GOOD LUCK TO US ALL BY KAREN VERMEULEN // spoiler-free book review: you need this laugh-out-loud graphic memoir by this local artist in your life!!!

Can you believe I read this in 2026? An absolute CONCEPT!!!!

But I adored this book and good luck to you all because she hits hard, into the review <3<3<3

Title: Good Luck To Us All
Author: Karen Vermeulen
Page count: 240
Date published: 18 February 2025
Genre: Adult non-fiction graphic memoir

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Synopsis:

Trust her—Karen is trying really hard to be an adult. Harder than she should probably have to, as a thirty-something with a cat, a flat, and a job. She would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those meddling influencers, always raising the bar of what it means to be a proper woman.

Accompanied by her trademark quirky artwork and signature wit, Karen pokes fun at her attempts to “grow up”: whether that’s becoming a meditation girlie, getting Botox, faking self-confidence, using dating apps, going to therapy, or living the childfree life (unless you count her feline companion Sir Henry, which, of course, she does.)

From emotional support pigs to ectopic pregnancies, cuticle care to under-boob chakras, the laugh-out-loud and deeply perceptive illustrated essays in Good Luck To Us All are a testament to these wild and crazy times.

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Big thanks to Catalyst Press for the review copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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STAR RATING: (5 out of 5 stars)

Absolutely spectacular, give me 14 more of them right now!

I mean, tell me when the last time I read something that was this funny? You couldn’t.

So glad that Catalyst forced Karen to do this book because it was so good? It’s relatable, real and so endearing to the female experience in a modern society. If I could write EMBRACE THE CHAOS on my forehead, I would and I feel like this book was telling me to do so.

Also, the art? CHEFS KISS. Reminds me of Tracy Beaker and also Marjane Satrapi, which I adore so please take this as the high praise that it is.

If you needed a sign to read this book, please take it now and I promise there shall be zero regrets and you may or may not want to adopt a cat afterwards. Be warned.

Karen Vermeulen is an artist, illustrator and teacher living in Cape Town, South Africa, known for her happy, uplifting and quirky creations. She is the illustrator of two Catalyst Press children’s books, It’s Just Skin, Silly! (2023) and Wanjiku, Child of Mine (2024), middle grade books Small Mercies (2020) and The Cedarville Shop and the Wheelbarrow Swap (2022) as well as many Catalyst Press book covers.

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Website // Instagram

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HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK? ARE YOU GOING TO PICK IT UP? WHO ARE YOUR FAVOURITE ARTISTS? LET ME KNOW!