5 Stars

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for letting me read an early digital copy of this narrative. All opinions expressed here are my own.

This story narrates the ways Thapp navigates her depression and anxiety through the seasons. Thapp's narrative is equal parts comforting and melancholic. If you enjoy Tillie Walden's minimal text and melancholic tone (re: Are You Listening?) and her sweeping visual imagery, I think you would really enjoy this graphic novel. This is not to minimize Thapp's originality, though. This story stands on its own. Thapp's written text is minimal in the narrative, and yet so much is conveyed in the imagery and color palette she weaves together on each page. I love the saturated color palette in every section: from the warm, orange tones of summer to the deep, vibrant grays of winter. This is a story about resilience, and the comfort you have when you look back on the year and see the ways you persevered. It's hopeful, and I'm so glad this story exists. I highly recommend it!

This book is in a graphic novel format that focuses on a woman's mental health. The season changes every chapter and so does her mood, thought life, and circumstances. The woman is an artist as well as a plant owner and her hobbies diminish as each season goes by. This book seems to reflect the truth about how the weather can determine our happiness. The woman seems to suffer from seasonal depression, but she works to better her mental health as each chapter goes on. This book was opened my eyes to the reality of what it is like to be sad for an extensive amount of time and I would recommend this book to anyone who struggles with their mental health.

When I picked this book up I expected it to be similar to Rupi Kaur's style of expression, predominantly words with some imagery scattered throughout. That was not the case at all. This book felt like a an ode to the seasons, an ode to nature and feelings and the changes within each of us as the outdoors transform from season to season throughout the year. I really enjoyed the simple yet powerful expressions of creative expansion and loving life to the fullest despite challenges with anxiety and emotional/mental health struggles. I enjoyed the graphic novel style to the book and the simple but powerful message.

Do you remember how the Summer sun makes you feel, in the darkest, longest parts of Winter - and all that both bring with them? We follow a young woman as she traverses the beautifully rendered seasons of her moods. From soaking up all of High Summer to the last warm, inspiring drop, through the lonely cocoon of Winter: it’s so cool, I feel like Lana del ray could score it perfectly. The concise but simply lyrical prose is relatable, and the illustrations are gorgeous, modern, and confidently beautiful, and at the same time warm and soft - even in the coolest months. I love that the colors soothe your senses, as if you’re basking in a sunbeam, most of all. And that the story revolves around feeling all the feels of one’s own internal, emotional experience, not around a love interest like most young adult books do. This book is gorgeous, and would be a great gift for a moody teenager, your introverted artsy friend, or anyone who feels a bit blue in the inside months.

This beautiful and timely book is a great addition to any collection. The seasonal descriptions were my favorite and I loved how we moved through the story.

**I received an ARC from the publisher on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! I don't know where to begin. This book/graphic novel is beautiful, amazing, and wonderful. I cried it touched me so much. Manjit Thapp did an excellent job showing the struggles of depression and anxiety that people face daily. I loved how she broke it into seasons because sometimes it comes like that. The drawings were beautiful and colorful. And I just can't get over the words. They resonated with me and my personal struggles. I read it 3 times in a row! I highly recommend this book.

Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse for my copy of this beautiful graphic novel.

I loved the soft, gently paced prose accompanying the illustrations that shows one woman’s year as her moods follow the seasons. Her emotions and creativity soar in the summer and start to fun with winter’s muted light. As spring nears, we see her blossom again. I can’t wait to have a hard copy of this in my hands to turn again and again!
This one isn’t due out until spring of 2021, so get your preorders in now, you won’t want to miss this one ❤️
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Feelings is full of... well... feelings. The author, Manjit Thapp, uses the seasons as an outline for her mental health which is what I expected out of a book with the subtitle A Story in Seasons. This is mainly a book of art. There are words and the words to hold a lot of meaning, but the focus is more on the art than most graphic novels with a 50/50 mix

As the reader you're clearly an outsider in Thapp's moods and feelings as I never actually felt what she was feeling. I've read other mental health themed graphic novels which translated things like anxiety better, but I think that was Thapp's point. My feeling is that she's presenting what would be seen by an outsider while also giving us her thoughts on the changing seasons.

The art was pretty and easy to enjoy. I didn't have to stare at each picture contemplating the meaning, it was all quite clear and pretty.

Manjit Thapp tells a full story by using few words and that's quite an accomplishment. I recommend this for anyone who wants to read a more cerebral graphic novel. It's well worth your time.

Thank you to Net Galley and the Random House Publishing group for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

“I've got a cloudy outlook, but I pretend it's all fine. Because nothing less than sunshine is acceptable.”

Feelings: A Story in Seasons is a graphic memoir by Manjit Thapp that focuses on mental health and how it can change based on the time of year. Some seasons bring hope, while others only agitate inevitable anxiety. The memoir is divided into 6 seasons: High Summer, Low Summer, Monsoon, Autumn, Winter, & Spring.

While I did find the content of Thapp’s graphic memoir to be relatable, I was most impressed by the artwork in this piece. Thapp’s use of color and line are stunning. The simplicity in the illustrations allowed the emotions to be relayed through the prose of the text, which is quite poetic and almost feels like verse at certain points. Illustration complements the attempt to relay mental health as words often fall short in explaining the complexities of anxiety and depression.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this arc.

I didn't like this at all. The only good thing about this was the beautiful images. The colours were amazing.
The words, sentences, prose? They're not all that good, and they're mostly cheesy.
It just feels useless, I don't see the point of the book. I've dealt with anxiety but I don't feel like this is interesting.
The blue light thingy didn't appear early enough for us to understand. It was just randomly announced...

An absolutely gorgeous graphic novel that reminds all of us how easy it is to get caught up in our own heads.
Thapp reminds us that “we are not alone...but [knowing] that makes us no less lonely”. A beautifully-written description of feelings that works well when paired with the season typically celebrated in Southeast Asia.

The book’s dialogue feels *so* relatable, yet I can’t recall ever reading a book so different from what’s out there. I like Thapp’s voice, simply put. Feelings was a worthwhile book. I am so glad I requested it.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for an e-arc of this wonderful graphic novel for an honest review.

I thought this was such a great graphic novel all about anxiety and seasonal depression. I never really thought about that there was such a thing as seasonal depression. This was such an eye opener and there were times where I felt I could relate in some small way. I think it was courageous of the author to write about what she experienced.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the copy of Feelings. This is a voluntary review.

A reflective, stunning illustration of seasonal anxiety. A year in time is shown, with each season lifting or dampening the mood and productivity of the MC. I adored the art, it was expressive and in combination with the narration, speaks to the way weather and time can take us through our own seasons.

“Going through the motions but feeling no emotions.” The winter section of this ripped my heart out; it was painfully relatable. I could see parts of myself and my anxiety in each season, but winter was definitely the most stirring. The artwork is absolutely stunning and a creative visual of how the sun and weather impacts so much of our mental health. There were some certain phrases that felt repetitive, but other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this little book! I’d buy for the artwork alone!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book represents the author's own experiences with anxiety and seasonal depression. As someone who struggles with both, I connected to this book. I really enjoyed the art style. Especially how the colors were used regarding each season. "Feelings" was a quick and easy read. Personally, I will not be picking this book up again. Not because I didn't like it, I actually enjoyed it very much, but because I am not the biggest fan of short stories. I would recommend "Feelings" to anyone who enjoys short stories, graphic novels, and people who struggle with anxiety and depression as well.

<i>arc provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review</i>

This was a very impactful and beautiful read. The art absolutely took my breath away multiple times and the story itself hooked its claws into from the first page.

This was lyrical and simple but delivered its message beautifully. I really connected with her and to see some of what I’ve felt in her and her experiences really helped me feel not so alone. I know that will stick with other readers too.

This is definitely one that will stick with me for a long time.

4/5 🌟

My review will be up on my blog on November 13th 2020!

This was a lovely depiction of seasonal depression/anxiety. I want to get a physical copy, as I didn't feel I got the full affect from my black and white Kindle.

Enter Manjit Thapp's world, where you'll find moods that change as quickly as the weather; the different shades of anxiety and hope that each new season brings; and the stages of joy and pain that fuel our growth. From the spark of possibility and jolt of creativity in High Summer, to the need for release from anxiety and pressure during Monsoon, to the desolation and numbness of Winter, Thapp implores us to consider the seasons of our own emotional journeys.

Articulating and validating the range of feelings we all experience, this is a book that allows us to feel connected and comforted by the experiences that make us human.- Goodreads

I was expecting something completely different and the emotion that I felt while reading this unexpected as well. I wouldn't call this book and I am not sure if I would call it poetry either. I read it like sentences, beautiful sentences that gave the artwork in the background depth.

It was relatable and it was honest. It was short unfortunately but it was much more moving than I thought it would be.

Feelings by Manjit Thapp is beautifully illustrated and tells the story of a young woman cycling through her feelings, emotions, and overall mental health throughout the yearly seasons. Thank you NetGalley and Manjit Thapp for allowing me to read this ARC.

Simple, lush, gorgeously illustrated: I pored over every page of this enchanting book.

Prior to Feelings, I had only known of Manjit Thapp through the artwork she provided for Vivek Shraya’s The Subtweet. It’s without a doubt one of the most beautiful (and memorable) covers I’ve ever seen.

So when I found out Thapp was releasing her own book—“a visual journey through one young woman's year of emotions”—I was so, so excited. Feelings balances natural imagery and illustrations of technology—Instagram profiles interweave with riotous blossoms, text message notifs appearing alongside the pitter-patter of gloomy rainfall.

I was especially enamoured with the organization of elements on the page. One sequence of images, for instance, is structured to look like a game of Snakes & Ladders, which I thought so aptly captured the feelings of sliding backwards even as you hit a boon and surge forward (monsoon season). And the way the panels bleed into each other is so visually appealing.

The book is organized into 6 seasons: high summer, late summer, monsoon, autumn, winter, spring. Thapp’s masterful use of colour and palettes shows within each season: from the gorgeous pastels of high summer to the mellow warmth of late summer; monsoon season’s muted blues, purples, pinks, the stress-laden red of autumn, and winter’s dark teal and bitter, ashy grey; and finally cycling back to the tentative pastels of spring.

I can’t wait to read and re-read this book as I go through my own seasons.