Books like 'Klara and the Sun'
Readers who enjoyed Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary sc-fi psychological literary-fiction dystopia ai robots coming-of-age technology friendship
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Exhalation by Ted Chiang
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsalternate cover for this ISBN can be found hereThe universe began as an enormous breath being held.From the acclaimed author of Stories of Your Life and Others — the basis for the Academy Award-nominated film Arrival — comes a ground-breaking new collection of short fiction: nine stunningly original, provocative, and poignant stories... -
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 76 ratingsThey mustn't harm a human being, they must obey human orders, and they must protect their own existence...but only so long as that doesn't violate rules one and two. With these Three Laws of Robotics, humanity embarked on a bold new era of evolution that would open up enormous possibilities - and unforeseen risks... -
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 60 ratingsA gargantuan, mind-altering tragi-comedy about the Pursuit of Happiness in America... -
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, Andy Weir
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 87 ratingsJason Dessen is walking home through the chilly Chicago streets one night, looking forward to a quiet evening in front of the fireplace with his wife, Daniela, and their son, Charlie—when his reality shatters.- - -'Are you happy in your life?'Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious...Categorized as:
drama dystopia family technology 21st-century action-adventure alternate-history alternate-universe -
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Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 79 ratingsCharlie Gordon is about to embark upon an unprecedented journey. Born with an unusually low IQ, he has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that researchers hope will increase his intelligence--a procedure that has already been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon... -
At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the author of We Are the Ants comes “another winner” (Booklist, starred review) about a boy who believes the universe is slowly shrinking as the things he remembers are being erased from others’ memories.Tommy and Ozzie have been best friends since the second grade, and boyfriends since eighth. They spent countless days dreaming of escaping their small town—and then Tommy vanished... -
The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse, Theodore Ziolkowski
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsThe final novel of Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game is a fascinating tale of the complexity of modern life as well as a classic of modern literature.Set in the twenty-third century, The Glass Bead Game is the story of Joseph Knecht, who has been raised in Castalia, the remote place his society has provided for the intellectual elite to grow and flourish...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult audiobook bildungsroman book -
A Spell of Rowans by Byrd Nash
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRaised by a narcissistic mother, the Rowan children’s magical talents were twisted to fit her needs. When Rachel dies, her children must confront the past to have a future.Rachel Rowan could sniff out secrets and her antique shop, Rosemary Thyme, was a front to torment the residents of Grimsby. When she dies, her children are faced with the deadly fallout of blackmail, murder, and magic... -
Replay by Ken Grimwood
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsAt forty-three Jeff Winston is tired of his low-paid, unrewarding job, tired of the long silences at the breakfast table with his wife, saddened by the thought of no children to comfort his old age. But he hopes for better things, for happiness, maybe tomorrow ...But a sudden, fatal heart attack puts paid to that... -
Effacement by Hieronymus Hawkes
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWhen recording every aspect of your life has become the law, what happens when your connection to the world is severed? With the advent of BioNarratus’s Vitasync neurochip, serious crime has all but disappeared. Without a lifelog you can’t get a bank account, medical insurance, or a job... -
Torture the Artist by Joey Goebel
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsVincent Spinetti is an archetypal tortured artist ? a sensitive young writer who falls victim to alienation, parental neglect, poverty, depression, alcoholism, illness, nervous breakdowns, and unrequited love... -
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsHumankind discovers intelligent life in an octopus species with its own language and culture, and sets off a high-stakes global competition to dominate the future. Rumors begin to spread of a dangerous species of hyperintelligent octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. The marine biologist Dr...Categorized as:
ai dystopia literary-fiction magical-realism technology adult animals anthropomorphism -
The Positronic Man by Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsPowerful and haunting, The Positronic Man is an unforgettable novel that redefines Isaac Asimov's and Robert Silverberg's place among the greatest science fiction authors of all time.In the twenty-first century the creation of the positronic brain leads to the development of robot laborers and revolutionizes life on Earth... -
The Humans by Matt Haig
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 63 ratingsBody-snatching has never been so heartwarming . . .The Humans is a funny, compulsively readable novel about alien abduction, mathematics, and that most interesting subject of all: ourselves. Combine Douglas Adams’s irreverent take on life, the universe, and everything with a genuinely moving love story, and you have some idea of the humor, originality, and poignancy of Matt Haig’s latest novel...Categorized as:
drama family literary-fiction magical-realism season-summer 21st-century action-adventure aliens -
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The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 71 ratingsA groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can choose - and change - their gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization...Categorized as:
dystopia friendship literary-fiction poc-mc 20th-century action-adventure aliens audiobook -
The Program by Suzanne Young
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsIn Sloane’s world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive... -
Of Mice and Mooshaber by Ladislav Fuks, Mark Corner
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLadislav Fuks (1923-94) was an outstanding Czech writer whose work, consisting primarily of psychological fiction, explores themes of anxiety and life in totalitarian systems... -
After the Lights Go Out by Lili Wilkinson
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhat happens when the lights go off after what might truly be an end-of-the-world event? How do you stay alive? Who do you trust? How much do you have to sacrifice?'After the Lights Go Out is a terrifying yet hope-filled story of disaster, deceit, love, sacrifice and survival... -
Amen Maxine by Faith Gardner
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA new marriage.A perfect home.A machine that says it’s all a lie.Welcome to Silicon Valley, where the weather is perfect, the income is high … and Rowena Snyder is miserable. A transplant from New York, Rowena moved into her husband Jacob’s idyllic childhood home with their new baby. But suburbia isn’t Rowena’s cup of Starbucks. And she’s got serious anxiety and depression to boot... -
The Marriage Act by John Marrs
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhat if marriage was the law? Dare you disobey?Britain. The near-future. A right-wing government believes it has the answer to society’s ills — the Sanctity of Marriage Act, which actively encourages marriage as the norm, punishing those who choose to remain single... -
The Wall by Marlen Haushofer
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFirst published to acclaim in Germany, The Wall chronicles the life of the last surviving human on earth, an ordinary middle-aged woman who awakens one morning to find that everyone else has vanished. Assuming her isolation to be the result of a military experiment gone awry, she begins the terrifying work of survival and self-renewal...Categorized as:
drama dystopia literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century action-adventure adult animals -
Slated by Teri Terry
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsA riveting psychological thrillerKYLA HAS BEEN SLATED - her memory erased, her personality wiped blank. This is the government's way of dealing with teen terrorists: give them a fresh start as a new person. They teach Kyla how to walk and talk again, give her a new identity and a new family, and tell her to be grateful for this second chance...Categorized as:
coming-of-age dystopia family female-mc friendship action-adventure alpha-mc amnesia -
One Door Away from Heaven by Dean Koontz
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsMichelina Bellsong is on a mission. She is following a missing family to the edge of America...to a place she never knew existed--a place of terror, wonder, and shattering revelation.What awaits her there will change her life and the life of everyone she knows--if she can find the key to survival... -
The Four-Gated City by Doris Lessing
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDorris Lessing's classic series of autobiographical novels is the fictional counterpart to Under My Skin. In these five novels, first published in the 1950's and 60s, Doris Lessing transformed her fascinating life into fiction, creating her most complex and compelling character, Martha Quest... -
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The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn the near future, disease will be a condition of the past. Most genetic defects will be removed at birth; the remaining during infancy. Unfortunately, there will be a generation left behind. For members of that missed generation, small advances will be made. Through various programs, they will be taught to get along in the world despite their differences... -
The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOn an evening in late summer, the great financier Harry Wainwright, nearing the end of his life, arrives at a rustic fishing camp in a remote area of Maine. He comes bearing two things: his wish for a day of fishing in a place that has brought him solace for thirty years, and an astonishing bequest that will forever change the lives of those around him... -
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 84 ratingsTold by the central character, Alex, this brilliant, hilarious, and disturbing novel creates an alarming futuristic vision of violence, high technology, and authoritarianism...Categorized as:
coming-of-age drama dystopia literary-fiction 20th-century audiobook book british-isles -
Bewilderment by Richard Powers
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsAstrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos, invents planets every night for a bedtime story. He raises Robin, 9, after a car crash took their Aly. The family is strict vegetarians, Theo tells us each dish.Robin is bright, but full of anger that explodes in a flash. He suffers over animals tortured, killed to feed humans... -
The Treatment by Suzanne Young
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsCan Sloane and James survive the lies and secrets surrounding them, or will The Program claim them in the end? Find out in this sequel to The Program, which Publishers Weekly called “chilling and suspenseful.”How do you stop an epidemic?Sloane and James are on the run after barely surviving the suicide epidemic and The Program. But they’re not out of danger... -
The Trial by Franz Kafka
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsWritten in 1914 but not published until 1925, a year after Kafka’s death, The Trial is the terrifying tale of Josef K., a respectable bank officer who is suddenly and inexplicably arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information... -
Ten Little Words by Leah Mercer
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsI am always with you. I will always be here.This was the promise Ella’s mother betrayed thirty years ago when she walked into the sea, leaving her five-year-old daughter alone in the world. Ella’s been angry ever since, building up a wall to protect herself. But that all changes the day she opens a newspaper and finds those ten little words printed in a classified ad...Categorized as:
female-mc family literary-fiction romance fiction womens-fiction audiobook contemporary -
Good Night, Sleep Tight by Brian Evenson
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratings“PERHAPS TOMORROW I WILL WAKE UP ANOTHER PERSON. PERHAPS TOMORROW I WILL WAKE UP NOT A PERSON AT ALL.”From the “master of literary horror” (GQ) comes a collection of new stories tracing the limits and consequences of artificial intelligence and “post-human” relationships... -
The Affirmation by Christopher Priest
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsPeter Sinclair is tormented by bereavement and failure. In an attempt to conjure some meaning from his life, he embarks on an autobiography, but he finds himself writing the story of another man in another, imagines, world whose insidious attraction draws him even further in..Categorized as:
drama dystopia literary-fiction magical-realism unreliable-narrator 20th-century adult audiobook -
Runner 13: A Thriller by Amy McCulloch
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratings**Pre-order the gripping new thriller from the bestselling author of Breathless, based on her own extraordinary ultra-running experience**It’s the ultimate test of two-hundred-and-fifty miles in the brutal heat of the Sahara, with only the supplies you can carry on your back.Adri is ready... -
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The Trial by Franz Kafka, Arthur H. Samuelson
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 71 ratingsWritten in 1914 but not published until 1925, a year after Kafka's death, The Trial is one of the most important novels of the twentieth century: the terrifying tale of Josef K., a respectable bank officer who is suddenly and inexplicably arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information...Categorized as:
drama dystopia literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century absurdism adult audiobook -
One of the Boys by Jayne Cowie
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIf you could test your son for a gene that predicts violence, would you do it?Antonia and Bea are sisters, and doting mothers to their sons. But that is where their similarities end.Antonia had her son tested to make sure he didn’t possess the "violent" M gene.Bea refuses to let her son take the test. His life should not be determined by a positive or negative result... -
Uncanny by Sarah Fine
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsTwo sisters. One death. No memories.Cora should remember every detail about the night her stepsister, Hannah, fell down a flight of stairs to her death, especially since her Cerepin—a sophisticated brain-computer interface—may have recorded each horrifying moment. But when she awakens after that night, her memories gone, Cora is left with only questions—and dread of what the answers might mean... -
A Better World by Sarah Langan
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe author of Good Neighbors , “one of the creepiest, most unnerving deconstructions of American suburbia” (NPR), returns with a provocative and disconcerting novel about a woman questioning her new home in an exclusive company town after a night out goes terribly wrong.Welcome to Plymouth Valley... -
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
Rated: 3.91 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsCayce Pollard is an expensive, spookily intuitive market-research consultant. In London on a job, she is offered a secret assignment: to investigate some intriguing snippets of video that have been appearing on the Internet. An entire subculture of people is obsessed with these bits of footage, and anybody who can create that kind of brand loyalty would be a gold mine for Cayce's client...Categorized as:
drama dystopia female-mc literary-fiction technology 21st-century action-adventure adult -
The Invented Part by Rodrigo Fresán
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratings“A kaleidoscopic, open-hearted, shamelessly polymathic storyteller, the kind who brings a blast of oxygen into the room... -
The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhat's the best way to create artificial intelligence? In 1950, Alan Turing wrote, "Many people think that a very abstract activity, like the playing of chess, would be best. It can also be maintained that it is best to provide the machine with the best sense organs that money can buy, and then teach it to understand and speak English. This process could follow the normal teaching of a child... -
Meet Me at Blue Hour by Sarah Suk
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind meets Past Lives in this gripping, emotional story of two childhood friends navigating the fallout of one erasing their memory of the other, from acclaimed author Sarah Suk.Seventeen-year-old Yena Bae is spending the summer in Busan, South Korea, working at her mom’s memory-erasing clinic...Categorized as:
season-summer friendship poc-mc coming-of-age family literary-fiction asia east-asia -
The Things That Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsHow far would you go to protect your family?Ann Brooks never thought she’d have to answer that question. Then she found her limits tested by a crisis no one could prevent. Now, as her neighborhood descends into panic, she must make tough choices to protect everyone she loves from a threat she cannot even see... -
Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsCincinnatus, unable to fit into the world around him, has been reported to the authorities and sentenced to death for his strange, unrecognizable nature. Exploring the prison cell as he counts down his final days, Cincinnatus cannot even find out when the moment of his execution will occur, and is troubled by the lack of control a condemned man has over his own life...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult audiobook book classics -
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Dissipatio H.G.: The Vanishing by Guido Morselli
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom his solitary buen retiro in the mountains, the last man on earth drives to the capital Chrysopolis to see if anyone else has survived the Vanishing. But there’s no one else, living or dead, in that city of “holy plutocracy,” with its fifty-six banks and as many churches...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies apocalyptic classics contemporary -
Set My Heart To Five by Simon Stephenson
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 12 ratings‘You shall read this with unadulterated pleasure’ Scotland on Sunday‘A beautiful, funny, heartfelt analysis of what it means to be human’ Simon Pegg Set in a 2054 where humans have locked themselves out of the internet and Elon Musk has incinerated the moon, Set My Heart To Five is the hilarious yet profoundly moving story of one android’s emotional awakening... -
Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDystopian debut about a tech company that deletes unwanted memories, the consequences for those forced to contend with what they tried to forget, and the dissenting doctor who seeks to protect her patients from further harm... -
The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom one of the most dazzling and iconic writers of our time and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, an electrifying, deeply moving novel about the quest for authenticity, privacy, and meaning in a world where our memories are no longer our own—featuring characters from A Visit from the Goon Squad.It’s 2010. Staggeringly successful and brilliant tech entrepreneur Bix Bouton is desperate for a new idea...Categorized as:
literary-fiction technology 21st-century adult audiobook book contemporary female-author -
Lexicon by Max Barry
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsAt an exclusive school somewhere outside of Arlington, Virginia, students aren't taught history, geography, or mathematics--at least not in the usual ways. Instead, they are taught to persuade. Here the art of coercion has been raised to a science... -
Love and Other Alien Experiences by Kerry Winfrey
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsI'm never going outside again. Mallory hasn't left the house in sixty-seven days--since the day her dad left. She attends her classes via webcam, rarely leaves her room (much to her brother's chagrin), and spends most of her time watching The X-Files or chatting with the always obnoxious BeamMeUp on New Mexico's premier alien message board...
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