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Constantly
A poetic meditation rendered in beautiful pastels and black line on managing and struggling to get through the small tasks of every day. The claustrophobia of thought and the crippling of anxiety make any house haunted, any body possessed.
48 pages, Paperback
First published January 7, 2020
269 people want to read
About the author
GG
53 books72 followersgg lives and works in the small Canadian prairie city where she grew up during the 1980s. In this pre-Internet era, isolated geographically and culturally, drawing and making up stories was the means to connect to something more. It was romantic and lonely. In 2016 she was included in The Best American Comics edited by Roz Chast.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
February 4, 2020
Constantly by GG is the second book I have read from her. She’s Canadian, living in a small town on the plains, and does these small and achingly delicate introspective and poetic reflections in gorgeous pastels.
Here, see if you don’t agree, a few pages from the Koyama Press site:
http://koyamapress.com/projects/const...
Amirite?
This short small book is mostly wordless, focused on a woman as she wakes and gets ready to head out of the door in the morning. The few words she writes on a notebook are:
Constantly
I don’t want to eat
I don’t want to sleep
I don’t want to live
I don’t want to die
I don’t want to laugh
I don’t want to cry
I don’t want a body
I don’t want to leave a trace
I don’t want to be forgotten
I don’t want
I don’t want
I don’t want
I don’t want to be different
I don’t want to be normal
Who are you?
What do you want?
Constantly
On a personal note, it is hard for me to deny the powerful synchronicity of having read, in close succession, Milkman, Normal People, Commute, and this one that touch on issues of depression/anxiety/dissociation, all pertaining to women (though the first three books also name men as central in the daily struggles/abuse/trauma those women face).
I think this is amazing. Ach, I have to read more alternative/poetic graphic novels like this again and always!!
Here, see if you don’t agree, a few pages from the Koyama Press site:
http://koyamapress.com/projects/const...
Amirite?
This short small book is mostly wordless, focused on a woman as she wakes and gets ready to head out of the door in the morning. The few words she writes on a notebook are:
Constantly
I don’t want to eat
I don’t want to sleep
I don’t want to live
I don’t want to die
I don’t want to laugh
I don’t want to cry
I don’t want a body
I don’t want to leave a trace
I don’t want to be forgotten
I don’t want
I don’t want
I don’t want
I don’t want to be different
I don’t want to be normal
Who are you?
What do you want?
Constantly
On a personal note, it is hard for me to deny the powerful synchronicity of having read, in close succession, Milkman, Normal People, Commute, and this one that touch on issues of depression/anxiety/dissociation, all pertaining to women (though the first three books also name men as central in the daily struggles/abuse/trauma those women face).
I think this is amazing. Ach, I have to read more alternative/poetic graphic novels like this again and always!!
October 14, 2023
I am going to call this a flowing poem that navigates a single day (almost Prufrockian) - simple yet profound. Very original and engaging; I am always looking for new perspectives in GN. Reminded me of some of the works of Samuel Beckett - there is an existential undercurrent to this GN that forces the reader to reflect on their own life.
January 14, 2020
Possibly the best comic about depression I've ever read.
January 5, 2020
GG of I'm Not Here returns in Constantly with another elegant and minimalist story. The story is a touching portrait of a woman wracked by depression, disillusionment, and anxiety. The story reminds me much like a duck gliding so regally across the surface of a pond. Below the surface, the duck is churning the waters with desperate intense energy. Still, you would never know it by looking at the glass-like surface of the water just as you wouldn't understand GG's intent if you look at these panels superficially.
The story is rendered in neutral grays and pinks, almost fashionable colors. The first panels illustrate a young woman as she goes about her morning ablution. She awoke troubled from sleep, so she is now to get dressed. The panels, even from the very beginning, have a sort of air quality to them. You see the young woman gazing out the window. Instead of gazing in wonderment, you get the sense that she is gazing with anxiety. Something about each of the panels is almost imperceptibly off. Later as the story progresses, you see the only dialog. It is in the form of sentences written on a lined notebook sheet. In the beginning it reads:
"I don't want
I don't want
I don't want
I don't want"
Interspersed with the lightness of the pink and gray panels, we have dark panels that show the main character getting pulled in different directions from all angles. It is all confusion and desperation. Then there is a panel of the woman lying on a black bed surrounded by pink walls in the fetal position. As an anxiety sufferer myself, I can empathize and understand what she is feeling at that moment. I to have laid in beautiful rooms and been too wracked by so much anxiety I could not open my eyes nor lift my head.
As the story progress interspersed between panels of the woman doing benign things are scenes of the woman writing in her notebook:
"I don't want to eat,
I don't want to sleep."
"I don't want to live."
"I don't want to die."
It seems as if the character is standing on the abyss of dark depression; she does not want to live at this moment. But she also does not want to die. There is some hope, some small gem of Constantly hope still inside of her.
Constantly is a starkly affecting book. I thin, especially for those who have suffered from depression and anxiety. You can see it in the curve of the young woman's hand, the angle of her head, the fact that you never see her real face throughout the story.
GG has given explained something vastly complicated with delicate clarity and nuance. It is beautiful and heartbreaking if you look a bit deeper.
The story is rendered in neutral grays and pinks, almost fashionable colors. The first panels illustrate a young woman as she goes about her morning ablution. She awoke troubled from sleep, so she is now to get dressed. The panels, even from the very beginning, have a sort of air quality to them. You see the young woman gazing out the window. Instead of gazing in wonderment, you get the sense that she is gazing with anxiety. Something about each of the panels is almost imperceptibly off. Later as the story progresses, you see the only dialog. It is in the form of sentences written on a lined notebook sheet. In the beginning it reads:
"I don't want
I don't want
I don't want
I don't want"
Interspersed with the lightness of the pink and gray panels, we have dark panels that show the main character getting pulled in different directions from all angles. It is all confusion and desperation. Then there is a panel of the woman lying on a black bed surrounded by pink walls in the fetal position. As an anxiety sufferer myself, I can empathize and understand what she is feeling at that moment. I to have laid in beautiful rooms and been too wracked by so much anxiety I could not open my eyes nor lift my head.
As the story progress interspersed between panels of the woman doing benign things are scenes of the woman writing in her notebook:
"I don't want to eat,
I don't want to sleep."
"I don't want to live."
"I don't want to die."
It seems as if the character is standing on the abyss of dark depression; she does not want to live at this moment. But she also does not want to die. There is some hope, some small gem of Constantly hope still inside of her.
Constantly is a starkly affecting book. I thin, especially for those who have suffered from depression and anxiety. You can see it in the curve of the young woman's hand, the angle of her head, the fact that you never see her real face throughout the story.
GG has given explained something vastly complicated with delicate clarity and nuance. It is beautiful and heartbreaking if you look a bit deeper.
January 17, 2020
Very beautiful drawing - crisp and delicate, flat colour, graphic and clean. The narrative is told so subtly - small changes and nuance are key. It has a beautiful emotional delicacy, and communicates a kind of wistful desperation. Great bit of work.
January 3, 2021
beautiful
January 31, 2020
Not quite sure what to make of this, but it was lovely, enigmatic, and sad. Recommended for adults who enjoy artsy graphic novels.
December 31, 2025
A heart-achingly lovely visual poem about depression. The woman attempts to engage in self-care: sleeping, yoga, eating, getting dressed, and leaving her apartment, but shadowy hands sabotage her at every step; disrupting her sleep, pulling at her during yoga, knock over her blender, fell her wardrobe, distort time, and when she tries to leave push her into bed.
Depression does these things; it makes the simplest things difficult, it makes one isolate.
Depression does these things; it makes the simplest things difficult, it makes one isolate.
February 13, 2020
A woman with depression makes it through one day.
For the first few pages of this super short graphic novel, I wasn't sure what was going on. Then I turned the page and everything fell into place. With almost no words, these are beautifully captured images of what it can feel like to have Depression (I capitalize it on purpose). If you haven't ever dealt with this, the book probably won't resonate as much, but it might help you to understand those in your life who do. If you have this struggle yourself, you'll lose your breath with how well gg has slammed it down on the page.
I'm very impressed and will be reading more of the author/illustrator's work.
For the first few pages of this super short graphic novel, I wasn't sure what was going on. Then I turned the page and everything fell into place. With almost no words, these are beautifully captured images of what it can feel like to have Depression (I capitalize it on purpose). If you haven't ever dealt with this, the book probably won't resonate as much, but it might help you to understand those in your life who do. If you have this struggle yourself, you'll lose your breath with how well gg has slammed it down on the page.
I'm very impressed and will be reading more of the author/illustrator's work.
February 12, 2020
Holyshit.
I picked this up on a whim at my local library because I'm a ho for muted pastel pink (aka the colors all throughout the book) and I am so glad I did.
Such a beautiful portrayal of anxiety through drawings and minimal text. If I find this in a used bookstore, I will definitely be purchasing it for my personal collection.
I picked this up on a whim at my local library because I'm a ho for muted pastel pink (aka the colors all throughout the book) and I am so glad I did.
Such a beautiful portrayal of anxiety through drawings and minimal text. If I find this in a used bookstore, I will definitely be purchasing it for my personal collection.
February 11, 2021
3.5/4 stars. Anxiety, depression and fear told through pastels and shadows. Feels like visual poetry.
May 7, 2021
With muted colors and nearly mute of words, this simple, short story captures the ambivalence towards life one feels when struggling with mental illness.
May 17, 2024
7.5/10
February 5, 2020
A much more abstract presentation than “I’m Not Here.” Also a very thin book; $10 almost feels a bit expensive but then this is also art which ups the value and translates $10 into almost too low of a price. If you haven’t dealt with depression or other mental health issues, this may not be something easily understood. Or, I could be seeing too much of myself in some of these “snapshots” and misinterpreting them. It is a book for a psychologist helping teens to have on their shelf. Some adults, like myself, would benefit but many of us have let go of this kind of thinking.
February 24, 2020
I read this in under two minutes and it made me cry. I can't review anything more honest than that. 4 stars.
September 15, 2024
This was worth it for the art style alone.
September 2024, reread: 24 year old me thought this was genius. so glad I am no longer so emotionally and intellectually shallow.
September 2024, reread: 24 year old me thought this was genius. so glad I am no longer so emotionally and intellectually shallow.
Read
June 21, 2023Less talk, more depth..
July 29, 2021
Constantly is a graphic novel written and illustrated by GG. It is an affecting account of a young woman's struggle with depression and anxiety.
The unnamed woman awakens from troubled sleep and tries to complete her morning routine. She does her stretches, prepares coffee, waters the plants, showers, and gets dressed, all the while battling dark thoughts, which are represented by ghostly, grasping silhouetted hands, alternately pulling and pushing at her.
Interspersed are glimpses of the woman's notebook, which reveal jotted notes in often desperate terms, though every complaint is leavened with a kernel of hope.
Constantly is written and constructed rather well. GG has an elegant, austere visuals and minimal text to render this affecting account of a young woman's struggle with depression and anxiety. The young woman's face is never seen fully in any one panel, which underscores her yearning to hide from the world and the color scheme of muted, unsaturated pinks and grays conveys a sense of surface calm barely hiding the chaos of her conflicting emotions. It all unfolds like a film strip, with an eerie, claustrophobic atmosphere.
All in all, Constantly is a deceptively simple narrative with GG imbues with empathy and insight.
The unnamed woman awakens from troubled sleep and tries to complete her morning routine. She does her stretches, prepares coffee, waters the plants, showers, and gets dressed, all the while battling dark thoughts, which are represented by ghostly, grasping silhouetted hands, alternately pulling and pushing at her.
Interspersed are glimpses of the woman's notebook, which reveal jotted notes in often desperate terms, though every complaint is leavened with a kernel of hope.
Constantly is written and constructed rather well. GG has an elegant, austere visuals and minimal text to render this affecting account of a young woman's struggle with depression and anxiety. The young woman's face is never seen fully in any one panel, which underscores her yearning to hide from the world and the color scheme of muted, unsaturated pinks and grays conveys a sense of surface calm barely hiding the chaos of her conflicting emotions. It all unfolds like a film strip, with an eerie, claustrophobic atmosphere.
All in all, Constantly is a deceptively simple narrative with GG imbues with empathy and insight.
February 28, 2022
My trust in Annie Koyama is a bit weakened by this dud. It's a five minute read
Narrative: *
There is no plot- it's about 17 sentences on lined papers that simply describe this woman's totally contradictory moods in blunt terms. I hate this and that is the majority. Nothing but total misery. There are no other characters besides her.
She's trapped in her house by her depression and anxiety. Here's how ineffective this "story" is- I intimately know what that's like and I still couldn't sympathize or relate. I'm trapped in a cage of my own design as well and I loathed her instead of feeling any sympathy because all she did was make statements and complain.
Anyone who wonders how I read so many books in such a short time now has their answer
Art: *
It's vague and incomplete with a terrible color scheme.
Narrative: *
There is no plot- it's about 17 sentences on lined papers that simply describe this woman's totally contradictory moods in blunt terms. I hate this and that is the majority. Nothing but total misery. There are no other characters besides her.
She's trapped in her house by her depression and anxiety. Here's how ineffective this "story" is- I intimately know what that's like and I still couldn't sympathize or relate. I'm trapped in a cage of my own design as well and I loathed her instead of feeling any sympathy because all she did was make statements and complain.
Anyone who wonders how I read so many books in such a short time now has their answer
Art: *
It's vague and incomplete with a terrible color scheme.
August 11, 2020
I don't want to write a review.
I don't want to leave a review unwritten.
I don't want to criticize.
I don't want to withhold.
I don't want to be sad.
I don't want to be happy.
The title sums up this work, its exploration of depression and anxiety, the inability to feel at ease with oneself or anything else. As if unseen forces are there to ruin even modicum amounts of progress. But as terrible as yesterday was, as terrible as today may have been, we'll get up tomorrow because existence is the blessed curse we're given. So the feelings will carry on, forever tearing us between hopefulness and despair. They'll always be there, present in every moment of every day. Constantly.
I don't want to leave a review unwritten.
I don't want to criticize.
I don't want to withhold.
I don't want to be sad.
I don't want to be happy.
The title sums up this work, its exploration of depression and anxiety, the inability to feel at ease with oneself or anything else. As if unseen forces are there to ruin even modicum amounts of progress. But as terrible as yesterday was, as terrible as today may have been, we'll get up tomorrow because existence is the blessed curse we're given. So the feelings will carry on, forever tearing us between hopefulness and despair. They'll always be there, present in every moment of every day. Constantly.
February 19, 2020
Very short book, I read through it as I was standing at the shelf in the library, but it left a deep impression. Other reviewers have called it a visual poem and I agree. The more I sit with it, the more I feel my way into it, inevitably mapping my own experiences on to it. The lack of words really allows for that, demands it even. I really enjoyed it. I hope to buy a proper copy when I can because I want to revisit it. Well worth the read.
July 20, 2020
I enjoyed the artwork and felt it delivered the message well. The writing's scarcity upped its drama and it was a bit over at the top for me but I can think of at least a half dozen people I could recommend this book to and they would really get it.
October 26, 2020
A compact graphic story about life with depression. Short and sparse with wording, GG really brings out a sense of emotion through these pagest. GG is a true talent doing interesting things in the genre.
June 23, 2021
This is a book you want to sit quietly with and take your time. With few words and minimalistic pastel drawings, the books simply yet eloquently explores the feelings of depression and anxiety.
A really beautiful book ❤️
A really beautiful book ❤️
July 18, 2021
A day in the life of a woman suffering from depression. The muted colors capture the numbness, along with the "I don't want" statements, which often contradict each other and define well one of the ways in which depression can be experienced. A contemplative, dark little book.
October 5, 2021
This is a book you want to sit quietly with and take your time. With few words and minimalistic pastel drawings, the books simply yet eloquently explores the feelings of depression and anxiety.
A really beautiful book ❤️
A really beautiful book ❤️
March 3, 2022
a gorgeous minimalist short comic about making it through one day with depression/anxiety/mental illness. it isn't specified, but could be interpreted as a lot of different things. beautiful artwork, limited pastel color palette. very lovely and sad.
March 22, 2020
Beautiful and thoughtful. A five-minute read that sums up an awful lot.
June 20, 2020
I think it’s about battling with depression....
July 26, 2020
A version of my depression looks like this.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews