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Feelings: A Story in Seasons

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A gorgeous visual journey through one young woman's year of emotions—from the saturated highs of early summer to the grey isolation of late winter.

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.

133 pages, ebook

First published March 2, 2021

About the author

Manjit Thapp

9 books44 followers
Manjit Thapp is an illustrator from the United Kingdom. She graduated with a BA in illustration from Camberwell College of Arts. Her illustrations combine traditional and digital media, and her work has been featured by Instagram, Dazed, Vogue India, and Wonderland Magazine.

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5 stars
1,326 (41%)
4 stars
1,196 (37%)
3 stars
543 (17%)
2 stars
79 (2%)
1 star
17 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 634 reviews
Profile Image for emma.
2,246 reviews74.2k followers
October 5, 2021
The thing about depression is that it is very boring and aesthetically unappealing. Sleeping all day? Feeling either no emotions or an immense sadness? Never leaving your room or even turning the lights on? No thanks!

Usually any content created about depression is doomed to be similar, because the source material is...challenging.

But this book??? Is so pretty. Is so lovely and little and interesting.

Depression isn't, but this is!

Bottom line: I love arbitrarily picking up a book and then being rewarded for my adventurousness by really enjoying it!

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pre-review

sooooo this is the prettiest book i've ever read in my life.

review to come / 4ish stars

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tbr review

my library just added a bunch of graphic novels. relatedly, i think i know how to fix my reading slump now
Profile Image for Reading_ Tamishly.
5,178 reviews3,186 followers
May 25, 2024
This illustrated journal kinda book has all the Elizabeth Acevedo and Rupi Kaur vibes.

I can relate to it all as it deals accurately with anxiety and need to be alone.

Social media, workload, expectations and execution. Sometimes it becomes quite exhausting. But it's what we love and what I need to do.

Relax. Create. Rewind.

There's nothing wrong with this. We need it to recreate and rejuvenate.

The illustrations are really calming and they represent exactly what I feel.


A go-to book for an overwhelming day.
Profile Image for daph pink ♡ .
1,118 reviews3,026 followers
December 9, 2021
Because there were few dialogues, this graphic novel would have taken me less than 30 minutes to read. But it took me two days since I didn't want the art to stop because I was enjoying it so much. I intended to snap a screenshot of each page and use it as my wallpaper. It was simply breathtaking. Manjit Thapp is a genius when it comes to colour schemes and expressing thoughts without using words.

I'd like for everyone to read it. It's truly magnificent..
Profile Image for jenny✨.
585 reviews899 followers
November 24, 2020
Simple, lush, and 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, while text message notifs appear 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 feeling of sliding backwards even as you hit a boon and surge forward (monsoon season). And the way the panels bleed into each other is very visually appealing.

The book is organized into 6 seasons: high summer, late summer, monsoon, autumn, winter, and 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; 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.



Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this stunning ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for ally.
87 reviews5,797 followers
June 13, 2022
beautifully mundane and perfectly poetic
Profile Image for Scottsdale Public Library.
3,412 reviews326 followers
May 25, 2023
One of the most beautiful graphic novels I have ever read, Feelings: A Story in Seasons, provides a glimpse into the life of the author and her emotions over the course of a year.

The story is told through 6 seasons: high summer, late summer, monsoon, autumn, winter, and spring. With each season, the incredibly talented Manjit Thapp perfectly encapsulates the look and feel of the changing months and the emotions that often accompany them, from the vibrancy of creativity and light in high summer and the gray, isolation of winter.

Touching on topics of anxiety and depression, this graphic novel is gripping, honest, and poignant. -Jenny L.
Profile Image for HorrorBabe911.
154 reviews43 followers
November 12, 2022
So the illustrations were absolutely beautiful; but for me, the story was a bit depressing. I understand it has to do with feelings, but I don’t believe it doesn’t truly reflects on many people’s perspective on different seasons. I personally don’t like the summer time, I love winter.
Profile Image for Dave Schaafsma.
Author 6 books31.9k followers
July 1, 2021
Lovely and muted graphic novel that allows the images to carry the focus. The idea is to track the emotions of an unnamed woman across the seasons, to show how feelings are tied to the weather sometimes. in part because I just read some women's punk comics I was initially not interested in this book, as it is abstract, has this obvious title, and is not really narrative or even really character-driven. It made me think of this song we made fun of decades ago, "Feelings," by Albert Morris.

But a second reading brought me to a bit more meditative state as I began to appreciate the contemplative approach to the art. I think the main character may struggle with depression. Or a rollercoaster of emotions. So when I categorize this as poetry comics I am not referring so much to Thapp's words so much as the deliberate, lyrical arrangement of images for emotional effects.

Right, it's lovely, reflective, but it's still abstract, a book about feelings, so I rate it 3 stars, because I like the art and the glimpse into the range of one woman's emotions.
Profile Image for Steph.
679 reviews421 followers
March 2, 2021
wow. i loved this soft and soothing graphic memoir.

beautifully warm and emotive art, accompanied by gentle words, all reflecting the passage of time. feelings has a chapter for each season. as time passes, the growth or dormancy of plant life parallels thapp's own moods.

a page from feelings with the text: i build myself up and carve out my own space

the geometric style of the panels reminds me of an artsy early-90s picture book that i think i read in my youth and can no longer recall. the art's warm simplicity is soothing, as are its rich colors.

if you can get your hands on a physical copy upon release, i'd definitely recommend it. i loved the ebook, but i think the best way to enjoy feelings would be to slowly pore over the paper pages.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
Profile Image for Rod Brown.
6,383 reviews235 followers
March 7, 2021
As I started the book, I read the dedication aloud to my daughter, "For those who feel all the feels," and ventured that I don't think I'm the intended audience for this book. She agreed, saying I have about 10 percent of the feels. Well, I think I can easily hit 12 or 13 percent on a good day. But this book did not catch me on a good day.

In big pictures that are flat and too often too on the nose and with short sentences that aren't quite poetic but close enough, the author walks us through the seasons (she throws in a couple extra to get us to six) and her emotional response to them. So for me, it's mostly a book of someone talking about the weather, which, I mean, who ever really enjoys those conversations, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te7bb...
Profile Image for Paris (parisperusing).
187 reviews46 followers
December 25, 2020
“I realise everyone is huddled in their own cocoon. They’re either happy in the warm. Or waiting to thaw in better days. I’m not alone in feeling this way but I’m alone all the same.”

A one-sitting read that, for what it's worth, will speak to millennials caught in the throes of quarter-life crises. The association of changing seasons with one's emotions becomes a tad trite as the pages turn, though, as the speaker makes every imaginable metaphor that informs summer as a time for growth and prosperity and winter as sullen and uninspiring and the seasons in between the limbo through which her hope navigates in undulant patterns. The storytelling, albeit rendered magnificently by Thapp's skillful, artistic hand, gives little to the root of her anxiety. She appears to have an ideal friend group to confide in but often retreats from for reasonable moments of isolation and sadness; a job that appears to get her by well enough with the added prospect of a solo art exhibit; and a promising dating life that is more or less interrupted by the currents of these mood swings — still, the motive underneath it all is never entirely unveiled in a way that could forge a connection with the reader. I would have liked for the speaker to have explored her anxiety, to give it depth.

Nevertheless, I think, on a vulnerable level, I understand what Thapp attempted to convey in this book through illustrations that lay bare her feelings. I am, too, of the cheesy ilk that links seasons with moods — albeit oppositely (summertime sadness is a real thing, y'all) — yet I believe Feelings will find its people, especially in the age of quarantine, when they least expect it.

3.5 stars overall. Thanks, Random House, for the gifted copy.
Profile Image for Deborah.
762 reviews61 followers
September 9, 2021
A woman who suffers from anxiety uses the six-season calendar based on some South Asian countries to illustrate her emotions. In high Summer she thrives. Slowly her good cheer wanes as shadows loom bringing stress and worries and her energy dissipates. The Monsoon depicts days of raw and brutally honest emotions. In Autumn she reaches a nadir and struggles to climb out in her desire to blossom again. A visual insight in how the seasons can affect moods and her art. Gentle, poignant, and honest. 3.5 stars.
Profile Image for Rebeca.
203 reviews239 followers
October 7, 2020
thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

what a simple, colorful book yet so impactful. With so much emotion, I quickly ate it up and will happily come back to it again and again.
Profile Image for Neeks.
150 reviews1,009 followers
November 21, 2021
Absolutely STUNNING illustrations and lots of beautiful details with each emotion and season. A really beautifully illustrated graphic novel about seasonal depression
Profile Image for verbava.
1,072 reviews134 followers
December 31, 2022
красивезна, сплетена здебільшого з кольорів і форм коміксова історія про сезонну циклічність почуттів, натхнень і життєвих сил. у героїні вершина року припадає на літо, у мене — на ранню весну, та й загалом я в нормальних обставинах менш сезонозалежна, але цю гойдалку — up and down, up and down — усе одно тяжко не впізнати. особливо в нинішніх не те щоб нормальних обставинах.
Profile Image for Wilmarie .
124 reviews32 followers
January 1, 2021
wow just wow 🧡 Review coming soon but right now my emotions are too much to process everything
Profile Image for Michelle Curie.
922 reviews441 followers
August 3, 2023
Beautiful and surprisingly emotional visualisation of seasonal affective disorder featuring some truly gorgeous illustrations.



Feelings follows a woman, loosely based on the author herself, throughout the course of a year. As the seasons change, so do her feelings and self-worth. The protagonist is an artist trying to get her work ready for an upcoming show the following year and we watch her grow and shrink as the days move from Spring to Winter.

This is utterly stunning. Manjit Thapp has been doing rather well as an illustrator long before this book came out and I've been enjoying her work for quite a while before this, so being served a body of work from her in the size of a book was already something to look forward to. And she certainly doesn't disappoint – these pages flourish. Not only the colours are lovely, but so are the compositional choices and details on each spread. Honestly, she could have written about anything and I would have happily soaked every page up.



Because I came for the art, it came as a positive surprise that the story hit a nerve as well. Thapp decided to divide this book into six chapters, each dedicated to one season. There's high summer in which the narrator is thriving – long days, rejuvenating sun is followed by productivity, creativity and motivation. By the time it gets to late summer, the sun gets too heavy, the protagonist asks starts to get more self-conscious about why she can't enjoy everyone's favourite season as much as everyone else. Things don't necessarily get better by the time monsoon comes around and even worse with autumn and winter, where the days are short and dark. I could definitely tap into these feelings depicted myself and seeing them represented on page had a stimulating and calming effect on me.

It's one of those books you'll want to get back to every now and then. The images definitely take the spotlight with the text being sparse anyway. Besides being interesting, this is just so pretty that it's worth taking a look at it just so you can take a look at it.
Profile Image for Callum McLaughlin.
Author 4 books92 followers
June 28, 2021
This is a gentle and ruminative look at how much our mood/mental health can be affected by the changing seasons. The text itself is relatively simple, though it does have an air of prose poetry to it. So while it may not discuss any particularly unique experiences or offer up any groundbreaking insights, it is likely to resonate widely.

If you suffer from anxiety or bouts of depression (particularly SAD), you are sure to feel seen by Thapp's musings. Regardless, the real draw here is her stunning artwork. A dreamy colour palette and a playful use of structure and layout elevate this quasi-graphic-memoir considerably. I will certainly come back to this to soak up the visuals, and will be keeping an eye out for more of Thapp's work.
Profile Image for Ashley.
228 reviews8 followers
May 10, 2021
Loved the depiction of seasons coinciding with feelings. Incredibly relatable.
March 6, 2021
100% loved this. It was perfect for me. Anyone who deals with seasonal affective disorder will really relate to this. It is poetic and compassionate. So gentle and vulnerable...authentic. The artwork is gorgeous. I mean really really gorgeous. The book itself is put together really well. The paper is fantastic. Whoever chose that needs a pat on the back. Highly recommend this one!
Profile Image for Amy.
276 reviews88 followers
April 15, 2021
I have job interviews all week, and I'm stressed, and I'm sick, and this book made me feel slightly better
Profile Image for Sophie.
74 reviews13 followers
December 20, 2020
I thoroughly enjoyed reading “Feelings”, finding shards of my own personality in the plot, as winter sets in around me. The book does a great job of visually representing how anxiety and/or depression can affect one, especially throughout the changing of the seasons. I’ve been of fan of Thapp’s illustrations for a while and was delighted to see them expanded upon in narrative form here.

This is a great book for anyone looking for a beautiful, colorful, visual escape in book form, albeit an informative, emotional escape. Anyone who has struggled with mental illness, social or general anxiety would feel less alone after reading it. My favorite parts were the summer season images and I especially appreciated the depiction and inclusion of social media in certain parts. Sometimes social media is what really puts you over the edge when you’re feeling alone. It also felt like a visual diary. which added to the intimacy and genuine feeling of the story. Though I read this on a screen, I can imagine this book being a great book that is also a piece of art to have around.

What sets “Feelings” apart from other books, specifically comic books written by artists, is the fact that the story feels close to home. The way the narrative is written feels like you’re seeing thoughts as they happen in real time, and I loved the simplicity of some of the pages. Nothing was too overcrowded or hard to process, each line was given it’s own space visually which led to a more meditative reading experience.

My only qualms with the story would be more of a resolution in the end. Though I understand the ending was likely written more open-ended, to leave readers with a hopeful feeling for the future, I’d have loved a more full-circle growth to show how one can truly rebound from periods of depression or anxiety.

Overall I really enjoyed this story and would recommend it to any of my friends. Thanks Netgalley!
Profile Image for Kare Bear.
27 reviews1 follower
June 20, 2024
Wow, what a beautiful book.

I’m her and she is me. This novel perfectly illustrated how life just happens and you sometimes battle emotions that seem to have no place. As if they’ve come out of nowhere when just moments before you were enjoying my your days in the sun. - perfectly describes seasonal depression / SAD

The art was gorgeous and so creative in how she chose to get certain messages across without any added text.

This was a great introduction into adult graphic novels and I can’t wait to read more. LOVE THIS STORY!
Profile Image for Kelly (kellyreadingbooks).
778 reviews30 followers
August 3, 2022
This was my first ever graphic novel! I really want to get into them. If you have any recommendations for me, I'd really appreciate them! I own Persepolis but haven't read it yet.

The artwork in this is 10/10 gorgeous. This is about seasonal depression and seemed like a really cool topic to unpack but I just didn't find myself feeling much on it even though I have suffered from clinical depression (though not seasonal). But I would definitely get a print of this artwork!
Profile Image for Stefanie.
104 reviews
March 13, 2021
The perfect Saturday morning read as spring slowly creeps in. This visual journey through the seasons and her emotions gave me all the feels. A book to help acknowledge the visiting feelings and help you see that we have shared experiences. Even though this story is a graphic novel, I’d say this book is geared more towards adults and teens.
Profile Image for dovesnook.
655 reviews235 followers
May 23, 2022
Breathe out.
Hauntingly beautiful, Feelings: a Story in Seasons is an achingly relatable graphic novel about the emotional cycle many of us go through. I loved the double meaning behind everything, and how this author made me realize that the same beauty we find in nature can be found in ourselves.

-inspiring
-amazing art
Displaying 1 - 30 of 634 reviews

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