What do you think?
Rate this book
The Distractions
Solitary tech worker Mischa Osborn is mourning the shelving of her passion project—an artificial intelligence algorithm capable of love—when a chance encounter with a social media celebrity leads her spiraling into an all-consuming obsession. Simultaneously, someone—or something—is watching.
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.
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.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
384 pages, Hardcover
Published January 14, 2025
4 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
About the author
Liza Monroy
11 books97 followersLiza Monroy, the daughter of a U.S. Foreign Service officer, spent her high school years attending an international school in Mexico City. Her articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Newsweek, The Village Voice, Time Out New York, Jane, and other publications, and she was recently awarded a residency by the Kerouac Project of Orlando. She lives in New York City.
“Liza Monroy has a magical voice, the kind that makes you want to read the next sentence and then the one after that to see what turn her writing will take next. She is observant, funny, and curiously wise about the culture we live and flounder in.”
—Daphne Merkin, author of Dreaming of Hitler and Enchantment
“Liza Monroy has a magical voice, the kind that makes you want to read the next sentence and then the one after that to see what turn her writing will take next. She is observant, funny, and curiously wise about the culture we live and flounder in.”
—Daphne Merkin, author of Dreaming of Hitler and Enchantment
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 5, 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, a concept novel, which may not be everyone's cup of tea as it requires a bit of brain recalibration to follow the story. The events take place in some distant (or not so distant) future shaped by technology to a scary, but also likely, degree, and while the book starts with a handy dictionary of commonly used terms, one can still find themselves thrown off by the unfamiliar language. I personally liked the immersion - I think that was what I'd been missing, the sort of book that doesn't hold your hand throughout the story, but rather expects you to adjust to its world; it makes it feel more like an actual story, with all of its sometimes fantastical ideas and events.
Had it been written differently, it could have easily ended up as a clunky commentary on the direction we're taking with social media; but, while that was certainly one of the Themes (if not the Theme) with capital T, it lacked those dreaded preachy notes. Instead, we follow the main character, Mischa, on their journey as observers, left to draw our own conclusions. I wasn't quite able to form an attachment to them - it had less to do with the writing, I think, and everything to do with the fact that I found the nature of their obsession unrelatable - but nevertheless, the book kept me curious as to where they'd end up next. Considering how everything played out, I thought that the ending was quite brilliant.
There are two (small) things that left me... unsure as to how I feel about them, and that is the gender angle and (IMO) one particular technology angle that was, ironically, largely unexplored. In the world of The Distractions, pronouns have been standardized so that everyone is a they/them - which is fine, I suppose, in the sense that it could, perhaps, be a commentary on its own; but take the language layer away, and (most if not all of) the characters themselves seem strongly cishet-coded, so, having expected something with a much stronger queer flavor, I was left wondering what the point was here. As for the second point, I want to avoid spoilers, so suffice it to say that once the second narrator was revealed, a part of me wished that more had been done with them.
Despite those two things, though, I can recommend the book to anyone who's looking for a decent futuristic slash character study read.
It is, I think, a concept novel, which may not be everyone's cup of tea as it requires a bit of brain recalibration to follow the story. The events take place in some distant (or not so distant) future shaped by technology to a scary, but also likely, degree, and while the book starts with a handy dictionary of commonly used terms, one can still find themselves thrown off by the unfamiliar language. I personally liked the immersion - I think that was what I'd been missing, the sort of book that doesn't hold your hand throughout the story, but rather expects you to adjust to its world; it makes it feel more like an actual story, with all of its sometimes fantastical ideas and events.
Had it been written differently, it could have easily ended up as a clunky commentary on the direction we're taking with social media; but, while that was certainly one of the Themes (if not the Theme) with capital T, it lacked those dreaded preachy notes. Instead, we follow the main character, Mischa, on their journey as observers, left to draw our own conclusions. I wasn't quite able to form an attachment to them - it had less to do with the writing, I think, and everything to do with the fact that I found the nature of their obsession unrelatable - but nevertheless, the book kept me curious as to where they'd end up next. Considering how everything played out, I thought that the ending was quite brilliant.
There are two (small) things that left me... unsure as to how I feel about them, and that is the gender angle and (IMO) one particular technology angle that was, ironically, largely unexplored. In the world of The Distractions, pronouns have been standardized so that everyone is a they/them - which is fine, I suppose, in the sense that it could, perhaps, be a commentary on its own; but take the language layer away, and (most if not all of) the characters themselves seem strongly cishet-coded, so, having expected something with a much stronger queer flavor, I was left wondering what the point was here. As for the second point, I want to avoid spoilers, so suffice it to say that once the second narrator was revealed, a part of me wished that more had been done with them.
Despite those two things, though, I can recommend the book to anyone who's looking for a decent futuristic slash character study read.
January 28, 2025
Very relevant in today's technological society.
February 11, 2025
Very funny, entertaining story with a unique take on a dystopia. This one has a social media focus, especially the supposedly real life content creators post and the parasocial, envy-ridden dynamic it creates. It leans into a very silly, satirical approach, though it might not be that satirical in the end 😬 Some of it is quite dark, too, but it’s not commented on much in the text that way. It’s you the reader who recognizes the darkness.
It could be a bit shorter as it feels aimless enough to make you wonder what it’s all going to amount to. Parts of it dragged.
But it made me laugh a lot and never got too obnoxious about the message. I’m not sure what to make of the end? I think I understand, but unfortunately this book doesn’t have a lot of readers yet. I can’t compare notes in reviews!
It could be a bit shorter as it feels aimless enough to make you wonder what it’s all going to amount to. Parts of it dragged.
But it made me laugh a lot and never got too obnoxious about the message. I’m not sure what to make of the end? I think I understand, but unfortunately this book doesn’t have a lot of readers yet. I can’t compare notes in reviews!
November 11, 2025
AI to the extreme. I enjoyed this book. It’s a quick and fun one that I read in one sitting. Imagine a world where everything … literally every thing is based around AI and reels and views and content. Now, welcome to that world! Motherhood is so hard, just get a BABIE and when you need a break you can take one.
A thought-provoking read. Kind of like Keeping Up with the Joneses.
Fascinating … just fascinating.
Fantasy workouts .. HILARIOUS! RUNNNN BISH RUNNNN 😂😂👏🏼
Thanks to wunderbooks for my copy
A thought-provoking read. Kind of like Keeping Up with the Joneses.
Fascinating … just fascinating.
Fantasy workouts .. HILARIOUS! RUNNNN BISH RUNNNN 😂😂👏🏼
Thanks to wunderbooks for my copy
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 since I’m not a huge sci-fi reader, but I loved it and I think that the blurb that describes it as a hybrid of Bridget Jones and Philip K Dick nails what makes it fun and original. There is a glossary in the beginning of the book that helps teach you how to read the book. It is infused with vocabulary of the near future that contributes to the sense of world building and humor. Even if this is outside, your usual genre, I highly recommend.
February 28, 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--the story is more about people trying (and often failing) to do their best in the context of a seriously overdriven form of social media and high-tech.
There's a lot of new terminology, so stick with it - it's reasonably mappable to today's (sometimes horrific) analogues through their homonymy or by catching on to the pun. I didn't read the introductory glossary on purpose to get more of a Gibsonian feel while reading--I found it helped immerse me in the world by having to figure out what the new terms mean in context. The glossary will help if that's not your style, and it'll make reading the story a little easier.
The opening pages (post-glossary) hooked me (and made me laugh out loud). From there, we dive into Mischa and her world, which is rich in detail and highly imaginative. The story follows Mischa, but then we switch to another perspective known only as "Me" (both of these are 1st person POV, but there's an interesting 2nd-person element to "Me" that will make sense later on in the story). It's unpredictable, but it all follows an interesting plan. The conclusion seemed satisfying, with a sense that more will happen but that you could also stop here and feel a true "the end."
I think it would be an interesting second read to see how the early parts feel when you know the whole story.
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--the story is more about people trying (and often failing) to do their best in the context of a seriously overdriven form of social media and high-tech.
There's a lot of new terminology, so stick with it - it's reasonably mappable to today's (sometimes horrific) analogues through their homonymy or by catching on to the pun. I didn't read the introductory glossary on purpose to get more of a Gibsonian feel while reading--I found it helped immerse me in the world by having to figure out what the new terms mean in context. The glossary will help if that's not your style, and it'll make reading the story a little easier.
The opening pages (post-glossary) hooked me (and made me laugh out loud). From there, we dive into Mischa and her world, which is rich in detail and highly imaginative. The story follows Mischa, but then we switch to another perspective known only as "Me" (both of these are 1st person POV, but there's an interesting 2nd-person element to "Me" that will make sense later on in the story). It's unpredictable, but it all follows an interesting plan. The conclusion seemed satisfying, with a sense that more will happen but that you could also stop here and feel a true "the end."
I think it would be an interesting second read to see how the early parts feel when you know the whole story.
January 30, 2025
Liza Monroy has written a witty & cleverly constructed novel with solid world-building, in which AI technology replaces humankind's ability/necessity to create meaningful human connections. Ms. Monroy dives into an imaginable future-not too far future time & turns it upside-down.
It's a relevant, timely novel. We humans are familiar with the things Monroy writes about: going down the rabbit-hole of social media with our obsessions & comparisons to others, checking our posts for likes & whatnots, scrolling & strolling our way from one thing to another as time rolls along & we sit sedentary in front of our screens.
I read The Distractions while I was on a road trip for a week, traveling without my laptop across desert landscapes. (In the futuristic world of The Distractions, climate change would make this kind of travel impossible.) I was 100 % offline. I reconnected with friends & family, people I'd only been in touch with through social media or phone calls/texts for quite a long time. (I have a lovely old flip phone, so...no magical powers there!) It was quite liberating!
Of her new book, Liza writes, "It's my favorite thing I've ever written. I hope you enjoy it, too." I agree, and I've read all her books! I loved it! Thank you, Liza!
Summing up the novel in one word: Sterling!
It's a relevant, timely novel. We humans are familiar with the things Monroy writes about: going down the rabbit-hole of social media with our obsessions & comparisons to others, checking our posts for likes & whatnots, scrolling & strolling our way from one thing to another as time rolls along & we sit sedentary in front of our screens.
I read The Distractions while I was on a road trip for a week, traveling without my laptop across desert landscapes. (In the futuristic world of The Distractions, climate change would make this kind of travel impossible.) I was 100 % offline. I reconnected with friends & family, people I'd only been in touch with through social media or phone calls/texts for quite a long time. (I have a lovely old flip phone, so...no magical powers there!) It was quite liberating!
Of her new book, Liza writes, "It's my favorite thing I've ever written. I hope you enjoy it, too." I agree, and I've read all her books! I loved it! Thank you, Liza!
Summing up the novel in one word: Sterling!
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 story, I was fine with this and kind of felt like this was to be expected from the way the story was told in second person POV.
The whole time I was reading this book, I could imagine it becoming the first with AI growing and all of social media apps like Instagram and Tik Tok. We as a society have already disassociated with in person interactions. We interact through apps. This includes watching other people's lives instead of enjoying our own lives or the moments that are happening.
One day we could have a SomniBuddy like Mischa. A robot that breathes next to you to simulate the presence of another human being. It helps to calm your breathing and heart rate to allow for better sleep. How about a ReelDog, AI dog for those that don't want to own a dog but still want to hang out with one for a bit.
The journey that Mischa took to figure out the enlightenment that was missing in her life is intriguing. This is definitely a book worth reading.
I did not form an emotional attachment to the characters. Which in this case for the concept of the story, I was fine with this and kind of felt like this was to be expected from the way the story was told in second person POV.
The whole time I was reading this book, I could imagine it becoming the first with AI growing and all of social media apps like Instagram and Tik Tok. We as a society have already disassociated with in person interactions. We interact through apps. This includes watching other people's lives instead of enjoying our own lives or the moments that are happening.
One day we could have a SomniBuddy like Mischa. A robot that breathes next to you to simulate the presence of another human being. It helps to calm your breathing and heart rate to allow for better sleep. How about a ReelDog, AI dog for those that don't want to own a dog but still want to hang out with one for a bit.
The journey that Mischa took to figure out the enlightenment that was missing in her life is intriguing. This is definitely a book worth reading.
January 20, 2025
This is listed as dystopian fiction but it’s more like the crystal ball of the present and future. This imaginary world has been devastated by climate change. Hmmm. People are dependent on AI, cameras, and social media. They are isolated with no personal communication. The influencer’s life is falling apart while still projecting perfection. Misca is stalking this online wanna be boyfriend until she decides to step out of her comfort zone. Then the tables are turned. This book has a well thought out plot that’s not that far fetched. Thanks for the glossary to help with the new verbiage! Make you go hmmm.
April 20, 2025
Loved it! Just wild how she wrote this a decade before these technologies existed and now so much is actually in the real space. A deeply psychological book, it made me think of humanity, the present and the future.
August 14, 2024
It's my favorite thing I've ever written. I hope you enjoy it, too.
May 6, 2025
Smart, trenchant social satire that manages to also be incredibly entertaining— the world-building blew my mind. A great pic for book groups— so much to discuss! The novel we need right now.
April 15, 2025
Thank you @wunderbookspr @regalo_press #partner for the gifted copy of this book!
Liza Monroy’s The Distractions is a uniquely written book that seamlessly blends humor, heart, and sharp social observation and just felt so relevant for today’s times. Dominating an age full of distractions, the narrative tracks the main character negotiating the challenges of contemporary life, relationships, technology, obsessions and personal aspiration. This book isn’t just your average book. It felt poignant and thought provoking about our world today.
The things that stood out most to me were the mixture of self discovery and humor. The story is original and kept me entirely consumed. I recommend this to readers that enjoy a more contemplative read. The Distractions is superb. A clever, fulfilling book that will linger well after you turn the final page.
Liza Monroy’s The Distractions is a uniquely written book that seamlessly blends humor, heart, and sharp social observation and just felt so relevant for today’s times. Dominating an age full of distractions, the narrative tracks the main character negotiating the challenges of contemporary life, relationships, technology, obsessions and personal aspiration. This book isn’t just your average book. It felt poignant and thought provoking about our world today.
The things that stood out most to me were the mixture of self discovery and humor. The story is original and kept me entirely consumed. I recommend this to readers that enjoy a more contemplative read. The Distractions is superb. A clever, fulfilling book that will linger well after you turn the final page.
January 17, 2026
unsure if i even liked this book, main character gave me hella second hand embarrassment but the technology dystopia aspect is important in our current world
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews