The Distractions, Liza Monroy
The Distractions, Liza Monroy
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

The Distractions

Author: Liza Monroy

Narrator: Christine Williams

Unabridged: 8 hr 48 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 01/21/2025


Synopsis

Mischa Osborn spends her days as a ProWatcher—keeping distracted people on task and lonely ones accompanied—from her Brooklyn Megabuilding, while eating PetriMeat Steax and working out with her favorite personal trainer, a straight-talking algorithm named Tory.

Her carefully constructed, isolated existence is suddenly upended by a chance realspace encounter with a HighlightReel celebrity, Nicolás Adán Luchano. On their first date, hiking in Kuulsuits and watching DroneBeez pollinate flowers, Mischa experiences a brief but intense realspace connection.

Mischa takes to relentlessly watching Nic onReel. As Mischa's ReelWatching spirals into an all-consuming obsession, and even realspace stalking, Mischa takes increasingly desperate measures to be seen and valued, sucking others into her vortex of obsession until she completely loses control.

Meanwhile, someone is equally obsessed with Mischa, tracking her every move and perhaps even influencing her choices.

A tale of how technology enables obsession, envy, and unrelenting comparison, told through an eccentric cast of interconnected characters, The Distractions invites us to reflect on who we are watching, and why.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mal on January 05, 2025

I can't recall what I'd read right before I picked up The Distractions, but I distinctly remember thinking "Finally, some good fucking book," after the first ten or so pages. In the end, it didn't quite fall into the 5-star territory for me, but it is a solid 4 - I really enjoyed it. It is, I think,......more

Goodreads review by Sarah on January 27, 2025

Very relevant in today's technological society.......more

Goodreads review by Max Watrous-Schumaker on January 14, 2025

I found this to be such a deeply imaginative and well imagined novel, about a dystopian future that is all too easy to imagine since it amplifies our own reality in such a chilling way. Liza Monroy is fierce and funny. The humor makes the bleakness tolerable. The book is not the kind. I usually read......more

Goodreads review by Kyle on February 27, 2025

Highly recommended. I really enjoyed this thought-provoking and entertaining book! Monroy manages to comment not only on future issues but many of those currently afflicting our modern world. And instead of focusing on the darkness of this semi-dystopian world, it's filled with humor and humanity--th......more

Goodreads review by Cheryl on December 24, 2024

This book is told in first and second person POVs. It is mainly told in second person POV. So, like Mischa, you feel more like an observer looking in as everyone else goes on about their daily lives. I did not form an emotional attachment to the characters. Which in this case for the concept of the......more