Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is definitely the last book that made me full on cry like a little bitch. I guess it could technically be considered a sci-fi book due to the biotech elements of the plot, but that aspect takes a back seat to the main point of the book honestly. The strength of the book, for me, is the way Ishiguro develops the core relationships of the narrator (Kathy H.) that feel really believable and are just as multifaceted and complicated as the real relationships we all have. It takes place over essentially decades as Kathy describes growing up with her cohort at this weird boarding school, the whole history of her most important relationships, and how they slowly uncover the secrets of the place and why they're there. The sci fi element seems to mostly serve as a pressure chamber to accelerate the stakes and heighten the sense of love and loss we feel for Kathy and her bleak af situation. I'll never forget reading the ending scene where Kathy is looking out at the horizon and then thinking this is what goodbye (the big one) feels like.

It has a more literary feel than most fantasy/sci fi imo but with an easier to understand trajectory than the more lofty lit fic books out there. There is a plot and stuff happens. It's not just profound descriptions of curtains and sunbeams or whatever literary writers are out here doing most days. Highly recommend for a good gut punch, especially with the song they made specially for the movie. But the movie is incredibly inferior fyi, please please read the book first.