2 Books Like For The Love of Bombs

I first encountered Never Me Let Go as a movie, which I found so devastatingly moving that reading the novel thereafter was a letdown. But when re-reading it recently, I got deeply, painfully involved.

31-year-old Kathy looks back on her time at an elite boarding school and her subsequent work as a carer, reflecting on her complicated relationship with childhood friends Ruth and Tommy. In the face of much adversity, she remains kind, generous, and forgiving. And she simply accepts the society she lives in – an alternative version of contemporary England in which clones like her are raised to serve as organ donors, destined to die after a few operations, or as carers who offer emotional support to donors. There is no resistance, no hope for Kathy or the reader, only infinite sadness.

I loved this book because it finally put words to a discomfort I have felt for years but could never fully articulate. As I read, I kept thinking about students, classrooms, and even my own daily habits, and how subtly anxiety has become normalized. What struck me most was how deeply this book resonated with my lived experience, not just my academic interests. I found myself pausing often, reflecting on childhood, attention, and emotional resilience in a screen-saturated world. This book stayed with me because it made me more attentive to how fragile human development can be when technology quietly rewires our social foundations.