Book Review: The Blogchatter Book of Friendship

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Blogchatter, India's online blogger hub, has turned 10 this year. Their yearly Anthology Book has also turned 4—quite an impressive journey. I am glad that I got to review their latest book, The Blogchatter Book of Friendship- a wonderful book with 18 stories woven around the topic of friendship. 

About the Book:

The Blogchatter Book of Friendship is an anthology with 18 stories from 18 writers from the country. The theme of the book, as the title suggests, is around Friendship and its various colours—some newfound, some unusual, some long lost, while some accidental. The 18 writers have presented the topic of friendship from different perspectives. And that’s the beauty of the book.

About the Authors:

The 18 authors, all seasoned bloggers or writers, have contributed their outstanding pieces to the anthology, The Blogchatter Book of Friendship. Pinki Bakshi, Aarti Punjabi, Tomichan Mateikhal, Swarnali Nath, Malvika Singh, Natasha Ramarathnam, Careena Mesgram, Lalitha Ramanathan, Sreemati Sen, Sulekha Rawat, Chitra Iyer, Kajal Kapur, Sangeethalat, Ankita Bhatia Dhawan, Felicia Nazareth, Harshita Nanda, Romila Chitturi and Lakshmi Muthukumar- a list of authors who have already proven their craft of storytelling time and again in the literary world.

My Review of The Blogchatter Book of Friendship:

Imagine you enter a world that speaks only of friendship and trust. The stories in The Blogchatter Book of Friendship are built on very different foundations, but the one message they all convey is that true friendship can happen anytime, anywhere, sometimes in very unusual and unexpected ways. The stories are strengthened by varied elements that culminate in a powerful bond among individuals. Like Pinki Bakshi’s tale, Four O’Clock at the Terrace, talks about a bittersweet friendship, centred on interesting conversations among 4 ladies on the terrace every day at four. Tomichan Mateikhal’s The Man at the Gate recounts an unusual friendship between a schoolteacher and a gatekeeper. Lalitha Ramanathan’s The Double is quite a gripping thriller that explores the friendship between two women. Then Sulekha Rawat’s Unlikely Friendship contains the eerie element of a friendship that transcends the boundaries of life and death.

Different tales, varied emotions, multiple topics connected through the beautiful bond of friendship. My favourite quotes from the book:

Words had to come in, even if they were angry or harsh or painful. They were needed to pierce the haze that had surrounded their friendship.- Peas in a Pod by Aarti Punjabi

As the winter sunlight poured into the courtyard once again, the grinding stone finally found its rhythm back-deep, loud, and alive, like the rhythm of their sisterhood. – The Rhythm of their Sisterhood by Swarnali Nath

The Blogchatter Book of Friendship is a piece of bright light in today’s dark and distressed world. It can be a perfect gift for a friend.

Available on Amazon here

The views of this post are my own, and the image is generated from ChatGPT

 The review is powered by Blogchatter Book Review Program.


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