5 books about friendship that are not really considered “friendship” books

I grew up on a healthy dose of Enid Blyton, my childhood friendships imaginedly fashioned after Malory Towers and Whyteleafe. College brought with it Harry Potter, that epitome of friendship and loyalty. Adulthood is filled with books like A Man called Ove and Authenticity Project, those unique friendships heartwarming and soul filling at one go.

Here’s a different kind of list. A list of books that fit into very many genres not necessarily “friendship” or “feel good”. But their plots are moved by those underlying friendships, without which nothing would really move.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir – Categorised “Science Fiction”

Ryland Grace finds himself on a spaceship, hurtling away from his home planet, in a bid to save it. He is light years away from another human being, let alone a friend. And then, he meets Rocky. Rocky steals the show. Their utopian, unbelievable friendship steals the show.

I don’t know if Project Hail Mary is the most scientific science fiction ever. It is most definitely an emotional extravaganza, a lot of wishful thinking and imagination, a one-stop-shop to how languages, communication, camaraderie, collaboration, and relationships can evolve.

Here’s raising a toast to Rocky :) May we all find our Rocky, may we all be that Rocky to someone, and may we all believe that Rockys exist all around us.

Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman – Categorised “Thriller / Mystery”

If ever there was a red herring categorisation, it is this one.

I still remember my first in this series. Well, not the mystery itself but how the book left me feeling. Warm, fuzzy, and strangely satisfied.

What bliss to find friendships in your 70s and 80s, I thought. What luck to love and be loved in the twilight of your life, I envied. What spirit in those sprightly steps chasing murderers and spies down cliffs and dark alleys, I admired.

That’s the beauty of “The Thursday Murder Club series”. It has a heart and a life of its own. And, it is built on the bedrock of friendship, of loyalty and the spirit to be there for each other, something many of us forget in our middle-aged frenzy.

City of Thieves by David Benioff – Categorised “Historical Fiction”

It’s the same David Benioff who messed up Season 8 of Game of Thrones. Now that we have that out of the way…

“City of thieves” is set in Leningrad in the middle of World War II and is a humour-peppered story of two people who meet in prison and are tasked by a colonel to find a dozen eggs for his daughter’s wedding party. It has drama and thrills, war and its many manifestations. But at the backdrop are some strange friendships, formed under duress, with an end goal in mind, but enduring nevertheless. I used to classify it as warry-historical-tragicomic-fiction. But, it is a book about friendship too, perhaps most about friendship.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty – Categorised “Drama / Thriller”

Strange one to make it to the list, I admit. Liane Moriarty is my go-to author for all things drama. She does some really smart, thrilling writing and has many a time helped me get out of a reading slump.

But this one is a bit different. For many mothers of school-going kids across the world, fellow mothers are the only friends, only network, the only gateway to an adult-world. And “Big Little Lies” neatly brings that to the fore and how.

While there’s an underlying mystery that runs heavy across the book, there are relationships here, friendships that matter, friends that stand for each other in easy times and tough.

As someone who never seems to have the time or the energy to form deep, meaningful bonds with other adults who don’t share the same spaces as me, this tugged at my heart strings in a weird lotto way.

Island of Sea Women by Lisa See – Categorised “Historical Fiction”

Set in Jeju, South Korea and spanning 7+ decades, the island of sea women is a book spanning psychologies and communism, human insecurities, all in the backdrop of the Korea-Japan-USSR-America geopolitical intricacies.

But, it is also about two women, Mi-Ja and Young-sook. Girls who grow up together, grow old in a matter of days, drift away, get back, violently move away from each other.

It is a book that gives me hope, that friendships that are strong enough might survive any catastrophic break-up, if only there was the will to persevere and preserve each other.