Phil's Reviews > Beggars in Spain

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!!