Despite a very interesting premise, I was not able to finish reading this novel. I found the writing style to be disengaging and the characters flat. Because of this I had no interest in the plot or character development and gave up on the book.

I would not reccomend this book to anyone since I failed to finish it.

Thank you to Netgalley.

What a bizarre book! I was instantly drawn to the description and it didn't disappoint, it just....surprised and confused. It's definitely something you have to experience for yourself so I'd suggest picking this one up!

Thanks so much to Netgalley for the ARC!

I didn’t like this book as much as I thought I would. I was really drawn to it by the description and the cult elements, but I couldn’t connect with the characters unfortunately. I was super engaged at the beginning by the setting and imagery but halfway through I became super annoyed and frustrated with the main character’s personality.

I love Sloane Crosley. Her essays have been long time favorites and my first experience with her fiction was a success! Something about the story didn’t *quite* give me that 5 star feeling, but I loved it nonetheless. This was such an interesting take on relationships and what the true motivations behind “getting closure” might be. I wasn’t sure how the magical aspects were going to work at the beginning of the novel, but it all clicks perfectly and added such a fun take to the story. I should have known not to doubt. Her humor is unmatched and I will gladly continue reading anything she ever writes.

If a book has the word “cult” on the title, I’m sold.

I had SUCH high expectations for this book. The premise is great. It sounds like the perfect book to read by the pool.

3 stars

Lola is a reliable character. She’s a 37-year-old woman with a lot of dating experience. She’s engaged and not sure if Boots is really the guy.

Even though Lola is reliable, I didn't feel emotionally connected to her. Or any of the characters. They were just so meh to me. And believe me, there are a lot of characters. Basically, each chapter introduces us to one of Lola’s exs.

The humor in the story is pretty dark and I kinda liked that. It wasn't the “laugh out loud” kind of funny, but still funny.

I think the major problem I had with the book was the writing style. It was confusing and I didn't know where they were, who was who, who they were talking about. I think it’s supposed to be an intellectual style and maybe I’m not smart enough for it? Lol
Oh well. The intellectualness in it didn't hook me, it just made me tired and bored.

To be fair, this book is rated at 4.31 on goodreads, so maybe it just wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me with an E-Arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This is definitely one of the most anticipated reads of the year, and I'll tell you what. It does not disappoint!
Cult Classic was a delightful read. This is the first book I get to read by Sloane Crosley and it definitely won't be my last.

The story follows Lola, a New Yorker, who, excusing herself from a work reunion dinner with former colleagues, to buy a pack of cigarettes, when she runs into one of her ex-boyfriends. What would normally pass for coincidence becomes something far stranger as, the next night, she bumps into another one of her ex-boyfriends...

As she contemplates on her current relationship, memories of the past start swirling around in ways both comic and eerie, as Lola is forced to decide if she will surrender herself to the conspiring of one very contemporary cult that has somewhat very familiar...

Cult Classic was such fun read and beautifully written with a lot of character and it leaves you wondering a lot about your own perspective both on love and alienation. I loved the way the author makes the reader navigate through the book so effortlessly, with witty remarks and a compelling story about relationships and how does one (or not) can reconcile the past with the future. Is there really such thing as closure or moving on from the past? This is the question that Lola must ask herself when deciding if she is going the right way or not with her latest relationship.

The premise of this story is wholly original, with both interesting and mysterious characters. But what makes this book especially amazing is Crosley's insightful and delightful writing. The pacing is slow and even though the execution takes a while to build up, I appreciated what the author was trying to tell with this story.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it! I know I'll be buying a physical copy when it comes out in the world on June 7th!

I have a certain amount of fatigue re: New York Novels, and was a bit nervous to pick this up despite the enticing cover, title, and synopsis. Around the 10% mark I began to worry this wasn't going to be the surreal trip I was promised, that – should I continue – I was doomed to plod through another sad straight woman book of the sort which prompted me to give up contemporary literary fiction for more than a year.

But continue I did, and thank fuck for it. When this book takes a turn, and a turn it does take, it metamorphoses into such a genuine delight that on finishing I went back and reread that first 10% with all the smugness afforded by dramatic irony. I am still chewing over the ending, words like 'heteropessimism' and 'inevitability' floating around my head like a knocked-out cartoon character, and I'm keen to read others' thoughts on how this novel responds to the 'certain kind of book' I have vowed to avoid, skating close to it while maintaining an acerbic distance. Beyond that, all I'll say is Cult Classic is hilarious, bleak, touching, and timely, and I'll be wandering around its five block radius for a while to come.

I received a digital review copy of this book from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Maybe I just needed to be a Sloane Crosley fan to appreciate this book. But I'm not, so I didn't. In fact, I abandoned the book about a third of the way. It was just way too strange for me.

I absolutely loved this book!

It kind of gave me The Dinner List vibes by Rebecca Serle. It was ominous and weird but with social commentary on influencer culture and mindfulness. It was smart and funny, and filled with the kind of cooky characters that can only be found in NYC.

I kind of suspected where the ending was going, but I was still surprised!

I truly loved this story from start to finish. The author did very well with character development and story growth. I definitely recommend 🧡.

Thanks to net galley and the publisher for the arc!

This is going to be the sad, hot girl book of the summer–which is very high praise. As always, Sloane Crosley’s writing is funny and acerbic and witty and that very much came through in our narrator’s voice.

Lola is the classic cynical, NYC-based girlie, recently engaged to “Boots” and in her most stable relationship to date–despite navigating a new job and questioning a lot of her choices from the last decade. She definitely isn’t classically “likable,” but I loved her. And all the lovers of the sad, hot girl book clubs, reading from the likes of Ottsessa Moshfegh and Mona Awad will also love this narrator and her voice.

When Lola starts running into all of her exes on the same city black it sends her on a journey of reflection as to all the different paths she might have taken. However, it becomes quickly apparent something bigger, stranger and might I say, cult-ish is afoot.

I loved everything about this book from the writing to the concept to its irony and humor. It’s a whimsical and absurd journey, but one well worth the ride. I’d describe this book as more of a character study rather than a fast-paced intricately plotted mystery. The ending twist was pretty predictable.

It was exactly the type of book I love to read with my favorite type of narrator and writing style. I’ll be recommending this book to all my friends and can’t wait to pick up a physical copy to obsess and write all over.

Wow, talk about a refreshing read! Cult Classic helped me out of a mild reading slump with a wholly unique take on relationships and love. The book centers around the main character, Lola, as she encounters ex-boyfriends/flings/lovers whenever she is in a certain neighborhood of New York City. What sounds like a nightmare situation to anyone else, it allows Lola to confront her conceptions of her past relationships and move forward in the her present one. All the while, Lola’s friends and ex-coworkers become heavily invested in each interaction for purposes that become apparent as the books progresses.
I laughed out loud multiple times throughout the book with the author’s witty banter and sharp internal dialogue of the main character. It was a book that stuck with me after reading it, as I can find myself living in the past instead of enjoying the present. I highly recommend this wild ride of a book!

Thank you so much to Net Galley and @fsgbooks for the ARC! The pub date is June 7th, 2022.

Every time I see a new release by Sloane Crosley, I feel obligated to read it. Crosley made a pilgrimage to my university when I was a freshman to read selections from her recently-published collection of essays, "I Was Told There'd Be Cake." Since then, I have read all three collections of her essays and eagerly awaited subsequent published works.

Let me get the elephant in the room out of the way: Crosley is a better essayist than novelist. In both "Cult Classic" and her first novel "The Clasp," the narrative meanders along slowly, taking anywhere from about a third of the way in to the halfway-point to start picking up the pace, before everything is neatly tied up in the last 10% of the book. I typically spend the majority of the novel wondering just where Crosley is going with all of this, then quickly forgive her upon the completion of the last page. Thus, I find that I am often disoriented while reading Crosley's novels, and in rare moments I am unsettled. This is in stark contrast to the experience of reading her essays, which still convey clarity even with the most marked digressions.

That said, why read Crosley's latest novel at all? The protagonist, Lola, is not a person I would characterize as likeable. Moreover, with all of the notches on her proverbial belt from a series of failed relationships, is she even relatable? I feel like a stranger in a strange land in her world, even as she enters the alternate dimension of Clive's playground to confront the ghosts of her past. The plot feels like an overextended short story. Yet I still found "Cult Classic" interesting enough to read in its entirety, in what seemed like a record personal pace for contemporary novels of this length. It was Crosley's essayist persona, which scattered gems of 21st-century wisdom so quickly that blink-and-you-would-have-missed-them, that kept me reading. In the end, I was happy to learn that Lola had grown and salvaged her relationship with Boots/Max, and I appreciated the moral that the final chapters attempted to convey, although I can't quite articulate it in succinct prose. In short: worth the read, even if to just to try to figure out what the heck is going on.

This book wasn't really my cup of tea. I couldn't relate to the characters: their lives, behavior, or dialogue. In addition, I found the plot to be strange and not very engaging. Too young, too urban for me? Maybe better for fans of Sex in the City or something like that. Anyway, it seemed well-written, so 3 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

I love Sloane Crosley’s short stories so I was very excited to read Cult Classic. The premise of the book called to me and the intro had me hooked, but I felt that the pacing lagged in some poarts. I empathized with Lola as she struggled with uncertainty in her current relationship and a tendency to look at the past with rose-colored glasses. Her exes were so well-written and so completely realistic that I loved/hated them (I swear I know some of them in real life). I did come close to giving up on this book once or twice, but I wanted to reach the cult plot so I pushed through. As a whole, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone who loves romance, cults, New York City, or thoughtful fiction with clever female protagonists.

This is a DNF for me. The writing style is intriguing and there are some delightful turns of phrase, but I’m not interested in this particular voice. As someone who left NYC and is married with a baby in the burbs, the jaded New Yorker voice is just too tiring for me- which is what I’m sure the main character would in exchange.
It’s a interesting concept, and one I think I’d personally enjoy exploring more in a different tone.
Definitely me, and who I am as a reader, and not the book.

Cult Classic is a whimsical wild ride of a story. it follows our main character Lola, who’s recently engaged to a stable fiance named “Boots” and is navigating a new job after her last company, a psychology publication, folded. one night, after drinks with a friend, she runs into a ex-boyfriend. fine, whatever, moving on. but then she runs into another ex the next day, and the next, and the next. it seems like a crazy coincidence, until we realize that it’s not, and that her ex-boss/good friend from the psychology magazine has a lil somethin’ somethin’ to do with it.

the concept of this book was so intriguing. it was one that you dreamed up in your imagination as you read the words, and that probably looks different in our different imaginations. as Lola moves through the story, she becomes more and more enlightened to the possible paths she didn’t take through the form of these exes, and considers what she actually wants her future path to look like. it’s done in such an interesting, almost silly way, that always keeps you on your toes. it’s funny and endearing, almost preposterous at times, but always rooted in real life that Crosley articulates so well.

i’d read some of Crosley's nonfiction work and i absolutely adored reading the writing that i loved then in the context of fiction. she steps back to comment on humanity — our nature, our flaws, our tendencies — in the voice of someone who is well-versed in observation of the real world.

I read this one in one day!!! I loved it! The pacing was incredible, the story engaging, the prose was wonderful! This novel, so much more than other New York novels, made me want to be in New York and really transported me there. The characters and the relationships felt fleshed out. Cult Classic had me laughing out loud and i was not bored ONCE. I really zoomed through this one and loved it!! cannot recommend it enough as a fun, snarky lit fic read for the pool!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4353792469


This book really is a reverse high fidelity, with a cult added to the mix. Anything involving cults always has my interest but to read about one you know people would buy into was fun. Lola’s journey was chaotic and I loved reading how she was confronted with her past and how this effected her. The ending was great and I loved how everything wrapped up. Once again I am in love with the unlikeable female protagonist, which highlights Sloane’s great writing! If you like Sally Rooney and Otessa Moshfegh you will enjoy this, Sloane’s writing shows the best elements of both authors while being uniquely her own voice.

(Thank you Net Galley for this e-book)

This is my first encounter with Sloane Crosley's writing, so perhaps I'm just too unfamiliar with her style, but I wasn't a fan of "Cult Classic".

At first glance, I should have loved it! As a 30s female living in NYC, there were so many situations, conversations, and relationships that I found familiar and at times reassuring, especially when it came to the realm of relationships and dating. Crosley's humor - dry, sharp, and witty - is on full display here from the first person perspective of Lola, a 37 year-old woman in NYC that's about to get married, but soon encounters a host of her former boyfriends that makes her question her decision. Add in some career drama with Lola's work at "Modern Psychology" and her coworkers and friends, and you have a full story that details Lola's past, present, and future.

While I did appreciate some aspects of Crosley's writing style, the pacing felt too slow and there were so many passages and sentences that I found redundant and hard to get through. This won't be a novel I will personally recommend to others.