I Feel Awful, Thanks: 03/19/25

I Feel Awful, Thanks by Lara Pickle (2024) is a graphic novel about a Spanish witch working her dream job as a potions maker in a London firm. Unfortunately the work is stressful, her boss is demeaning, and her roommate is a control freak. Soon she is spiraling into depression as represented by the sparking dragons she keeps locked up in a magical box.

I haven't worked in a different company but I know what's it like to be young and newly employed at a huge corporation. There are managers who get to where they are by abusing the youngest and most vulnerable of their teams.

Joana has such a manager and worse yet, when she perseveres and proves him wrong, he takes credit for her work. Utterly broken by his betrayal on top of an untenable living situation and a budding relationship that has hit some bumps, she flees.

If this graphic novel were set in the United States, she would have most likely lost her job after taking an extended period of time off. Not that she should have been but that's often how it plays out here, especially with younger, newer workers. But this is a Spanish graphic novel and working conditions are different and expectations are different.

In a world where a young worker is allowed to recover and a company is willing to investigate when complaints are made he back half of this novel is instead based around her recovery. Joana finds a therapist and gets her emotional dragons under control. She also gets a promotion for her efforts.

The artwork throughout is beautiful. The world building is lovely, building on the known, mundane world, and weaves in the magical. It's a London and a Spain that is only a step or two removed from reality. It's a recognizable, plausible, and convincing magical world.

But there's also an awkwardness to the book, specifically in the language. The text doesn't always flow. Nuance seems to be missing at times. I think this comes from it being a book in translation, specifically a graphic novel. Maybe it's because I can read Spanish that I'm aware of how the scenes could have played out in the original language.

In the Spanish the title is Estoy fatal, gracias. I hope to track down a Spanish copy sometime and re-read it in its original language.

Four stars

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