up. He's not very descriptive of some things so you have to use your imagination a bit more. He does describe in detail certain elements of the story but other scenes are left for you to picture for yourself. Kind of like having tunnel vision.

In distraction, we meet a wierd junior politician of the future (Oscar) who is making a place for himself in the almost failed nation of america. He takes on an assignment to clean up a research centre that has suffered from years of corruption. It seems like a pretty boring story but things gradually heat up as Oscar makes friends and enemies with a rampaging psycho governer, various security spooks, a genius nuero-researcher, the president, a bunch of nomadic tech warlords and a talking brick.

The book is not so much about the action but about the psychology, ideas and values of the characters. It's about the inventions and things that might happen if we look at what's happening today and extrapolate in the extreme. The effect of todays ideas, trends and discoveries on the future as seen (and exagerated to make a story) by Sterling. I guess Sterling's appeal is a futurist and scifi trend setter rather than a smooth writer.

A few snippets:

In the future, the internet is remembered as the tool that the chinese used to break into all of america's software companies and break the economy.

In the future, anglos are a repressed minority.

In the future, scientists are bored with software, computers and genes. They are into hacking neurology. ( )