This was absolutely incredible. It was hypnotizing from beginning to end, and I was so in awe of Thompson's writing. It's hard to believe this is her first book! It really delivered on the concept, in a way that was dark, but also wryly funny and smart.

Yrsa's voice is really the best part of the whole thing. I loved how funny and relatable she was. I loved seeing her anger and her intelligence—like, yes, these things all coexist. She was a great character, and I loved being inside her head. The fact that she was a grad student, and we got to watch as her scholarship evolved along with her killings was so cool. I just loved how all of these parts really worked together to create a compelling story and explore themes of race and feminism.

I was a bit confused by the open-endedness of the ending, but in a way that I find I like and don't like at the same time. Part of me is desperate for clear-cut closure—the whole time I was reading I was like surely she will be found out, and I wasn't sure I liked that we never really do know what happens. But I also appreciate leaving it open for interpretation, because that must be great for discussion. I also was confused about Candice/the mom's part in it all and what her secret was. I might have just missed it or misunderstood, but I still feel confused by that.

I love WWI historical fiction, but I have high expectations for books that take place during that time period, mostly because two of my all-time favorite books explore it in such a way that's hard to compete with. The Bookbinder couldn't really compete with them.

I enjoyed it, for the most part. There were parts of the writing that felt strong. The story was interesting, and I liked how it shed light on a little known slice of history. The cast of characters was broad and I liked how they came from all walks of life, and then sort of forced to interact because of the circumstances.

But other parts of the writing felt young to me. The characters felt almost two-dimensional, the writing not able to support the kind of nuance I would have hoped to see from them. They (and by "they" I really mostly mean Peggy, the main character) would sometimes act in such a way that made me want to bang my head against a wall, because how are you so stupid!

I also didn't love the epilogue. It was probably the oddest epilogue I have ever read, because by all standards, it did its job as an epilogue. All the characters were in it, we got to see them far away enough from the ending to understand what their future might look like, and it was an overall hopeful ending. But I weirdly felt like things were still unresolved. Which, of course, just because the war is over doesn't mean things are fully resolved, but this didn't feel like the kind of book that really needed to include those complications in the epilogue. I'm still actually confused by where the characters left things with each other and if they're going to continue to be in each other's lives. I felt like it was a very shaky ground.

Also something I can't stop thinking about is how this book was inspired by the bookbinders who had a hand in crafting beautiful books—it was a craft!—but how boring the design of this book was. I mean, the chapter headers were in the same font as the text, and there were no fun decals, no chapter opening illustrations, not even a drop caps. The section pages had a cute illustration, but that was it. I thought it was telling that a book about the craft and binding of books didn't seem particularly interested in being a beautiful book.