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3,5 stars. Wasn't as bad as the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ reviews suggested, but there was something lacking.

I definitely loved the writing style--it can certainly get cumbersome at times, and sometimes I have to reread certain passages multiple times, but Grossman paints a very vivid picture of Boston, and the places that Hollis visited. I absolutely loved the scene where Hollis and Peters went to the Donnellys house for the first time, to steal their spare key. I can really picture the place in my mind, and it does sound like such a lovely, hashtag aesthetic house. I also love the descriptions of Hollis' surroundings in correlation with the state of his mind and how he's feeling--I think Lev Grossman is a very subtle author, he doesn't tell (even if the blurb at the back of the book has foreshadowed what state/condition of life Hollis is in and what his state of mind was like) and instead, he clued us through the surroundings and how Hollis perceived the city of Boston in his current adrift state. However, this can be a two-edged sword, since it left me feeling like I missed something, and there's an overtly vague feeling hanging over everything. I think maybe that's in line with the novel's spirit (about being adrift in life with the warp being a metaphor--a clever metaphor, I might add, and as a Star Trek fan, I approve), which, in that case, the author has certainly accomplished his goals, but I still feel like the entire thing is so vague and hazy, like those soap bubbles waiting to pop.

Maybe that's a good metaphor for Warp. The style of writing and the characters (privileged rich kids doing shady shit, drifting through life in search of meaning and purpose) reminded me of Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch to some degree, and there's also something very hypnotic about Grossman's writing that makes me unable to put down Warp. However, while Tartt always writes with a clear, larger goal in mind, Warp was (from what I can inferred) meant to be a portrait (maybe a fictionalized self-portrait of the author) of what it's like being an unemployed, twenty-something Ivy League graduate in 90s Boston. Grossman did state in the introduction that this was a "period piece".

Seen from this perspective, the ending isn't bad and the story doesn't just stop there. The Goldfinch has a similar, "cliffhanger" ending (where things are left purposely open-ended), albeit after a long monologue from Theo, the protagonist, which gave a better sense of where he was going after the narrative wraps itself up than Warp. But we can forgive Warp, after all, it wasn't meant to be a masterpiece, and the similarities between the two probably stopped there.

There's not much to be said for the characters. I think Hollis was meant to be a stand-in for every twenty-something out there who was adrift in life after uni (23 here, officially unemployed, three months out of uni) and who felt that fiction is more vivid, more alive than real life (who doesn't felt this way at some point, if you're an avid consumer of fiction and a fledgling writer/poet like me). He doesn't have that much personality other than the purpose and role the narrative has stamped out for him (much like in a fairy tale, where a character's inner life is pretty much nonexistent, and they're known by their function in the story). His friends are pretty much nondescript and forgettable, although colourful (love all the Scotty jokes, Original Series fan here). The two girls with a role to play in the narrative, Xanthe and Eileen, was vivid and more fleshed-out than Hollis' friends, though I wish Xanthe's background was explored more and the past relationship between Eileen and Hollis was expanded (but that would definitely counter the point of Warp since it's about Hollis, and not other people in his life). I love Xanthe.

Overall, Warp is a fairly good quick read (I really love the humour and the banter), and its main strength is its writing style and Grossman's ability to describe the setting, but don't expect an overly poetic soliloquy from Hollis. His "thoughts" can also get confusing at times, especially if you're not that savvy at pop culture (like me, although that Space Odyssey bit is particularly clever). There's no overt silver lining, the fair maiden doesn't set the hero on the right track (although she tried), and there's no magical mentors involved here, however--if you're looking for something inspiring, something enlightening, that "oh" moment on the inside, then read something else. But the blurb is correct on one thing: this is for anyone (well, any twenty-something) who had ever felt adrift in their lives. Warp is imperfect, and there's a lot of room for improvement, but it's not that bad. And I think I have to note here that I haven't read The Magicians, so I can kind of refute that "this is for Lev Grossman fans" fan theory.

Wouldn't really recommend but it was a fairly enjoyable experience reading this novel.