Beggars and Choosers (Beggars Trilogy (also known as Sleepless Trilogy))

by Nancy Kress

Hardcover, 1994

Status

Available

Call number

PS3561.R46 B38

Series

Sleepless (2)

Genres

Science Fiction

All Topics

Fiction

Publication

Tor Books (1994), Edition: 1st, 315 pages

Description

In Beggars and Choosers, Kress returns to the same future world created in her earlier work, an America strangely altered by genetic modifications. Millions of ordinary people are supported by the efforts of handsome and intellectually superior gene-modified humans, who are in turn running scared in the face of the astonishing, nearly superhuman powers of the Sleepless, who have their own agenda for humanity. The Sleepless, radically altered humans, have withdrawn from the rest of the race to an island retreat, from which they periodically release dazzling scientific advances. Most of the world is on the verge of collapse, overburdened by a population of jobless drones and racked by the results of irresponsible genetic research and nanotechnology. Will the world be saved? And for whom? Beggars and Choosers is a rich, morally complex novel of a future world eerily like our own tomorrow. It is a major work of hard science fiction.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member trismi

Genetics has always been one of my favorite subjects to 'what if' about, and this is an amazing story about it. The end is a real kick, and the p.o.v.s the story is told from are incredible.

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LibraryThing member laileana

The second book, Beggars and Choosers focuses on a group of livers in an enclave and an undercover "donkey" who lives amongst them. The sleepless and the supers are also in this novel. The Supers are lead by Miranda-who inexplicably wants to liberate the "livers" from their dependence on the

"donkeys" for food, clothing and housing. Most livers do nothing all day, they can not read or write, cook, hunt, garden, have no skills and are totally dependent upon the government for everything. The system is based on high revenue from "Y energy" which is patented by a US inventor and sold exclusively in the US for 80 years. Y energy is a super cheap form of energy used by the world. Due to patent limitations it can only be manufactured and processed in the US for the first years, once the patent runs out, other countries are able to manufacture and produce it for themselves and there is no longer any money to support the millions of livers. The system in breaking down. People are starving and have no skills to acquire food or clothing. In a gesture of good will, Miranda and the super sleepless introduce "change" syringes. "Changed" people no longer need food-they can live on air, mud, clothing, wood, any natural fiber is simply absorbed through the pores of the skin, including clothes and shoes. The body has a super metabolism that destroys disease and facilitates massive healing quickly. No more cancer or heart attacks. No more drug addicts or alcoholics-the body absorbs and changes harmful substances too quickly for users to enjoy them.

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LibraryThing member tinLizzy

Good continuance of storyline from Beggars in Spain, although the perspective shift a bit abrupt for my taste.

LibraryThing member FKarr

sequel that goes nowhere; dissolving clothes!

LibraryThing member memccauley6

This book picks up about a decade after the end of BEGGARS IN SPAIN and mainly follows the path of the Super Sleepless on Earth, specifically Miranda Sharifi, the brilliant granddaughter of Leisha's nemesis from the first novel. American society has become more stratified than before, where the

wealthy working class called "Donkeys" literally buy votes by providing bread and circuses for a large uneducated welfare population called "Livers". Of particular interest is the character of Drew Arlen, a young Liver who wants to raise himself above his birth and be on par with the Super Sleepless. Drew becomes involved with Miranda's plots within plots to remake society as she sees fit.

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LibraryThing member zyphax

LOVE it. Especially the ending.

LibraryThing member gypsysmom

This is the second book in the Sleepless Trilogy. It has been a long time since I read Beggars in Spain, the first book, so I struggled to remember the finer points of the society posited by Nancy Kress. However, she actually did a pretty good job of reminding readers of the salient details. I

listened to this book which was narrated by a number of people which I thought nicely delineated the different characters.
The majority of the citizens in the US (called Livers) are supported by the genetically modified elite (called Donkeys). The Livers vote for Donkey individuals who then must provide food, shelter, clothing, health care and entertainment. Presumably they also gain wealth by being in these elected positions. Then there are the Sleepless, genetically modified people who do not need to sleep and use the extra time in the day the rest devote to sleeping to research and plot. The Sleepless, lead by Miranda Sharifi, have developed a new nanotechnology called the Cell Cleaner which would enter a human body and clean up anything that didn't belong there. The Sleepless are denied a license to further test this technology and Miranda disappears. She is followed by Diana Covington

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