As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I was going to write a book review for one of the office newsletters. Below is that review...and I thought I'd share it for lack of any other inspiration today.
TTFN
JMS
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TITLE: Beggars in Spain
AUTHOR: Nancy Kress
COPYWRITE: 1993
The year is 2008 when overbearing business-man Roger Camden and his meek wife, Elizabeth visit Dr. Ong, seeking only the best genetic modifications available for the child they plan to have: A daughter, blonde, green eyes, tall, a genetic disposition to be slender and musical, the full array of corrections for any potential gene-lined health problems, and...no need to sleep.
Leisha Camden and her non-genetically modified twin sister, Alice are born shortly thereafter into a world where even the smallest edge can mean the difference between success and failure. Having no need to sleep, Leisha has 30 percent more time to work and study – though, it seems, all the “Sleepless” are highly intelligent, successful, and in absolutely perfect health.
Initially, the Sleepless are an interesting minority, but after a while, their unparalleled success in all aspects of life begin to wear on normal, or “Sleeper” society and eventually, they become victims of blind hatred, repression, and horrendous violence which drives them, and their children, to escape Earth to an orbiting space station.
Leisha chooses to stay behind, along with a few other Sleepless, in an attempt to promote acceptance for Sleeper and Sleepless alike. But, her battles are only just beginning.
This book is superbly written, thought provoking, and slightly scary – as you realize how close we are, in reality, to the idea of genetic modification and the ramifications of the need for no sleep. The battles waged in this book are societal, psychiatric, intelligent, and not too far off the mark of what could happen to Earth’s fragile human balance of minority vs. majority.
****1/2 for originality, excellent writing, and provocative ideas.
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