I love to sleep. I prefer at least eight, preferably nine hours of sleep each night. Going to bed at midnight and waking up at nine in the morning is a perk of my madcap, Bohemian university student lifestyle that I will have to abandon once I become a stern, starched-collar high school teacher. For now, however, I like my sleep, and I will defend to the death my right to snore it. But if I did not need to sleep—had, in fact, grown up without ever knowing sleep—would I miss it? How would I be different? What if I weren't alone?Beggars in Spain has a simple premise—that certain children have been genetically-engineered so that they do not sleep—with enormous implications (such as the Sleepless not aging). Once again, Nancy Kress uses genetic engineering to explore what it means to be human and how our society treats those who are different. I recognize her familiar themes from Nothing Human and "Act One". Kress is an awesome author of serious gene-manipulation fiction, by which I mean she doesn't use genetic engineering just as a science-fiction plot device or a background phenomenon, as one might see in other books where other motifs are more important. Whether she is altering the entire human genome, as in Nothing Human, or tweaking just a single trait, as she did here and in "Act One," Kress considers the implications of her changes in how these altered humans think and behave. More importantly, she considers how the un-altered will react. And Kress is writing posthuman fiction set not in the far-off future but in the present and in the near-future; she is writing about what our lives might be like in a decade or three.So why did I have so much trouble with Beggars in Spain? I was constantly aware of how far through the book I was, and I never had that urge to continue reading like I do with books that really grip me. To be fair, I think I had a similar reaction to Nothing Human. Kress' writing style and my reading habits do not exist in perfect harmony, and sometimes that happens, even with authors whose work I admire on an intellectual or literary level. There must be more to it than that. Otherwise, I would feel comfortable giving this book five stars.Beggars in Spain has an excellent premise, but its plot is unsustainable. The tragedy is that the overall story makes a lot of sense, and it should work: the Sleepless outperform the Sleepers, who channel their fear of difference into hatred and bigotry. So far, so good: none of this requires suspension of disbelief, at all, because it's a true story that has been repeated far too often in our history. It's still happening today. Groups fear those who are different, and then the fear turns to hate, people get stupid, and individuals die. I don't begrudge Kress the parallels. Intention is one thing, however, and execution is quite another.The first part of the book, essentially what got published as a novella (and won both the Hugo and Nebula for it!), is great. I have few complaints about it. The supporting characters are somewhat thin, and the family situation is somewhat clichéd. Aside from that, however, Kress nicely portrays an American society struggling to deal with the rising population of Sleepless among them. The nascent internal divisions among the network of Sleepless is intriguing, and Kress follows up on this in the rest of the book.There are two problems with the rest of the book, and their names are Leisha Cambden and Jennifer Sharifi. Leisha is the main character, theoretically the protagonist, though she does not do much protagonizing. Although seeing the world through Leisha's Sleepless yet compassionate eyes is interesting, Leisha as a person is rather dull and credulous. She talks a lot about Yagaiism and contracts and eponymous Spanish beggars, and once in a while she kidnaps abused Sleepless children. Most of her actions, however, like the creation of the Susan Bell Foundation, take place offstage. Plenty of characters around Leisha—Richard, Alice, Jordan, Drew—are doing things; Leisha just seems to sit around lamenting the fact that people are short-sighted and judgemental. She's a bit of a downer.Jennifer Sharifi, on the other hand, is much more interesting but, again, doesn't quite work as a character. One of the two characters who come as close to antagonists as this book has, Jennifer is an ultra-cool Sleepless who pursues rationality and pragmatism to the point of irrationality. She is convinced the only route for Sleepless survival is voluntary exile: first to an orbital habitat, then out into space completely. All her energy is directed toward these efforts, laying the groundwork for the secession of the Sleepless Sanctuary from the United States. She continues to tinker with the genes of Sanctuary's children, creating a new generation of "Supers," Sleepless whose neurological functions are hyper-accelerated—at the price of a loss of motor control that manifests as twitches and stuttering. Oh, and she stacks Sanctuary's ruling council with her own family members and viciously suppresses any dissent.Jennifer is a caricature of an ultra-reactionary leader of the persecuted. She's too bad, closer to a moustached villain than a devious leader fighting for the survival of the Sleepless. There's never a question of whether she has crossed a line; she has crossed it, and for that she receives no sympathy for me. I don't view her as a credible threat or challenge, because the other characters will always have the moral high ground over her. If she had been more ambiguous, or at least more formidable, I might have enjoyed her role as an antagonist more.The other antagonist comes rather late to the party. He frames Sleepless for attacks on Sleepers, including a Sleeper scientist who approaches Leisha to have develop a way of turning Sleepers into Sleepless. He's a much less important figure than Jennifer, of course, so accordingly he has less depth. Still, his involvement in the scientist's murder wasn't exactly my favourite revelation of the book. I don't really hold it against him, but he does highlight a vacancy in the roster: Leisha et al needed a true ally, a powerful Sleeper who nevertheless championed the cause of the Sleepless.I quite liked the Supers, and Miri, and their struggle as a faction within the Sanctuary faction. The whole Other-within-the-Other motif is appealing, and Miri is one of the easiest characters with whom I could sympathize. Watching her struggle with her feelings for Tony, her own brother, and reconcile the knowledge that her mother could not look upon her with love, was close to heartbreaking. And of course, Miri and the Supers are exactly Jennifer's mistake: she tries to create an ultra-superhuman being, something beyond even her own generation of Sleepless, but she haughtily thinks she can somehow control them. While the Supers' sundering of their Sanctuary shackles was predictable, it was also the most entertaining and riveting part of the book.Beggars in Spain isn't bad, but it is heavyhanded almost across the board: characters, philosophy, and plot could all have done with a much lighter touch. Just thinking of all the times the characters referred to "beggars" or "beggars in Spain," as if Kress was not confident we would make the connection between the philosophy and the book's title, makes me wince. I appreciate subtlety, and I notice its absence. While seldom enough to ruin a book for me—especially one as admittedly thoughtful and intriguing as this—it does detract from my enjoyment. Books are my drug of choice, and Beggars in Spain left me unsatisfied.My Reviews of the Sleepless trilogy:Beggars and Choosers →
This book came highly recommended, and of course it has also won a ton of awards, but I wasn't impressed at all. There's very little characterization. The characters seem to exist just to move the plot along, ie "And then THIS happened and I'm going to tell you about it now!"I was also reminded of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, in which the flat characters exist only as mouthpieces for Rand's philosophy.As for the plot, it's interesting, but it clanks along kind of relentlessly. I couldn't help wondering if Nancy Kress did extensive outlining of the plot before she wrote this book, because I felt like I was reading a fleshed-out plot outline. As I said above, there was a feeling of, "OK, and now THIS happens. And...wait for it...now THIS happens!"I have read only this novel, and have not read "Beggars in Spain" in the original, shorter, novella form, but it was pretty easy to discern where the novella ended and the rest of the novel-length book was tacked on.Maybe it was the hype that set me up for high expectations. I was really disappointed.Also very telling: Just prior to copying & pasting this review into goodreads from my Amazon review page, I said to my husband: "I read Beggars in Spain? Did I really? I have no memory of reading it, but apparently I reviewed it on Amazon.After he jogged my memory about the plot, I remembered the book, and remembered that I didn't like it.
What do You think about Beggars In Spain (2004)?
I read the novella version of this last year, and the first novel of the Sleepless trilogy includes and expands on it (this was one of the books from my speed-dating project in April.) Those with a lot of money at their disposal have been able to genetically modify their children in utero, for looks, abilities, and one in particular - taking away the need for sleep.Imagine what you could accomplish if you never needed to sleep, and you suffered no medical issues due to its lack. The Sleepless can complete schooling quickly, hold down multiple responsibilities, and contribute to society in great and innovative ways.It doesn't take long for factions to develop between the Sleepers and the Sleepless. This is basically four time periods ending with SuperSleeper children living in an orbital, the Sanctuary set up by many of the Sleepless remaining. Interesting ideas, strong exploration of the ramifications of those ideas, and it ends with a different group of the Sleepless coming together. It is tempting to pick up #2.
—Jenny (Reading Envy)
Why are there no female science fiction grand masters?The wife and I were discussing the question on a recent trip to the Science Fiction History Museum in Seattle, and we saw Nancy Kress's name on an exhibit. I decided to try some of her work. I started with her very recent "After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall", and thought it was promising but not fulfilling. And now I've read "Beggars in Spain," her first novel, which won both the Hugo and Nebula, propelling her to stardom.The book started out great, but then it got very slow in the middle -- so slow, in fact, I almost quit. I'm now very glad I didn't. This book is very, very good.There is a definite feminine influence on the book. The most important characters are women, and more writing is spent on romantic and sexual relationships than in most sci-fi I've read. That's different, but it's not what I loved about the book.Where the book really shines is in discussing economic philosophy using the power of fiction. For example, you can discuss Ayn Rand's attitude toward the profit motive through fiction by giving an Ayn Rand fan character a son who is disabled, who will never be economically productive. What happens then? That makes a great story. It makes you think and sparks discussion.The story is epic in scope -- events span roughly seventy years. It wouldn't make a good movie, but I would watch that miniseries.Four stars -- when it was good, it was great, though it did drag in the middle.
—Dan
On one hand, a very quick and entertaining read - I finished in a single night and the pace is brisk. The political machinations in the new society are also introduced rapidly and believably in the background. On the other hand, whatever "message" this is supposed to be driving at is muddled and shallow. The original novella knocks down a caricature of objectivism by having the main character arrive at what we would call "common sense." The background politics are roughly as deep as the human vs. mutants debates in the X-men movies. After the original, the books remain entertaining but lack believability. They go from a good try at "social science fiction" at a more silly futuristic plot reminiscent of Moonraker. Still worth a read, just not nearly as meaningful as it thinks it is. Even the political settings start unraveling into caricature - try to read the Livers and not think of Idiocracy.Though I keep referencing other works of fiction here, Beggars isn't derivative or boring. Recommended, with your expectations properly adjusted.
—Haris
