Fatal Distraction
Or How I Conquered My Addiction to Celebrities and Got a Life
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
"My name is Eliza H., and I am a celebraholic."
So begins this cautionary tale of how celebraholism can ruin one's life-- or at least one's twenties.
Once, Eliza dreamed of walking down the aisle (at the Oscars) and having a meaningful existence (every minute of which would be chronicled by People magazine). But by her twenties, her soaring ambitions have been reduced to friendships with two people who have some small chance at fame: Danny, a gorgeous and sadly untalented actor, and the unscrupulous Dinah, who has no attribute she will not exploit.
Oh, and not to mention a lot of E! True Hollywood Stories and The National Enquirer.
But when her boyfriend dumps her because she has no life, Eliza resolves to try to kick her celebraholism once and for all. Consulting a sham shrink and going cold turkey on People, Eliza seems to be on the rough road to recovery when the unexpected happens: Dinah's boyfriend, white rapper Lylo, is involved in a hit-and-run accident that claims the life of a beloved citizen-- bringing Dinah tantalizingly close to fame...and jail.
Can Eliza get Danny his big break as a cute but expendable sidekick in action flicks? Will she save Dinah from taking the fall? Or will this finally be the opportunity for the Barbara Walters interview she's waited for her whole life? Hip, humorous, and self-aware, Emmi Fredericks's sublimely witty novel, Fatal Distraction, parodies today's cult of celebrity with hilarity and sympathy.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
She refers to Jennifer and Brad by their first names. She watched Princess Di's funeral on TV, just to celebrity-spot the mourners. It's official: 20-something New Yorker Eliza is a celebraholic. She has a screechingly dull job at Bickerstaff Books, home to "cheesy" serial novels, so why not spend hours a day thumbing through People, watching E! and scanning the streets for a film-familiar face? But when Eliza's boyfriend dumps her for having no life of her own, Eliza must prove she's more than her obsession. This isn't easy, considering that her social nexus consists of roommate Danny, a handsome, gay, out-of-work actor; best friend Dinah, a performance artist whose only true gift is shamelessness; and Ivan, a talentless wannabe novelist. The media fast is on. Eliza's solution? If you can't be the Star, be the Great Bit Player and she's got plans for how. But Dinah, who was involved in a hit-and-run with her pseudo-famous white rapper boyfriend, steps into the limelight by claiming she was behind the wheel. Eliza is sure she's lying for the exposure but no one would stoop that low... right? Frederick's desperate characters aren't particularly sympathetic, but readers may laugh and sometimes shudder anyway. It's the book's tertiary characters neighbor Sal and his pudgy canine star, Norm; Hank, a middle-aged writer of terrible romances aspiring to more who charm. Gimmicky intertextual tidbits ("Things in Real Life You Do Not Have to Deal With When You Are a Celebrity" sidebars; conversational transcripts) may annoy, but overall this is an entertaining look at America's cult of celebrity.
