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A review by barb4ry1
Beggars in Spain: The Original Hugo & Nebula Winning Novella by Nancy Kress
3.0
3.5/5
I liked it. I’m sure it seemed much more daring in the ‘90s but it still engages, entertains and gives food for thought.
Leisha Camden, daughter of a wealthy businessman, is one of the Sleepless, genetically engineered prodigies endowed with remarkable intelligence and no need for sleep. Instead of sleeping and dreaming, she learns to become the best at anything she does.
In just 100 pages we observe her childhood, coming-of-age and struggles with accepting brutal reality in which Sleepers (regular people) hate, fear, envy Nonsleepers. While I enjoyed Leisha, I can’t say the same thing about thinly drawn secondary characters. They lack complexity and they rarely speak like real people - dialogues remind stilted philosophical arguments more than the real speech between real human beings.
Part of the story felt didactic, preachy even, and the bitter-sweet ending disappointed me.
That said, Leisha’s voice alone suffices to make it an interesting and thought-provoking read. It’s not perfect, but it still packs more meat in 100 pages than many books in 500 pages.
I read it as a second novella in my self-imposed 10 days / 10 novellas challenge. Eight more to go
I liked it. I’m sure it seemed much more daring in the ‘90s but it still engages, entertains and gives food for thought.
Leisha Camden, daughter of a wealthy businessman, is one of the Sleepless, genetically engineered prodigies endowed with remarkable intelligence and no need for sleep. Instead of sleeping and dreaming, she learns to become the best at anything she does.
In just 100 pages we observe her childhood, coming-of-age and struggles with accepting brutal reality in which Sleepers (regular people) hate, fear, envy Nonsleepers. While I enjoyed Leisha, I can’t say the same thing about thinly drawn secondary characters. They lack complexity and they rarely speak like real people - dialogues remind stilted philosophical arguments more than the real speech between real human beings.
Part of the story felt didactic, preachy even, and the bitter-sweet ending disappointed me.
That said, Leisha’s voice alone suffices to make it an interesting and thought-provoking read. It’s not perfect, but it still packs more meat in 100 pages than many books in 500 pages.
I read it as a second novella in my self-imposed 10 days / 10 novellas challenge. Eight more to go