Thick as Thieves: Tales of Friendship

by Ruskin Bond

Somewhere in life
There must be someone
To take your hand
And share the torrid day.
Without the touch of friendship
There is no life, and we must fade away.
Discover a hidden pool with three young boys, laugh out loud as a little
mouse makes demands on a lonely writer, follow the mischievous ‘four
feathers’ as they discover a baby lost in the hills, and witness the bond
between a tiger and his master. Some stories will make you smile, some
will bring tears to your eyes, some may make your heart skip a beat—
butall of them will renew your faith in the power of friendship.

Genres: Middle Grade, Fiction, Short Stories

208 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 15, 2013

About the author

Ruskin Bond is an Indian author of British descent. He is considered to be an icon among Indian writers and children's authors and a top novelist. He wrote his first novel, The Room on the Roof, when he was seventeen which won John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then he has written several novellas, over 500 short stories, as well as various essays and poems, all of which have established him as one of the best-loved and most admired chroniclers of contemporary India. In 1992 he received the Sahitya Akademi award for English writing, for his short stories collection, "Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra", by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters in India. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 for contributions to children's literature. He now lives with his adopted family in Landour near Mussoorie.

Reviews

[Sankrutyayan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful collection of short stories. Some have a happy ending, some end with not much drama, like in real life. These stories are not sad, nor they are satisfying to prod further on, they have some abruptness about some of them which is interesting yet leaves the reader with a thought to ponder over. Just few days before I started reading ‘Thick as Thieves’ I had completed ‘Under the Banyan Tree’. The disparity between the stories, the characters, the endings was not much. There seemed to have no effect of time and place on the innocence and purity of human nature. The conversations people have, the readiness of people to help strangers and the enthusiasm of the guileless is ever existing, though we are not ready to witness them. Nor do we try to attain the ability to see such beauty.

These stories just erase the uninteresting parts of our childhood and rewrite an exciting, adventurous and partly melancholic stories instilling a spectrum of emotions in our memory. Somewhere between the pages, I would stop to ask myself whether I had lived that moment myself ever and answer comes from the past or from the little town of ‘Malgudi’. I necessarily need not had lived that moment ever but my mind would prod me to believe in such a possibility. These people make childhood an awesome place to visit quite often. I love these people - who write these books and who had been written by in them.

[vaishnavi ☆ﾟ⁠.⁠* · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was also an award for 100% attendance from school lol. reading this book again was pure nostalgia. all the stories are short, sweet, and each one touches on a separate topic of life/ friendship.

[Radhika · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a Ruskin Bond book, need I say more.

[Meghana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruskin Bond is one of my favourite authors to return to when I crave some familiar, nostalgia-inducing prose. This collection of short stories made for an enjoyable couple of hours, and left me deep in thought, amused, or in tears- but always, always touched. His work never disappoints.

[Readaholic's Panorama · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Somewhere in life there must be someone to take your hand and share the torrid day.
Without the touch of friendship there is no life and we must fade away……”
It was this quote written on the back cover that attracted me towards this book.
How beautiful and so true!! A good, true friend is one on whom you can rely on for all your problems, small or big, mischiefs and laughters. Here, Ruskin Bond presents us with 25 beautifully written anecdotes that are here to remind us of our best friends and to renew our faith in the power of friendship.
But, friendship here is not just limited to people. Here, Bond explores the true meaning of a friend- ‘One who listens, doesn’t judge and somehow makes everything all right.’ The anecdotes range from friendship between humans and animals; humans and nature; and of course friendship among people.
Bond shows how friendship can prosper between people of different age groups, caste, social status, different roles and even different species.
Sometimes, friendship continues even after death and sometimes you just lose touch.
All the stories are so different each exploring a different kind of friendship and yet the essence is just the same.
Written in Bond’s inimitable style, enhanced with his unparalleled wit and humor, captivating descriptions and the beautiful expression of such a true bond of friendship, this book is one of my all time favourites.
Although in the social media world we all have so many Facebook friends, but are we really having ‘True friends’?? This book gives us an opportunity to ponder upon this.
Exciting, funny, touching and heart warming, this book is the best gift you can give to your friend.
To end in Ruskin Bond’s own words,
” On books and friends I spend my money,
For stones and bricks I haven’t any.”

[Edha Hanjura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book revolves around friendship. This book covers friendship between 3 boys, a author and a mouse, the author and an old lady and much more. The book gives different meanings of friendship and it has only short stories and poems. I usually love reading novels but this time, I genuinely enjoyed reading Bond’s short stories and also his unique poems. Bond always writes in the clearest and simplest way possible which makes his work so enjoyable. Bond also always or at least most of the time uses himself as a character in his short stories which makes it more fun to read as we have less characters to remember apart from the author.
The book also gives some unforgettable lessons and I have learnt quite a few. I feel his and Murthy’s writing style are quite similar. They explain small events of their past which leaves big changes in our lives. In this book, Bond also explained the meaning of friendship and also weaved a story with his imagination. The book just makes you focus on those small details of your life which you think don’t matter a lot but in reality they do. Ending this review, I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a light and interesting read...

[Kemil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good chapters from his diary of his younger days which describes the friendships in all the way possible.
The characterization is 5/5 for each new character he introduces with the chapter. If someone is looking for such detailing than this is a must read from it.

Ruskin Bond like all his other books gives fascination in simple words to the reader about what will happen next and how come some experiences such episodes in real life.

[Anil Muddineni · Rating 5 out of 5]

ssuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupppppppppppppppppppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Arya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Depicts friendship's importance in a perfect manner!

[YugTheProPirate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good.Really good.The descriptions of the nature scenes were the best part of the book for me!

[Parthiv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Makes you love nature, the trees, children, and the essence of India; fills-your-heart kinda writer and one of my personal favourites!

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

”We called ourselves the ’Four feathers’, the feathers signifying that we were companions in adventure, comrades-in-arms, and knights of the round table”

[Author AKR · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just started loving Ruskin Bond's writings. They are absolutely amazing, written in such an easy language that almost anyone can read them. ♡

[Abirami Sridhar · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Without the touch of friendship there is no life and we must fade away"

My best friend gifted me this book at the Chennai Book Fair. We are both Bond Fans. And of course I loved this book.

This short and sweet read has 25 short stories about friendship. Bond truly brings out the beauty of childhood friendships, the loyalty and honesty among friends. Even the most normal memory of childhood friendships make it extraordinary as years past. And recollecting them and enjoying them, and savouring them is a delight!

Well the stories are not too happy, or not too sad, but not too boring either! It's the perfect nostalgic -bond vibe!

Such a joyous bite to read!

[Shwetha H.S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a few stories in this book are excerpts from his semi-autobiographical novel The Room on the Roof. For the same reason, these excerpts given here as short stories give a different feel to your read. This book also features some of Mr. Bond's poems. A few are good and others are dear to God. There is another Romi, a third Romi from Bond's world, in the story "The Flute Player." The author seriously needs to find another name for his characters to avoid confusion. While reading this story and "The Window" I could feel the creepiness. I don't know if Mr. Bond never realized it or if it is the abundance of negativity in the news and social media that has affected me, say I have a dirty mind, but when you read these two stories, you cannot deny the creepiness. The short story title "The Story of Madhu" is heart churning. In this book, you will find the origin story of Ruskin Bond and his adopted family's relationship.
I have mixed feelings about Thick as Thieves. I am neutral on recommendation. If you decide to pick this book up to read, you are on your own.

[Jitender Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

the books of Ruskin bond are set in simpler times which reminds me of my own little adventures with friends. writing that touches Ur soul and feel wanting more