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Sleepless #1
Beggars in Spain
In the year 2008, thanks to a stunning scientific breakthrough, Chicago millionaire Roger Camden and his wife Elizabeth produce the perfect child—a genetically modified daughter, Leisha, who is beautiful, extraordinarily intelligent…and who will never require sleep. She is one of the first twenty so-called “Sleepless” in a world that will initially treat them as interesting anomalies…and, later, as objects of envy and scorn.
As the decades pass, the Sleepless population increases and prospers—and Leisha grows to become one of the ablest legal minds in America. But the heightened abilities and a shattered revelation about the near-immortality of “her kind” has inflamed the wrath of the nation’s Sleeper majority—spawning political repression and shocking mob violence that drives the Sleepless en masse from a society that rejects them…and, ultimately, from the Earth itself.
But Leisha Camden remains behind—outcast from both worlds, yet unwilling to forfeit her rightful place in the community of man. Meanwhile, aboard an orbiting colony called Sanctuary, a new generation of genetically engineered super-children is born—the foundation of a brilliant and bitter Sleepless leader’s conspiracy of freedom…and revenge.
As the decades pass, the Sleepless population increases and prospers—and Leisha grows to become one of the ablest legal minds in America. But the heightened abilities and a shattered revelation about the near-immortality of “her kind” has inflamed the wrath of the nation’s Sleeper majority—spawning political repression and shocking mob violence that drives the Sleepless en masse from a society that rejects them…and, ultimately, from the Earth itself.
But Leisha Camden remains behind—outcast from both worlds, yet unwilling to forfeit her rightful place in the community of man. Meanwhile, aboard an orbiting colony called Sanctuary, a new generation of genetically engineered super-children is born—the foundation of a brilliant and bitter Sleepless leader’s conspiracy of freedom…and revenge.
438 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1993
255 people are currently reading
8895 people want to read
About the author
Nancy Kress
450 books909 followersNancy Kress is the author of thirty novels, four story collections, three books on writing fiction, and over a hundred short stories. Her work has won six Nebulas, two Hugos, a Sturgeon, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. Her most recent novel, Observer, co-written with Dr. Robert Lanza, concerns the nature of consciousness, reality, and love. Forthcoming in 2026 is an historical fantasy, The Queen’s Witch, set in the court of Henry VIII. Nancy’s work has been translated into two dozen languages, none of which she can read. She has taught writing at various venues in the United States and abroad, including Leipzig, Beijing, both Clarions, and the annual SF-writing intensive workshop Taos Toolbox. Nancy lives in Seattle with her husband, writer Jack Skillingstead, and Pippin, the world’s cutest Chihuahua.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 866 reviews
December 4, 2013
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 →
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 →
October 1, 2019
ENGLISH
Eternally timeless allegory of discrimination by aversions against technology
Unique idea to portray the social impact of physical and mental modification by genetic engineering.
Can be converted to any society in which inequality and prejudice prevail.
Raises the question of how to deal with the inevitable, targeted improvement of genes.
GERMAN
Ewig zeitlose Allegorie auf Diskriminierung durch Technologiefeindlichkeit
Einzigartige Idee, die gesellschaftliche Auswirkung einer körperlichen Modifikation zu schildern.
Lässt sich auf jede Gesellschaft ummünzen, in der Ungleichheit und Vorurteile herrschen.
Wirft die Frage auf, wie mit der unweigerlichen, gezielten Verbesserung von Genen umgegangen werden soll.
Eternally timeless allegory of discrimination by aversions against technology
Unique idea to portray the social impact of physical and mental modification by genetic engineering.
Can be converted to any society in which inequality and prejudice prevail.
Raises the question of how to deal with the inevitable, targeted improvement of genes.
GERMAN
Ewig zeitlose Allegorie auf Diskriminierung durch Technologiefeindlichkeit
Einzigartige Idee, die gesellschaftliche Auswirkung einer körperlichen Modifikation zu schildern.
Lässt sich auf jede Gesellschaft ummünzen, in der Ungleichheit und Vorurteile herrschen.
Wirft die Frage auf, wie mit der unweigerlichen, gezielten Verbesserung von Genen umgegangen werden soll.
June 27, 2015
Last book of 2012 for me, a good end to the year. Beggars in Spain is the sort of sf novel that posits a basic idea and extrapolate from that the foundation to look at the ramifications and implications of this idea from all possible angles. The "high concept" idea is very simple, in the near genetic engineering create a new race of people who do not sleep. While the basic idea is simple the numerous implications and ramifications of this development are far reaching and very complex. The main point is that not spending any time on sleeping gives a person a massive amount of extra time to do more, to accomplish more with their lives. In the context of this novel the "Sleepless" people even enjoy far longer lives, good looks and higher intelligence. The emergence of this new elite race creates all kinds of tension, envy, mistrust, hate and fear between the "Sleepers" (that would be us) and the Sleepless, to the point where most of the sleepers soon migrate to an orbital, an artificial world orbiting Earth in space.
I personally suffer from occasional bouts of insomnia and this book gives me hope, though possibly a false one as it is fiction after all, speculative fiction at that. Early on in the book the author posits the idea that sleep is not actually necessary as it is a genetic leftover from the stone age when people need to find somewhere safe to sleep and hide from predators. The reparations to the body during sleep can be done just as effectively during waking hours with the help of some gene modifications. I don't know how scientifically viable this is but it is very interesting to imagine how different our lives would be without sleep.
The main characters are well developed, both protagonists and antagonists, some are quite unpredictable which is always a virtue in a novel. The "bad guys" are not evil as such, their motivation is entirely understandable, and the "good guys" are believably flawed and complex. The prose style is very accessible, my only complaint is the frequent mentions of some of the female characters' long legs. A couple of times would have sufficed I think! The themes of racial prejudice, envy, intolerance and even hypocrisy are very well presented and mirror the human foibles we come across all too often. The pacing is generally leisurely but I did not find any part dull, and the book as a whole is highly readable.
An excellent book to end the year with, and well deserves all the accolades it has garnered (the original novella from which this book is expanded upon won the Hugo Award and Nebula Award).
Best wishes for 2013!
I personally suffer from occasional bouts of insomnia and this book gives me hope, though possibly a false one as it is fiction after all, speculative fiction at that. Early on in the book the author posits the idea that sleep is not actually necessary as it is a genetic leftover from the stone age when people need to find somewhere safe to sleep and hide from predators. The reparations to the body during sleep can be done just as effectively during waking hours with the help of some gene modifications. I don't know how scientifically viable this is but it is very interesting to imagine how different our lives would be without sleep.
The main characters are well developed, both protagonists and antagonists, some are quite unpredictable which is always a virtue in a novel. The "bad guys" are not evil as such, their motivation is entirely understandable, and the "good guys" are believably flawed and complex. The prose style is very accessible, my only complaint is the frequent mentions of some of the female characters' long legs. A couple of times would have sufficed I think! The themes of racial prejudice, envy, intolerance and even hypocrisy are very well presented and mirror the human foibles we come across all too often. The pacing is generally leisurely but I did not find any part dull, and the book as a whole is highly readable.
An excellent book to end the year with, and well deserves all the accolades it has garnered (the original novella from which this book is expanded upon won the Hugo Award and Nebula Award).
Best wishes for 2013!
June 9, 2022
In Kress' imagined world, most of us are created equal; some of us are genetically modified to NOT NEED SLEEP.
Just imagine all the things you could do if you didn't have to spend one third of your life unconscious . . .
I'd probably spend the time reading MORE BOOKS, but the characters in this novel use their extra hours a bit more productively, studying science, and the law, and excelling beyond anyone's wildest dreams. When it's discovered that the gene alteration also serves to give the sleepless an anti-aging boost, resentment spills over among the "sleepers." The author was eerily prescient in her prediction of a divided country. Though it is for different reasons in her book, this line about the mistrust surrounding science, and the educated seems to sum up the current political situation:
. . . does it come from something more pernicious, rooted in our tradition of shoot-from-the-hip American action: hatred of the logical, the calm, the considered? Hatred in fact of the superior mind?
The book seemed overly long, though in truth, I can't name anything that should have been cut. I just sort of ran out of interest near the halfway point when all the other worthy titles in my massive stack started whispering my name. Even so, though my enjoyment of this book hovered around the three star level, I think I'll rate it four twinklies, due to the fascinating concept, and the tough questions it raised, questions that will linger in my head for a long time.
Just imagine all the things you could do if you didn't have to spend one third of your life unconscious . . .
I'd probably spend the time reading MORE BOOKS, but the characters in this novel use their extra hours a bit more productively, studying science, and the law, and excelling beyond anyone's wildest dreams. When it's discovered that the gene alteration also serves to give the sleepless an anti-aging boost, resentment spills over among the "sleepers." The author was eerily prescient in her prediction of a divided country. Though it is for different reasons in her book, this line about the mistrust surrounding science, and the educated seems to sum up the current political situation:
. . . does it come from something more pernicious, rooted in our tradition of shoot-from-the-hip American action: hatred of the logical, the calm, the considered? Hatred in fact of the superior mind?
The book seemed overly long, though in truth, I can't name anything that should have been cut. I just sort of ran out of interest near the halfway point when all the other worthy titles in my massive stack started whispering my name. Even so, though my enjoyment of this book hovered around the three star level, I think I'll rate it four twinklies, due to the fascinating concept, and the tough questions it raised, questions that will linger in my head for a long time.
December 30, 2019
Time of death: 75%
I regret that this didn't capture me, and the continued shaming and torture of people with handicaps or abnormalities while simultaneously invoking rape/incest as natural proclivities took me from bored to uncomfortable.
The idea was interesting: what if you didn't have to sleep? How would that change society? I liked the thoughts about how it would impact human tribal instincts (them vs. us), finding people like yourself, the blend of following economics in the macro and empathy in the micro...and then it really went off the rails with blow by blow hyper-sensationalized courtroom dramas, worldwide upheaval, and a seeming belief that with one-third more time on their hands, humans would become super genius monsters.
I couldn't connect the dots, and I'm bored, disturbed, and no longer wish to continue the thought experiment. Time to put this one *whips off sunglasses* to bed.
Content warnings:
I regret that this didn't capture me, and the continued shaming and torture of people with handicaps or abnormalities while simultaneously invoking rape/incest as natural proclivities took me from bored to uncomfortable.
The idea was interesting: what if you didn't have to sleep? How would that change society? I liked the thoughts about how it would impact human tribal instincts (them vs. us), finding people like yourself, the blend of following economics in the macro and empathy in the micro...and then it really went off the rails with blow by blow hyper-sensationalized courtroom dramas, worldwide upheaval, and a seeming belief that with one-third more time on their hands, humans would become super genius monsters.
I couldn't connect the dots, and I'm bored, disturbed, and no longer wish to continue the thought experiment. Time to put this one *whips off sunglasses* to bed.
Content warnings:
August 26, 2022
5.5 Stars for Beggars in Spain: Sleepless, Book 1 (audiobook) by Nancy Kress read by Cassandra Campbell.
I just love this book. This is a reread for me and this time I noticed that it’s the first book in a series. I’m so excited. I’ve got two more books to read.
I just love this book. This is a reread for me and this time I noticed that it’s the first book in a series. I’m so excited. I’ve got two more books to read.
March 25, 2009
I was reminded of this novel because I read an article on a woman who can't forget anything. This book is about people who don't have to sleep. Fascinating.
September 15, 2024
The initial premise of Beggars in Spain rocked; I can see why the novella made a big splash in the early 90s (Kress later developed the novella into this book). Unfortunately, I thought Kress dragged this out a bit too much, while also inserting too much melodrama for my taste. Still, an engaging read and one worth checking out if you are into gene modification and humanity.
Our protagonist, Leisha, became one of the original 'sleepless' back in 2008. Scientists discovered that sleep, originally an evolutionary strategy in mammals, has no necessity for people, and further, may even be the source of a variety of problems (mental imbalances, etc.). The scientists found a way to tweak the genome at the embryonic stage with the 'sleepless' as the end product. Genemods seemed to be the rage at the start of the novel, with beauty, stamina, etc., all being possible to tweak. Yet, the sleepless were different from the rest-- those 8 hours lost each day to 'normals' gave them quite an advantage in just about everything. In just one generation, the sleepless became leading doctors, financiers, lawyers in the United States, but just as rapidly came the social backlash.
The sleepless never numbered more than several thousand; once the backlash began, parents stopped desiring sleepless kids. Yet, as an unintended by-product, the sleepless also age very slowly; Leisha by the end of the novel comes close to 100 years old, but still looks like she is in her 30s. Pretty easy to see why many of the sleepless soon saw themselves as superior over 'normals' while many in society saw them as mutants. The very success of the sleepless induced resentment from those unable to compete.
Besides considering the social dynamics here, Kress also explores some Ayn Randian economics, which become the basic philosophy of many of the sleepless. Mutually beneficial contracts becomes the new mantra, along with the 'free market'. Sleepless firms began to outcompete 'normals' and pretty soon accounted for a substantial percentage of the nation's GDP.
Beggars in Spain consists of 4 parts, each a 'snapshot' of an era. This starts in 2008, then moves to 2051, then a few decades later, and finally, close to 2100. Kress advances the story via several character's POVs. Besides Leisha, who soon became an 'out' of the sleepless, we have Jennifer, also one of the first sleepless. Jennifer lead the group of sleepless who constructed an orbital, Sanctuary, where most of the sleepless moved to. By midway of the text, the US economy, largely due to some new 'free' energy source, became so productive that many if not most people did not need to labor in jobs. Fairly quickly, most US citizens were 'livers' who lived off the Dole and just amused themselves.
I enjoyed the thought experiment here, but this really dragged in parts, especially in the middle, where the sleepless/sleeper political discussion went on an on. The title refers to a thought experiment early in the text-- if you encounter beggars in Spain, what should you do? Give them a hand out? What if their are hundreds? Who deserves help and who is just lazy? Old, old discussion here (think back to England's Poor Laws!). Some great stuff here, but this could have been so much better! 3 sleepless stars!!
Our protagonist, Leisha, became one of the original 'sleepless' back in 2008. Scientists discovered that sleep, originally an evolutionary strategy in mammals, has no necessity for people, and further, may even be the source of a variety of problems (mental imbalances, etc.). The scientists found a way to tweak the genome at the embryonic stage with the 'sleepless' as the end product. Genemods seemed to be the rage at the start of the novel, with beauty, stamina, etc., all being possible to tweak. Yet, the sleepless were different from the rest-- those 8 hours lost each day to 'normals' gave them quite an advantage in just about everything. In just one generation, the sleepless became leading doctors, financiers, lawyers in the United States, but just as rapidly came the social backlash.
The sleepless never numbered more than several thousand; once the backlash began, parents stopped desiring sleepless kids. Yet, as an unintended by-product, the sleepless also age very slowly; Leisha by the end of the novel comes close to 100 years old, but still looks like she is in her 30s. Pretty easy to see why many of the sleepless soon saw themselves as superior over 'normals' while many in society saw them as mutants. The very success of the sleepless induced resentment from those unable to compete.
Besides considering the social dynamics here, Kress also explores some Ayn Randian economics, which become the basic philosophy of many of the sleepless. Mutually beneficial contracts becomes the new mantra, along with the 'free market'. Sleepless firms began to outcompete 'normals' and pretty soon accounted for a substantial percentage of the nation's GDP.
Beggars in Spain consists of 4 parts, each a 'snapshot' of an era. This starts in 2008, then moves to 2051, then a few decades later, and finally, close to 2100. Kress advances the story via several character's POVs. Besides Leisha, who soon became an 'out' of the sleepless, we have Jennifer, also one of the first sleepless. Jennifer lead the group of sleepless who constructed an orbital, Sanctuary, where most of the sleepless moved to. By midway of the text, the US economy, largely due to some new 'free' energy source, became so productive that many if not most people did not need to labor in jobs. Fairly quickly, most US citizens were 'livers' who lived off the Dole and just amused themselves.
I enjoyed the thought experiment here, but this really dragged in parts, especially in the middle, where the sleepless/sleeper political discussion went on an on. The title refers to a thought experiment early in the text-- if you encounter beggars in Spain, what should you do? Give them a hand out? What if their are hundreds? Who deserves help and who is just lazy? Old, old discussion here (think back to England's Poor Laws!). Some great stuff here, but this could have been so much better! 3 sleepless stars!!
March 3, 2008
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.
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.
November 19, 2014
I liked the book very much, however I struggle with trying to determine it's impact. It seems to be between the crests of good and fantastic and couldn't quite make the leap across. This book is bursting with interesting ideas and themes that carry it through a good, but flawed presentation. This is a near future SF book and this future was not so far fetched as to be inconceivable.
Shades of Ayn Rand in this book are so prevalent that it was hard to not see many of the Fountainhead character hybrids in this novel. Jennifer Sharifi was Ellsworth Tooey. Sharifi was appreciative of superiority as long as she could control it. She led the "sleepless" like they were in fact mediocre that had to be controlled through manipulation. Leisha Camden was Howard Roarke, less violent but none-the-less steadfastly held to her principles regardless of the personal cost because being right was far more important than being accepted. The characters had a clash of ideas and in the end the protagonist prevails because of her uncompromising belief in herself.
Also in evidence is the preaching of ideas. This had more to do with poorly drawn characters who are critical to the story. In particular, Jennifer Sharifi or any character whose views were opposed to Leisha Camden, were under-characterized. We never saw the struggle the Jennifer Sharifi endured that caused her to come to her views (other than the murder of Tony). In the last 50 pages we get a paragraph about some implied struggles but no real description of her upbringing. We are simply told what she is thinking. In contrast Alice, a minor character with a major role in the development of Leisha, is well drawn. We aren't told what she is thinking, we given enough information to understand her frame of reference.
Two interesting observations about this novel: First is the characterization of the antagonist (what little there was). In the post 9/11 world, it is interesting to note that even back in the early 90's (when this book was written), there was a fear of the Muslim way of life. There is only one character that is so rigid in her thinking that she could not entertain any ideas other than her own, and was so convinced of her own righteousness. This dogmatic approach seemed tied directly to her faith. There is an implied evilness to it. Proof that the western view of Muslims was evident long before September 11th. Secondly, in this current economy, it is interesting that the corporate types were also inherently evil. Kevin Baker would do anything to keep the profits rolling including signing an oath he did not believe in. He was considered a good guy compared to the Calvin Hawke of the We Sleep movement who murdered for his cause. Once again we see themes of our current events, were observed up to 10 years earlier. It does make one wonder if things ever really change.
There is a lot more to say about this book but the review is already long enough. It definitely introduced many fine ideas that stuck with me long after I read the last page.
Shades of Ayn Rand in this book are so prevalent that it was hard to not see many of the Fountainhead character hybrids in this novel. Jennifer Sharifi was Ellsworth Tooey. Sharifi was appreciative of superiority as long as she could control it. She led the "sleepless" like they were in fact mediocre that had to be controlled through manipulation. Leisha Camden was Howard Roarke, less violent but none-the-less steadfastly held to her principles regardless of the personal cost because being right was far more important than being accepted. The characters had a clash of ideas and in the end the protagonist prevails because of her uncompromising belief in herself.
Also in evidence is the preaching of ideas. This had more to do with poorly drawn characters who are critical to the story. In particular, Jennifer Sharifi or any character whose views were opposed to Leisha Camden, were under-characterized. We never saw the struggle the Jennifer Sharifi endured that caused her to come to her views (other than the murder of Tony). In the last 50 pages we get a paragraph about some implied struggles but no real description of her upbringing. We are simply told what she is thinking. In contrast Alice, a minor character with a major role in the development of Leisha, is well drawn. We aren't told what she is thinking, we given enough information to understand her frame of reference.
Two interesting observations about this novel: First is the characterization of the antagonist (what little there was). In the post 9/11 world, it is interesting to note that even back in the early 90's (when this book was written), there was a fear of the Muslim way of life. There is only one character that is so rigid in her thinking that she could not entertain any ideas other than her own, and was so convinced of her own righteousness. This dogmatic approach seemed tied directly to her faith. There is an implied evilness to it. Proof that the western view of Muslims was evident long before September 11th. Secondly, in this current economy, it is interesting that the corporate types were also inherently evil. Kevin Baker would do anything to keep the profits rolling including signing an oath he did not believe in. He was considered a good guy compared to the Calvin Hawke of the We Sleep movement who murdered for his cause. Once again we see themes of our current events, were observed up to 10 years earlier. It does make one wonder if things ever really change.
There is a lot more to say about this book but the review is already long enough. It definitely introduced many fine ideas that stuck with me long after I read the last page.
January 10, 2021
Sci-fi thrives on its ability to ask big questions and provide tentative, curious answers. What would be the consequences of faster-than-light travel? What conflicts and challenges would arise in a post-scarcity society? What makes a spaceship look cool? Beggars in Spain decides it wants to spend its time asking questions like "What if a small percentage of the population used gene modification to forego sleep, and turned into an insufferable variety of flavors of Randian libertarians?" "What is the moral outcome of killing the disabled?" "Is it acceptable to threaten mass biological terrorism to avoid paying your taxes?" It's a deeply unpleasant and often morally repugnant book.
Nancy Kress offers up an interesting enough premise: in the near future, genetic modification becomes good enough that it's possible for a small (wealthy) subset of the population to do without sleep. These people are also happier, far more intelligent, and (it's soon revealed) near-immortal. This could have been an interesting idea to explore, but instead we're left with a plot that's a mixture of banal and unconvincing. The Sleepless, as they're called, are both the economic and intellectual elite of the US as well as a persecuted minority, with most of them eventually moving to an orbital in space to be rich and immortal in peace. It's a bit baffling to me that the story isn't about the economic divide of those who can afford this procedure and those who can't, with Kress instead just insisting that after a few years no one wanted to become immortal depression-free geniuses because the first generation was bullied in school.
ANYWAY. The story essentially becomes a tale about how to, as a Randian ubermensch dedicated realizing the potential of your individuality, deal with all those disgusting poors and weaks around you (the titular Beggars in Spain). Our villain, the only Muslim to appear in the story, removes herself from their presence as much as possible, furious she cannot dominate Congress on the grace of her superior intellect and creating a solemn Remembrance Day, where everyone dresses in black to commemorate the colossal tragedy of taxation. Our hero creates a philanthropic society that wants to pull them up by their bootstraps. The climax of the book is the stunning realization that the disabled and the poor might not be useless forever, if they are graced by the presence of upper class philanthropy.
I don't know why I finished this book. Nancy Kress is a nice enough writer on the level of prose but I was angry and annoyed the whole way through. Not recommended except for the most devout acolytes of Ayn Rand.
Nancy Kress offers up an interesting enough premise: in the near future, genetic modification becomes good enough that it's possible for a small (wealthy) subset of the population to do without sleep. These people are also happier, far more intelligent, and (it's soon revealed) near-immortal. This could have been an interesting idea to explore, but instead we're left with a plot that's a mixture of banal and unconvincing. The Sleepless, as they're called, are both the economic and intellectual elite of the US as well as a persecuted minority, with most of them eventually moving to an orbital in space to be rich and immortal in peace. It's a bit baffling to me that the story isn't about the economic divide of those who can afford this procedure and those who can't, with Kress instead just insisting that after a few years no one wanted to become immortal depression-free geniuses because the first generation was bullied in school.
ANYWAY. The story essentially becomes a tale about how to, as a Randian ubermensch dedicated realizing the potential of your individuality, deal with all those disgusting poors and weaks around you (the titular Beggars in Spain). Our villain, the only Muslim to appear in the story, removes herself from their presence as much as possible, furious she cannot dominate Congress on the grace of her superior intellect and creating a solemn Remembrance Day, where everyone dresses in black to commemorate the colossal tragedy of taxation. Our hero creates a philanthropic society that wants to pull them up by their bootstraps. The climax of the book is the stunning realization that the disabled and the poor might not be useless forever, if they are graced by the presence of upper class philanthropy.
I don't know why I finished this book. Nancy Kress is a nice enough writer on the level of prose but I was angry and annoyed the whole way through. Not recommended except for the most devout acolytes of Ayn Rand.
August 20, 2016
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.
ETA: This book was discussed on Episode 062 of the Reading Envy Podcast.
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.
ETA: This book was discussed on Episode 062 of the Reading Envy Podcast.
July 28, 2022
3.5 stars
This was an interesting science fiction novel that explored the discrimination and fear that would likely occur in the case of DNA manipulation. I found the concept interesting but felt that the story was a bit too long.
This was an interesting science fiction novel that explored the discrimination and fear that would likely occur in the case of DNA manipulation. I found the concept interesting but felt that the story was a bit too long.
September 11, 2018
I read this original short story version of this title in July of this year. I was sufficiently impressed that I ordered the novelized version through interlibrary loan and I’m glad that I read both versions. Ms. Kress really managed to flesh out the ideas better when she had a bit more elbow room.
Now, I love to sleep. It is one of the basic human pleasures and when I have occasional bouts of wakefulness during the night I am pretty cranky the next day. I have never, ever wished to do without sleep (although sometimes, during particularly exciting periods of my life, I’ve declared that I’ll sleep when I’m dead). I once had a coworker who just hated the idea of sleep—like Roger Camden, father of our main character Leisha in this novel, she thought sleep was a complete waste of time. Each night, she would try to shave off minutes of sleep, working her way towards eliminating it. And she completely failed because sleep is really, really important to our health. (See Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams for an excellent discussion of these ideas). It really is the basis for avoiding illness and being able to reason and make sensible decisions.
The one thing that bothered me about the assumptions in this work was the conflation of not needing sleep with increased intelligence. It was my understanding that parents in the book could choose either/or for their genetically modified offspring. Just because a child was one of the Sleepless didn’t necessarily mean that they would be super smart or would have driving ambition. I guess those options were almost always chosen together? And much longer life was an accidental genetic change, much more likely to cause envy, in my opinion.
One other assumption annoyed me—why would being extremely smart curtail a person’s compassion? This whole idea that the rest of humanity consisted of beggars, not only not pulling their own weight, but relying on others for their support. Leisha, although she appears to be emotionally stunted, maintains that everyone has their place in the economic ecosystem, as people actually do in our world. I am left to suppose that the genes for sleep (or lack of the need for it) and/or intelligence would somehow also affect the genes for feeling emotion, not a proposition that I accept.
Despite these misgivings, I found the book to be an interesting exploration of intolerance, including taking it to the extremes to see what could happen. There is, of course, the old warning against messing around with genetics without fully realizing the consequences and then our new demographic group goes on to repeat the pattern. That particular ‘message’ is becoming a bit boring, honestly, but I still enjoy a book in which it is approached with a new twist, such as this one.
Book number 294 in my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.
Now, I love to sleep. It is one of the basic human pleasures and when I have occasional bouts of wakefulness during the night I am pretty cranky the next day. I have never, ever wished to do without sleep (although sometimes, during particularly exciting periods of my life, I’ve declared that I’ll sleep when I’m dead). I once had a coworker who just hated the idea of sleep—like Roger Camden, father of our main character Leisha in this novel, she thought sleep was a complete waste of time. Each night, she would try to shave off minutes of sleep, working her way towards eliminating it. And she completely failed because sleep is really, really important to our health. (See Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams for an excellent discussion of these ideas). It really is the basis for avoiding illness and being able to reason and make sensible decisions.
The one thing that bothered me about the assumptions in this work was the conflation of not needing sleep with increased intelligence. It was my understanding that parents in the book could choose either/or for their genetically modified offspring. Just because a child was one of the Sleepless didn’t necessarily mean that they would be super smart or would have driving ambition. I guess those options were almost always chosen together? And much longer life was an accidental genetic change, much more likely to cause envy, in my opinion.
One other assumption annoyed me—why would being extremely smart curtail a person’s compassion? This whole idea that the rest of humanity consisted of beggars, not only not pulling their own weight, but relying on others for their support. Leisha, although she appears to be emotionally stunted, maintains that everyone has their place in the economic ecosystem, as people actually do in our world. I am left to suppose that the genes for sleep (or lack of the need for it) and/or intelligence would somehow also affect the genes for feeling emotion, not a proposition that I accept.
Despite these misgivings, I found the book to be an interesting exploration of intolerance, including taking it to the extremes to see what could happen. There is, of course, the old warning against messing around with genetics without fully realizing the consequences and then our new demographic group goes on to repeat the pattern. That particular ‘message’ is becoming a bit boring, honestly, but I still enjoy a book in which it is approached with a new twist, such as this one.
Book number 294 in my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.
May 7, 2026
Beggars in Spain is my favorite of the Nancy Kress novels that I've read. It launches from a universal whim that everyone's pondered (I could get so much more done if I didn't have to sleep!) and examines what kind of world would result and the consequences it would have if such genetic modification were available. It's a long and complex book, but it's a very thought-provoking and worthwhile one, too. The characters are quite convincing, but not necessarily all likeable, and the scientific extrapolation is equally engaging. The first section was published as a novella in 1991 in chapbook format from Pulphouse and then in Asimov's magazine and it won almost all of the major awards for best of the year. The novel is a continuation of that as a first section, with sequences set several years apart as the story develops. Note: Don't start it unless you're well-rested, it'll keep you up.
May 6, 2011
I love how the author reveals in the preface that her motivation for writing this story and its characters was her envy of those who need less sleep than she does. Envy is a familiar feeling to me so I could identify with her and, in some respects, with some of the characters in this book.
This book has a fascinating premise, compellingly interesting characters, a riveting epic storyline, and (for the most part) creative future world building.
But, while they’re given adequate motivations, I still felt that too many characters were “too good” or “too bad” re their goals and behaviors and personalities. Some are a bit too much like caricatures. I did fall in love with a few characters and a few really scared me, and I like that the book had me caring as much as I did.
One of my favorite episodes appears on page 41: of course that’s how they’d rebel! I was highly amused.
I read this for a Goodreads’ online book club and I think there is a lot to discuss: about power, community, who belongs, who is us and who is them, about change (individual and societal) and re change and the lack of true stability or stagnation, and the whole letting the genie out of the bottle issue. A lot of the philosophies of the characters were certainly reminiscent of what’s going on in today’s society and people’s philosophical differences. What does society owe to its members? What type of society does one want in terms of interrelatedness, about genetic research for improvement re gender and appearance, and re screening for disease, and to what extent.
I know it’s a trilogy and for me this first book had a fairly satisfying ending, but Iwould have rather had an even better ending. I loved it but I’m not feeling compelled to rush out and read the next 2 books, but that is not atypical for me; I often thoroughly enjoy a book but then don’t continue on with its sequels/the rest of the series books.
I appreciated that reading this was thought provoking and I ended up being more sure of my beliefs and no less aware of my own feelings of envy under certain circumstances. As all good speculative fiction does, this says a lot about us, the way we are now, and there is a lot worthy of discussion between readers and introspective thinking.
This book has a fascinating premise, compellingly interesting characters, a riveting epic storyline, and (for the most part) creative future world building.
But, while they’re given adequate motivations, I still felt that too many characters were “too good” or “too bad” re their goals and behaviors and personalities. Some are a bit too much like caricatures. I did fall in love with a few characters and a few really scared me, and I like that the book had me caring as much as I did.
One of my favorite episodes appears on page 41: of course that’s how they’d rebel! I was highly amused.
I read this for a Goodreads’ online book club and I think there is a lot to discuss: about power, community, who belongs, who is us and who is them, about change (individual and societal) and re change and the lack of true stability or stagnation, and the whole letting the genie out of the bottle issue. A lot of the philosophies of the characters were certainly reminiscent of what’s going on in today’s society and people’s philosophical differences. What does society owe to its members? What type of society does one want in terms of interrelatedness, about genetic research for improvement re gender and appearance, and re screening for disease, and to what extent.
I know it’s a trilogy and for me this first book had a fairly satisfying ending, but Iwould have rather had an even better ending. I loved it but I’m not feeling compelled to rush out and read the next 2 books, but that is not atypical for me; I often thoroughly enjoy a book but then don’t continue on with its sequels/the rest of the series books.
I appreciated that reading this was thought provoking and I ended up being more sure of my beliefs and no less aware of my own feelings of envy under certain circumstances. As all good speculative fiction does, this says a lot about us, the way we are now, and there is a lot worthy of discussion between readers and introspective thinking.
June 28, 2021
In the brief introduction to this expansion of her novella of the same name, Kress says that she didn't believe Ayn Rand's philosophy as espoused in her fiction but equally didn't believe that Le Guin's Communist society in The Dispossessed was in fact possible, either. This novel is the result of Kress's attempt to figure out what she did believe.
The original novella was great but ended abruptly and there was clearly more to say and do with these characters, so I wanted to read this version ever since I discovered it existed. It was worth it - a compelling read that greatly extends and expands the story and its themes. Kress's twin counter-arguments to extreme Libertarianism and Communism are made clear. Along the way there's an interesting story that could be described as what The X-Men would be if the mutations were deliberate and the super-powers were not needing to sleep and exceptionally high intelligence.
The original novella was great but ended abruptly and there was clearly more to say and do with these characters, so I wanted to read this version ever since I discovered it existed. It was worth it - a compelling read that greatly extends and expands the story and its themes. Kress's twin counter-arguments to extreme Libertarianism and Communism are made clear. Along the way there's an interesting story that could be described as what The X-Men would be if the mutations were deliberate and the super-powers were not needing to sleep and exceptionally high intelligence.
March 28, 2024
This is a SF novel with philosophical elements. I read it as a Buddy Read for March 2024 at Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels group. The book was nominated for Hugo and Nebula for best novel in 1994. It is a strong book, but others, including the winner – Green Mars and Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (Hugo and Nebula respectively) were also very good. In 1992 the novella with the same title (and containing a version of the first part of the novel) won Hugo for best novella.
The story starts with a rich man Roger Camden (with his wife Elizabeth present but not very interested) requesting a geneticist to ‘upgrade’ DNA of his future daughter, including a trait formally not provided for clients– sleeplessness. The start is quite old SF like, with Heinleinian style. There are some discussions regarding why people sleep (quite in line with science of the day) and interesting solutions. The couple gets what he asked for and more: a fluke of nature, two fetuses formed, only one genetically modified. Thus two girls are born, Alice (‘normal’) and Leisha (‘sleepless’). Each parent has their favorite (with quite detached or even aggressive attitude to the sibling). Roger among other things is a supporter of "Yagaiism", a moral worldview in which dignity is solely the product of what a person can achieve through their own efforts, and the contract is the basis of society. I guess a lot of readers see Libertarian views there, but I think it is also linked to Ronald Coase’s (Nobel laureate in economics) about contracts. The Yagaiism is developed by Japanese scientist Kenzo Yagai who also invented commercial cold fusion, named "Y-energy" which he patented and licensed in the United States because “here there were at least the dying embers of individual enterprise” and allowed free usage of the patents ‘gifting’ abundant free energy to the world.
Leisha is not unique, when she is a teen there are over a thousand kids like her, mostly upper middle class. And because the sleepless can learn more and do more, they have an advantage over the ‘sleepers’ and this causes envy and hatred, one of the main conflicts in the book. Especially after scientists discovered that the sleepless have another extremely important advantage.
There is a lot of homage to Robert A. Heinlein, to Dune, to Slan, with a dash of cyberpunk hackers. This is the best SF book I’ve read so far in 2024, chiefly because while it acknowledges that even marginalized people are (as all people) different, everywhere there are both saints and monsters and all shades in between, and an individual is no less important than a group be it class/gender/race. A lot of recent SFF have marginalized victims standing strong against oppressors (which is fine) and there are predefined right and wrong sides (which reminds me of the Soviet SF where there are predefined right and wrong ones as well, and this causes a knee-jerk reaction)
“Now what about the beggars in Spain?”
“The what?”
“You walk down a street in a poor country like Spain and you see a beggar. Do you give him a dollar?”
“Probably.”
“Why? He’s trading nothing with you. He has nothing to trade.”
“I know. Out of kindness. Compassion.”
“You see six beggars. Do you give them all a dollar?”
“Probably,” Leisha said.
“You would. You see a hundred beggars and you haven’t got Leisha Camden’s money. Do you give them each a dollar?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Leisha reached for patience. Few people could make her want to cut off a comlink; Tony was one of them. “Too draining on my own resources. My life has first claim on the resources I earn.”
The story starts with a rich man Roger Camden (with his wife Elizabeth present but not very interested) requesting a geneticist to ‘upgrade’ DNA of his future daughter, including a trait formally not provided for clients– sleeplessness. The start is quite old SF like, with Heinleinian style. There are some discussions regarding why people sleep (quite in line with science of the day) and interesting solutions. The couple gets what he asked for and more: a fluke of nature, two fetuses formed, only one genetically modified. Thus two girls are born, Alice (‘normal’) and Leisha (‘sleepless’). Each parent has their favorite (with quite detached or even aggressive attitude to the sibling). Roger among other things is a supporter of "Yagaiism", a moral worldview in which dignity is solely the product of what a person can achieve through their own efforts, and the contract is the basis of society. I guess a lot of readers see Libertarian views there, but I think it is also linked to Ronald Coase’s (Nobel laureate in economics) about contracts. The Yagaiism is developed by Japanese scientist Kenzo Yagai who also invented commercial cold fusion, named "Y-energy" which he patented and licensed in the United States because “here there were at least the dying embers of individual enterprise” and allowed free usage of the patents ‘gifting’ abundant free energy to the world.
Leisha is not unique, when she is a teen there are over a thousand kids like her, mostly upper middle class. And because the sleepless can learn more and do more, they have an advantage over the ‘sleepers’ and this causes envy and hatred, one of the main conflicts in the book. Especially after scientists discovered that the sleepless have another extremely important advantage.
There is a lot of homage to Robert A. Heinlein, to Dune, to Slan, with a dash of cyberpunk hackers. This is the best SF book I’ve read so far in 2024, chiefly because while it acknowledges that even marginalized people are (as all people) different, everywhere there are both saints and monsters and all shades in between, and an individual is no less important than a group be it class/gender/race. A lot of recent SFF have marginalized victims standing strong against oppressors (which is fine) and there are predefined right and wrong sides (which reminds me of the Soviet SF where there are predefined right and wrong ones as well, and this causes a knee-jerk reaction)
“Now what about the beggars in Spain?”
“The what?”
“You walk down a street in a poor country like Spain and you see a beggar. Do you give him a dollar?”
“Probably.”
“Why? He’s trading nothing with you. He has nothing to trade.”
“I know. Out of kindness. Compassion.”
“You see six beggars. Do you give them all a dollar?”
“Probably,” Leisha said.
“You would. You see a hundred beggars and you haven’t got Leisha Camden’s money. Do you give them each a dollar?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Leisha reached for patience. Few people could make her want to cut off a comlink; Tony was one of them. “Too draining on my own resources. My life has first claim on the resources I earn.”
October 13, 2009
In a near-future world, where genetic engineering of embryos is as possible as choosing the color and features of your new Prius, scientists create people who lack the need (or ability) to sleep - for the right price. The knock-on effect is that these Sleepless are smarter, more emotionally stable, and more rational than us Sleepers.
Around the same time, a brilliant scientist creates a new power source, eliminating the need for fossil fuels or distributed power grids - a cold fusion fuel cell for every home and vehicle! America enters a long era of economic prosperity. However, the Sleepers and Sleepless have problems coexisting peacefully, both socially, economically, and philosophically.
Although it has genetic manipulation and technological advancement at its heart, Beggars in Spain is not just a fun cyber- or bio-punk story. It's more a study of social and philosophical consequences of creating a small group of superior humans. When the Sleepless are shunned and hated even as children, their reactions will set up a chain of events that spans generations.
The story is at its most interesting when Leisha, an original Sleepless child, interacts her twin sister Alice, a Sleeper. Theirs is a complicated sisterhood, full of misunderstanding, regret, jealousy, love, and more. The novel generally lacks a lot of characterization, however Leisha, Alice, and at the end, Miri, are the most fleshed out, dynamic characters and make the story sing.
As enjoyable as I found the epic story, I would warn that if pushing a philosophical agenda turns you off, you might well hate this book. Yagaiism, Kress's version of Rand's Objectivism could be considered to have the starring role, and she pushes the philosophy endlessly. Despite this, there are so many fun concepts and situations to think about long after you put the book down. Seriously, how much fun is that?!
Around the same time, a brilliant scientist creates a new power source, eliminating the need for fossil fuels or distributed power grids - a cold fusion fuel cell for every home and vehicle! America enters a long era of economic prosperity. However, the Sleepers and Sleepless have problems coexisting peacefully, both socially, economically, and philosophically.
Although it has genetic manipulation and technological advancement at its heart, Beggars in Spain is not just a fun cyber- or bio-punk story. It's more a study of social and philosophical consequences of creating a small group of superior humans. When the Sleepless are shunned and hated even as children, their reactions will set up a chain of events that spans generations.
The story is at its most interesting when Leisha, an original Sleepless child, interacts her twin sister Alice, a Sleeper. Theirs is a complicated sisterhood, full of misunderstanding, regret, jealousy, love, and more. The novel generally lacks a lot of characterization, however Leisha, Alice, and at the end, Miri, are the most fleshed out, dynamic characters and make the story sing.
As enjoyable as I found the epic story, I would warn that if pushing a philosophical agenda turns you off, you might well hate this book. Yagaiism, Kress's version of Rand's Objectivism could be considered to have the starring role, and she pushes the philosophy endlessly. Despite this, there are so many fun concepts and situations to think about long after you put the book down. Seriously, how much fun is that?!
October 18, 2009
4.5 stars. Excellent novel about the economic, social and political changes arising out of a group of people born without the need to sleep (and as a result blessed with other abilities that set them apart from the more populous "sleepers").
Nominee: Hugo Award best Novel (the novella upon which this is best actually won the Hugo)
Nominee: Nebula Award best Novel (the novella upon which this is best actually won the Nebula)
Nominee: Campbell Award for best Novel
Nominee: Prometheus Award best Novel
Nominee: Locus Award Best SF Novel.
Nominee: Hugo Award best Novel (the novella upon which this is best actually won the Hugo)
Nominee: Nebula Award best Novel (the novella upon which this is best actually won the Nebula)
Nominee: Campbell Award for best Novel
Nominee: Prometheus Award best Novel
Nominee: Locus Award Best SF Novel.
January 30, 2017
Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress uses speculative fiction to explore two fundamental questions – What happens if you genetically engineer a group of people so that they are radically different from the rest of the humans – in this case by eliminating the need to sleep in a group of children (potentially accompanied by other intelligence enhancing modifications)? What do the strong/wealthy/more intelligent owe to those they deem lesser/non-productive?
I don’t remember if I read the Hugo and Nebula winning novella that forms the first section of the book, but I did read Beggars in Spain in print when it was new. Somehow I missed that Ms. Kress had written two sequels. So I picked up the audiobook of Beggars in Spain 23 years after the original publication of the full length novel. Some books hold up to time and to re-reading and others quickly become dated. Beggars in Spain belongs in the first category.
I don’t remember if I read the Hugo and Nebula winning novella that forms the first section of the book, but I did read Beggars in Spain in print when it was new. Somehow I missed that Ms. Kress had written two sequels. So I picked up the audiobook of Beggars in Spain 23 years after the original publication of the full length novel. Some books hold up to time and to re-reading and others quickly become dated. Beggars in Spain belongs in the first category.
January 19, 2013
Beggars in Spain is exactly the kind of science fiction I love. It's about people and society and the impact of scientific breakthroughs. It explores the big questions of humanity, justice and prejudice. It did run a bit longer than it should have, but the ending was satisfying. The best thing about this novel is that it's a stand-alone. That's becoming so rare in SF&F that it's very refreshing.
January 8, 2025
My first sci-fi of the year and my first 5 star, Beggars in Spain is an absolute gem of a book. I've had this on my TBR for at least 10 years since it was highly recommend by a friend and I can't believe it took me this long to get around to it. For me, this is what sci-fi is about: Taking a great idea, in this case, gene modification, and see how it makes and breaks us humans.
Nancy Kress definitely has her finger on the pulse of modern society. The conflicts and divisions that arose between people over the events in the book have a lot of parallels to current global political situations, even today, 30+ years after this was written. She even kind of predicted media platforms like Tik Tok (in the 2090s, people primarily consume their media in two minute videos, due to their shorter attention spans. She apparently thought too highly of us, because that attention span is down to 60 seconds in the 2020s.)
I found all of her characters and their motivations to be highly realistic and just great characters to boot. I will be thinking about Leisha, Alice, Drew, Mira and Jennifer for a long time. Leisha and her sister Alice's story was both heartbreaking and heartwarming, which I knew it would be since the vert first pages when you find out one twin will have the Sleepless gene and the other will not. And Jennifer, as much as I loved to hate her, could never quite sink to the level of evil for me, because I could always understand her line of reasoning, even if I didn't agree with it.
My only criticism, which I quickly forgot about as the book progressed, was that you can clearly see the point where the initial novella ended before it later got fixed into a full novel. Because of the generational span of the book and the time jumps, it definitely had that fix-up novel feeling and that ALMOST kept me from calling this a 5-star, but not quite. That occasional disjointedness didn't prevent me from absolutely loving this.
Time to find out how much I love the rest of her work.
5/5
Nancy Kress definitely has her finger on the pulse of modern society. The conflicts and divisions that arose between people over the events in the book have a lot of parallels to current global political situations, even today, 30+ years after this was written. She even kind of predicted media platforms like Tik Tok (in the 2090s, people primarily consume their media in two minute videos, due to their shorter attention spans. She apparently thought too highly of us, because that attention span is down to 60 seconds in the 2020s.)
I found all of her characters and their motivations to be highly realistic and just great characters to boot. I will be thinking about Leisha, Alice, Drew, Mira and Jennifer for a long time. Leisha and her sister Alice's story was both heartbreaking and heartwarming, which I knew it would be since the vert first pages when you find out one twin will have the Sleepless gene and the other will not. And Jennifer, as much as I loved to hate her, could never quite sink to the level of evil for me, because I could always understand her line of reasoning, even if I didn't agree with it.
My only criticism, which I quickly forgot about as the book progressed, was that you can clearly see the point where the initial novella ended before it later got fixed into a full novel. Because of the generational span of the book and the time jumps, it definitely had that fix-up novel feeling and that ALMOST kept me from calling this a 5-star, but not quite. That occasional disjointedness didn't prevent me from absolutely loving this.
Time to find out how much I love the rest of her work.
5/5
March 21, 2020
A fascinating book that's both gripping and off-putting (so many of its characters and themes are awfully ablist, and while part of that is explicitly critiqued, it is horrible to read about and through nonetheless, and to me, not sufficiently dealt with). It's very interesting for its analysis of how ethics of care may develop regardless of explicitly Randian society as a background. Still, I think the book has also aged badly in many ways: by not foreseeing animal rights, by assuming wealth and work go together and never truly interrogating the coherence of the objectivist ethics many characters spout (arguing with them as if they were good faith and incorrect rather than repugnant, fascist, evil on their face), by not looking outside USA, by having a random old-dude-marries-a-15-year-old (and no one bats an eye) throw away plot, by never fully grappling with the assumptions of its imaginary philosopher, who somehow is supposed to have been the start of a decent morality, but who really, sounds like Rand's cousin.
The reversal of beggars is done well, but the language of it isn't fully explored, either.
I disagree with all the reviewers who think the first bit, the novella, is better as stand alone: without the supers' intervention, this would have been much worse.
If I sound like my objections are ideological: maybe they are, but also it's not that I disagree with the book, it's that I think some of its points come off naive and not fully thought-through. Like: livers don't work, right? Except some seem to.
Much to think and argue about; I'd love to read a properly left-wing critique that is written by someone with an actual background in ethics, economics and the like.
The reversal of beggars is done well, but the language of it isn't fully explored, either.
I disagree with all the reviewers who think the first bit, the novella, is better as stand alone: without the supers' intervention, this would have been much worse.
If I sound like my objections are ideological: maybe they are, but also it's not that I disagree with the book, it's that I think some of its points come off naive and not fully thought-through. Like: livers don't work, right? Except some seem to.
Much to think and argue about; I'd love to read a properly left-wing critique that is written by someone with an actual background in ethics, economics and the like.
September 26, 2013
The premise of this sci-fi novel is that, in 2008, a scientific breakthrough allows for genetic engineering that creates people with no need to sleep. Together with other genetic advantages available to the rich, soon this creates a small but growing group of privileged and brilliant young people - the Sleepless. However, jealous and resentful, "ordinary people" rather than appreciating the super-talented Sleepless, are soon viciously prejudiced against them.
I found the first half of this book to be interesting and refreshing, because, although I didn't find the supposed benefits that Kress pairs with sleeplessness to be medically convincing, it was nice to see (for once) a scientific advance that has the ability to change humanity shown in a positive light, rather than as a Scary Mutation of Terror that makes us Inhuman.
However, the second half of the book spoiled all that, when it posits that a large percentage of the Sleepless, sick of the bigotry aimed at them, secede into a gated compound, and proceed to do more genetic research and create Inhuman Mutations and commit Terrible Acts. By taking the idea further, I felt that the novel, conversely, got more ordinary.
I found the first half of this book to be interesting and refreshing, because, although I didn't find the supposed benefits that Kress pairs with sleeplessness to be medically convincing, it was nice to see (for once) a scientific advance that has the ability to change humanity shown in a positive light, rather than as a Scary Mutation of Terror that makes us Inhuman.
However, the second half of the book spoiled all that, when it posits that a large percentage of the Sleepless, sick of the bigotry aimed at them, secede into a gated compound, and proceed to do more genetic research and create Inhuman Mutations and commit Terrible Acts. By taking the idea further, I felt that the novel, conversely, got more ordinary.
May 16, 2011
A good piece of high concept science fiction, the kind that takes a Big Idea and explores its ramifications thoroughly. I've read some of Kress's short fiction, and one of her how-to books for writers, so it's interesting to watch her follow her own advice in a longer work. I feel like some characters and events got short shrift, but the scenes that did happen "on screen" filled in the blanks adequately. I think the beggars in Spain of the title were handled well in the first part of the book, the original novella, but that the phrase and the analogy became overused in the later sections. I loved the complicated relationship between the sisters Leisha and Alice, and later Miri. There were a couple of other characters that seemed to be plot devices more than people.
September 19, 2018
I am deeply conflicted by this book. While the foreword explained the authors rationale for the story, after an incredibly interesting premise and set up, we were led into a rather dated world filled with racism, sexism and such outdated terms even for technology of today that it made me question the decade it was published in. Sadly, this book decided to not explore the fascinating concepts of no sleep, but instead turned into a harsh and frankly, extremely unsettling comparison of communism vs capitalism. Having said that, the climax was rather brilliant, and I enjoyed the resolution. I am entirely uncertain if I will read the next in the series.
July 2, 2020
2.5 כוכבים
ליישה הונדסה גנטית לפני לידתה להיות ללא צורך בשינה. כהיא גדלה היא לומדת עם שאר חסרי השינה האחרים את ההשלכות החברתיות של התכונה הזו.
חשבתי שקראתי בעבר את הספר ואהבתי אבל הסתבר שלא קראתי. הספר מתנדנד בין רעיונות מעניינים וקטעי סיפור טובים למונולוגים משעממים ואוסף דמויות לא זכירות. הוא נמרח על זמן ארוך עם קפיצות בזמן מדי פעם שעוד יותר הקשו על הבנת העלילה.
אהבתי מאוד את החלק הראשון ומשם הסיפור התדרדר וגם התרגום העילג לעברית לא עזר.
ליישה הונדסה גנטית לפני לידתה להיות ללא צורך בשינה. כהיא גדלה היא לומדת עם שאר חסרי השינה האחרים את ההשלכות החברתיות של התכונה הזו.
חשבתי שקראתי בעבר את הספר ואהבתי אבל הסתבר שלא קראתי. הספר מתנדנד בין רעיונות מעניינים וקטעי סיפור טובים למונולוגים משעממים ואוסף דמויות לא זכירות. הוא נמרח על זמן ארוך עם קפיצות בזמן מדי פעם שעוד יותר הקשו על הבנת העלילה.
אהבתי מאוד את החלק הראשון ומשם הסיפור התדרדר וגם התרגום העילג לעברית לא עזר.
June 19, 2024
This book has flaws, but I like the speculation on human and society evolution. I could not put it down.
June 27, 2023
Big, moving dynasty novel about a future class war. Elitism vs racism, individualism vs collectivism, negative freedom vs positive freedom, UBI and/or dignity. Kress' stated goal is to bring together Rand's ideal and Le Guin's (ambiguous) ideal and see how they spark off each other, their repulsion dance.
The first two books seem simple: a good basic dramatisation of the excellence vs equality problem. But stick with it, dialectic comes. Kress is much better at inhabiting other views than Rand, but not quite as good as Le Guin (who surprised me with how ambivalent, careful and detached her books can be, when her essays are so often blunt and denunciatory). Unlike them, Kress allows her ubermenschen to be irrational, as when the Sleepless fall into stupid binary demonisation of the majority outgroup.
She climbs inside libertarianism, productivism, Objectivism, elitism - half of the protagonists are deeply, unreflectively into these ideologies for half the book. Leisha finds one fatal flaw with them - society is not a linear series of contracts but a chaotic informal web of micro-contracts and unthinking mutual structuration, with a thin layer of formal voluntary contracts on top.
Miranda and the supers find another, which is that fortune can mock anyone regardless of momentary strength or weakness.
The hyper-precocious kids are about as off-putting as those in Ender's Game. I wish she had only given the Sleepless more time than the unmodified - not superintelligence and immortality to boot. This would still be enough to create the tension the plot needs, they'd just grow with a lower exponent, maybe taking 150 rather than 40 years.
Everyone in this book, plus maybe Kress herself, are in serious need of the first lesson of first year economics, comparative advantage. This says, roughly, that it actually isn't a fatal problem if someone is better than you at every different economic task: they still have limited time, so they can still gain from trading with you (you each produce the thing you're best at making then swap some). This understates the problem with
Kress portrays a couple of neglected ideologies. One, which determines just as much of world events as liberalism or socialism, has only the ugly name 'productivism' (or maybe also the misleading name 'workaholism'). Leisha is a classic example. On worrying that her elderly stepmother might be just farting around the house:
On her relationship trouble:
You can laugh at someone missing the point of life so much, but you should consider how much of what you value depends on people like this. And, when summarised into the long-term growth rate, how much of the vast potential of the future does. (Ada Palmer covers this exact dynamic, as the romantic "vocateurs", people of vocation.) And another ideology neglected in fiction: Leisha is a rare instance of "bleeding-heart libertarianism" (another ugly name).
---
* Kress:
* There are eventually 4 classes: Livers (the idle cosseted underclass), Donkeys (the unmodified workers, the elite Sleepers), Norm Sleepless and the Super Sleepless. Ordered pair of ordered pairs.
* One key to the conflicts is that people have grown used to certain ancient inequalities of degree, but new or qualitative ones should awake all of our envy and rage
* Most of the big interventions in the book fail. Yagai's gift to the US enables its slide into total indolence and short-termist hedonism. Hawke's nasty uprising for dignified labour morphs into shallow hedonistic Idiocracy, voting for more party money instead of doing things.
* Sanctuary is grandly sick, a monarchy masquerading as half a democracy. (It is not quite as sick and complete as the totalitarianism in Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky.)
* Libertarianism could be a lovely thing, for some other species. It builds a philosophy of life from a completely different direction than mine: top-down, from grand general ideas to morals and behaviour. (Has anyone teased them for having a top-down philosophy which demands the abolition of top-down forces?) The bottom-up approach, missing from this book, is to instead move from experiences, which motivate morals and nonmorals just by you understanding what it is like to experience them. Any subject of experience deserves good; the legal and political implications are distantly contingent on this, and vary massively from time to time as a result. Productivity is good when it leads to good lives: the enlightened definition of 'productive' is whatever does this. If pushpin or cartoons give you pleasure, they're productive. It just happens that there is generally currently millions of times more productive things to do. (The Livers are aesthetically repugnant to me, but eh their lives are better than most.) This isn't as vacuous as it sounds: consider the remarkable goodness of (most of) Jeremy Bentham's beliefs, in a time of universal bigotry. We got better, but we're still not optimising for good vibes.
* "Community" is mostly malign here: the zero-sum nativism of We-Sleep, the incoherent defensive supremacism of Sanctuary. The idea does have a black heart: "us, not them", but there are better, nicer examples. (I suppose the Supers are the steelman.) The one grace of the instances here is separatism: they don't initially demand mutilation or submission, just space for their difference. We-Sleep is also a pretty weak exemplar for socialism.
* The depiction of the supers' thought process is good and novel - they build and collaborate on "strings", complicated visual argumentation models, replacing natural language.
* What is Kress' view? It's not that good a question, given that she's trying to do dialectic between ideologies, and does it pretty well. But if we let Leisha's mature view stand in, there are some authorial-sounding notes
Leisha settles on the idea that it is impossible to reconcile solidarity and high-variance freedom, that the attempt to reconcile them drove Jennifer and the US mad.
The book's answer is to not take either horn, to just juggle the contradiction forever. I don't see the dilemma really; you just separate moral worth from ability, then automate the economy: boom, equality and freedom.
---
Maybe five stars on re-read, though the prose might be a bit flat for that (aside from a couple of moving passages, all quoted above) and maybe the dialectic is too heavy-handed.
---
How does it do as Serious science fiction?
Social development: Strong. The various caste systems that spring up are believable - for instance the Liver/Donkey one, where the donkeys downplay their own work and set up society as a circus, to short-circuit the questions of employment, dignity, status, revolution. Her nativists are very plausible, though they speak less about "natural life" than I expect ours to (the Sleepers seem happy with any genetic modification besides sleeplessness). The elitism of the Sleepless is just a stronger form of the sort already held by certain merely slightly more productive conservatives. Much of the economics is questionable though, particularly the C21st self-sufficient space city of 80,000(?).
Software development: Good, though high-level even by fiction's standards. The plot hangs on software (including patent databases), though these are mostly reduced to relative hacking ability. Only Vinge is better.
Actual Science: Some very sketchy genetics at the heart of the plot but not much. It's not pure magic - she puts realistically heavy limits on the genetic engineering of adults - but the rest is just assumed.
The first two books seem simple: a good basic dramatisation of the excellence vs equality problem. But stick with it, dialectic comes. Kress is much better at inhabiting other views than Rand, but not quite as good as Le Guin (who surprised me with how ambivalent, careful and detached her books can be, when her essays are so often blunt and denunciatory). Unlike them, Kress allows her ubermenschen to be irrational, as when the Sleepless fall into stupid binary demonisation of the majority outgroup.
She climbs inside libertarianism, productivism, Objectivism, elitism - half of the protagonists are deeply, unreflectively into these ideologies for half the book. Leisha finds one fatal flaw with them - society is not a linear series of contracts but a chaotic informal web of micro-contracts and unthinking mutual structuration, with a thin layer of formal voluntary contracts on top.
She remembered the day she had realized that [Objectivist] economics were not large enough. Their stress on individual excellence left out too many phenomena, too many people: those who had no excellence and never would. The beggars, who nonetheless had definite if obscure roles to play in the way the world ran. They were like parasites on a mammal that torment it to a scratching frenzy that draws blood, but whose eggs serve as food for other insects that feed yet others who fatten the birds that are prey for the rodents the tormented mammal eats. A bloody ecology of trade, replacing the linear Yagaiist contracts occurring in a vacuum. The ecology was large enough to take Sleepers and Sleepless, producers and beggars, the excellent and the mediocre and the seemingly worthless. And what kept the ecology functioning was the law.
Miranda and the supers find another, which is that fortune can mock anyone regardless of momentary strength or weakness.
Tony, Leisha said silently, there are no permanent beggars in Spain. Or anywhere else. The beggar you give a dollar to today might change the world tomorrow. Or become father to the man who will. Or grandfather, or great-grandfather. There is no stable ecology of trade, as I thought once, when I was very young. There is no stable anything, much less stagnant anything, given enough time. And no nonproductive anything, either. Beggars are only gene lines temporarily between communities.
The hyper-precocious kids are about as off-putting as those in Ender's Game. I wish she had only given the Sleepless more time than the unmodified - not superintelligence and immortality to boot. This would still be enough to create the tension the plot needs, they'd just grow with a lower exponent, maybe taking 150 rather than 40 years.
Everyone in this book, plus maybe Kress herself, are in serious need of the first lesson of first year economics, comparative advantage. This says, roughly, that it actually isn't a fatal problem if someone is better than you at every different economic task: they still have limited time, so they can still gain from trading with you (you each produce the thing you're best at making then swap some). This understates the problem with
Kress portrays a couple of neglected ideologies. One, which determines just as much of world events as liberalism or socialism, has only the ugly name 'productivism' (or maybe also the misleading name 'workaholism'). Leisha is a classic example. On worrying that her elderly stepmother might be just farting around the house:
Leisha had felt a palpable relief, like a small pop in her chest, when she saw the terminal and medical journals in Susan’s office.
On her relationship trouble:
“We’re fine, Susan. We work together really well. That’s what really matters, after all.”
You can laugh at someone missing the point of life so much, but you should consider how much of what you value depends on people like this. And, when summarised into the long-term growth rate, how much of the vast potential of the future does. (Ada Palmer covers this exact dynamic, as the romantic "vocateurs", people of vocation.) And another ideology neglected in fiction: Leisha is a rare instance of "bleeding-heart libertarianism" (another ugly name).
---
* Kress:
Genetic engineering is becoming a reality, one that many people are not ready to acknowledge, let alone allow. But you cannot put the genie back in the bottle. We know how to manipulate the human genome and so, inevitably, we will. The two sequels to Beggars in Spain, Beggars and Choosers and Beggars Ride, explore that issue in as much detail as I could invent. Even so, I didn’t come close to covering the excitement, the changes, the shock, and the controversy that genetic engineering will bring in the coming decades. I just wish that I could stick around for a hundred years or so to see it—and to write about it.Nah mate not a hundred years; try thirty.
* There are eventually 4 classes: Livers (the idle cosseted underclass), Donkeys (the unmodified workers, the elite Sleepers), Norm Sleepless and the Super Sleepless. Ordered pair of ordered pairs.
* One key to the conflicts is that people have grown used to certain ancient inequalities of degree, but new or qualitative ones should awake all of our envy and rage
Beautiful or brainy children might encounter natural envy, but usually not virulent hatred. They were not viewed as a different race, one endlessly conspiring at power, endlessly controlling behind the scenes, endlessly feared and scorned. The Sleepless,
* Most of the big interventions in the book fail. Yagai's gift to the US enables its slide into total indolence and short-termist hedonism. Hawke's nasty uprising for dignified labour morphs into shallow hedonistic Idiocracy, voting for more party money instead of doing things.
* Sanctuary is grandly sick, a monarchy masquerading as half a democracy. (It is not quite as sick and complete as the totalitarianism in Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky.)
* Libertarianism could be a lovely thing, for some other species. It builds a philosophy of life from a completely different direction than mine: top-down, from grand general ideas to morals and behaviour. (Has anyone teased them for having a top-down philosophy which demands the abolition of top-down forces?) The bottom-up approach, missing from this book, is to instead move from experiences, which motivate morals and nonmorals just by you understanding what it is like to experience them. Any subject of experience deserves good; the legal and political implications are distantly contingent on this, and vary massively from time to time as a result. Productivity is good when it leads to good lives: the enlightened definition of 'productive' is whatever does this. If pushpin or cartoons give you pleasure, they're productive. It just happens that there is generally currently millions of times more productive things to do. (The Livers are aesthetically repugnant to me, but eh their lives are better than most.) This isn't as vacuous as it sounds: consider the remarkable goodness of (most of) Jeremy Bentham's beliefs, in a time of universal bigotry. We got better, but we're still not optimising for good vibes.
* "Community" is mostly malign here: the zero-sum nativism of We-Sleep, the incoherent defensive supremacism of Sanctuary. The idea does have a black heart: "us, not them", but there are better, nicer examples. (I suppose the Supers are the steelman.) The one grace of the instances here is separatism: they don't initially demand mutilation or submission, just space for their difference. We-Sleep is also a pretty weak exemplar for socialism.
“Wake up, Jordan. No social movement has ever progressed without emphasizing division, and doing that means stirring up hate. The American revolution, abolitionism, unionization, civil rights—”
“That wasn’t—”
“At least we didn’t invent this particular division—the Sleepless did. Feminism, gay rights, Dole franchisement—”
* The depiction of the supers' thought process is good and novel - they build and collaborate on "strings", complicated visual argumentation models, replacing natural language.
* What is Kress' view? It's not that good a question, given that she's trying to do dialectic between ideologies, and does it pretty well. But if we let Leisha's mature view stand in, there are some authorial-sounding notes
And throughout it all, the United States: rich, prosperous, myopic, magnificent in aggregate and petty in specifics, unwilling — always, always — to accord mass respect to the mind. To good fortune, to luck, to rugged individualism, to faith in God, to patriotism, to beauty, to spunk or pluck or grit or git, but never to complex intelligence and complex thought. It wasn’t sleeplessness that had caused all the rioting; it was thought and its twin consequences, change and challenge.
Leisha settles on the idea that it is impossible to reconcile solidarity and high-variance freedom, that the attempt to reconcile them drove Jennifer and the US mad.
When individuals are free to become anything at all, some will become geniuses and some will become resentful beggars. Some will benefit themselves and their communities, and others will benefit no one and just loot whatever they can. Equality disappears. You can’t have both equality and the freedom to pursue individual excellence.
The book's answer is to not take either horn, to just juggle the contradiction forever. I don't see the dilemma really; you just separate moral worth from ability, then automate the economy: boom, equality and freedom.
---
Maybe five stars on re-read, though the prose might be a bit flat for that (aside from a couple of moving passages, all quoted above) and maybe the dialectic is too heavy-handed.
---
How does it do as Serious science fiction?
Social development: Strong. The various caste systems that spring up are believable - for instance the Liver/Donkey one, where the donkeys downplay their own work and set up society as a circus, to short-circuit the questions of employment, dignity, status, revolution. Her nativists are very plausible, though they speak less about "natural life" than I expect ours to (the Sleepers seem happy with any genetic modification besides sleeplessness). The elitism of the Sleepless is just a stronger form of the sort already held by certain merely slightly more productive conservatives. Much of the economics is questionable though, particularly the C21st self-sufficient space city of 80,000(?).
Software development: Good, though high-level even by fiction's standards. The plot hangs on software (including patent databases), though these are mostly reduced to relative hacking ability. Only Vinge is better.
Actual Science: Some very sketchy genetics at the heart of the plot but not much. It's not pure magic - she puts realistically heavy limits on the genetic engineering of adults - but the rest is just assumed.
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