AndrewIn science fiction, time is often presented as both mundane (“well, duh”) and truly bizarre (“wait, what?!”) simultaneously. I think it was in The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, where starships built later arrived before those built earlier because of technological advances in the interim.
Also there, and in some of Iain M. Banks’ stories, is the sad realization that there is no point in trying to catch up with someone you just missed, because by the time you get there, even on a very fast spaceship, they will have lived a lifetime without you.
But the one that hit me the hardest, and I won’t spoil it, was in The Rise of Endymion, the fourth book in the Hyperion Cantos series by Dan Simmons. To be fair, that one is less science fiction, but it still counts, I would say. Also, my reaction was influenced by a real-life event, so your mileage may vary, I guess.