The Art of Feeling // Book Review

“That is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen,”says Eliot. “When did you take it out of the dryer?”
“It’s my dog,” I grumble.
 

 

 The Art of Feeling by Laura Tims

 Samantha Herring has been in constant pain ever since the car accident that injured her leg and killed her mother. After pushing her friends away, Sam has receded into a fog of depression until she meets Eliot, a carefree, impulsive loner, who is unable to feel any pain at all.

At first, Sam is jealous. She would give anything to not feel the pain she’s felt for the past year. But the more she learns about Eliot’s medical condition, the more she notices his self-destructive tendencies.

In fact, Eliot doesn’t seem to care about anything—except Sam. And as they grow closer, they begin to confront Sam’s painful memories of the accident, memories that hold a startling truth about what really happened that day.

 

 

Characters

 

And we got the Hufflpuff/Ravenclaw ship, but also the mysterious rarely seen Hufflepuff who will 10/10 stab you. We don't get enough "THROWS SELF INTO FIGHT" Hufflepuffs and we should! And that was 100% Sam! Also, her inner dialog? Aah

AND THE BANTER BETWEEN THEM

Because Eliot is kind of a salty, deadpan, and at least mostly pretentious rich boy and the way they interact? GOLD.  

Honestly, all of the characters felt so real and vibrantly written, and yet had so many flaws. 

"Friends stick up for each other, at least according to wikiHow."
"You looked up friendship on wikiHow?"

 

 

Other Things

It has a boy who can't feel any pain and a girl who is in constant pain which is just such a cool concept? ALSO, it was adorable? And it's a slowburn.Honestly, it spends more time on their friendship then on their ship. (See what I did there?) 

MBTI types were included! But they flow right into the story, in case they're not your jam and you don't spend too much time reading about random Psych stuff :P 

IT'S ALSO FUNNY???

 

There are portrayals of drug and alcohol use. In the case of the drug use, it was portrayed as an absolutely stupid thing to do, so *shrugs*

 (and I think there was some swearing)

Also, I've been told the depression and anxiety portrayed is spot on, so there's that.

AND *clap* ACCURATE *clap* SIBLINGS *clap* 

I mean, look at this gem!

“...because you owe me.”
“For what?”
“For not doing this.” I lean back toward the stairs. “Dad!”
Rex tenses all over like a cat and hisses like one, too. “Shutupshutup—”
“Give me the number,” I hiss back in similar cat fashion.
“Like hell—”
“Dad!” I bellow.

5/5 stars