Cult Classic by Sloan Crosley is definitely one of a kind novel. This story is equal parts quirky romance, and satire of the increasingly digital world we live in, and pokes fun at our desire to obtain information from social media. The cult storyline will draw readers in, and keep them guessing at what’s really going on, until the end. Readers looking for something unique, fresh, and non-formulaic will appreciate this novel.

Thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

DNF’d at 16% — the pacing felt off to me. The writing was really neat, but I just couldn’t connect with it despite the fascinating concept and couldn’t feel the satisfaction I wanted to out of diving in. Like I said. the writing was divine, I just couldn’t effectively engage with it.

I absolutely loved Sloane Crosley’s 3 essay collections, she’s great. If you’re not familiar, this is her second foray into fiction. I went into this knowing only that narrator Lola is a late-30s woman who somehow keeps bumping into her exes, night after night, sending her back into her past to consider how these relationships shaped her and how she now feels about them in hindsight. What an interesting premise, I thought!

I was not expecting the technical explanation behind this and had been hoping for something more mystical. But instead here’s where the “cult” aspect comes into play, which does pose some interesting questions about how much we can really control and whether it’s ethical to try to confront the past in this way, and is course correction even possible?

Sloane Crosley’s biting wit, shape humor, and laser focused language is in full effect here, so while the plot let me down at times I still enjoyed the writing quite a bit.

“Romance may be the worlds oldest cult” - so true, right?

Really loved the idea behind the book and I love Crosley's sly humor throughout. I enjoyed the book like I do all of her books. Is this review long enough yet

I would give this book a 3.5 stars. There were some unexpected plots twists that kept me reading, but I was confused by how Clive managed to get all of Lola’s ex-boyfriends to congregate around her. I was also confused by the wider applications this could have. Also, I was hoping to learn more about Lola’s past relationships than I did, and see them affect her more in the present. Aside from the brief kiss she shared with Pierre at the end, I didn’t feel like Lola was ever at risk of cheating on her fiancée. I was surprised by how upset Max was at the end, and how he suspected her of having slept with an ex. However, I did enjoy the humor in this book. Overall, I thought the writing was great.

A truly bizarre and entertaining tale of cults, friendship, and the ghosts of past relationships. I have been a fan of Sloane Crosley's work since her essay collection I Was Told There Would Be Cake, and this novel has the same cutting wit and humor. Lola steps out of a restaurant in New York's Chinatown to get a pack of cigarettes. (She doesn't *really* smoke, of course.) She immediately runs into an ex-boyfriend. Then another. Then another. Is this just a coincidence, or are there more nefarious forces at work?

I don't want to say too much more about the story, because the discovery is part of the fun. But this is an inventive tale, and I look forward to seeing what Crosley comes up with next.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

Cult Classic
By Sloane Crosley

This is a very strange book about the power to affect situations – sort of a mind control via power of suggestion.

A woman named Lola is engaged to a man she calls Boots. She can't seem to make up her mind if she really wants to marry him or not. She has been in several relationships over time which have not ended well, and she is not sure where this is going.

Suddenly she starts seeing old boyfriends in unexpected situations. She doesn't understand why they are showing up or for what purpose. From here the story just keeps getting stranger.

The premise here is different, although I am not sure I would call it interesting – a little too weird for me.

This book was hard to get through. If I'm being honest, I had to skim much of the last bit of the book because I was getting sick of the plot, the writing, and the characters. The writing felt cumbersome and it didn't flow well. The overall storyline got lost in so many unnecessary flashbacks and inner thoughts of the extremely unlikable main character. This is a shame because I was excited to read this book.

Cult Classic was a wonderfully delightful little book. Romance is not my usual go to genre by any means, but I do enjoy a good rom com every once in a while and Cult Classic checked all the boxes for me. The characters were quirky, witty and funny yet also had layers of depth and personality. The plot line was original, which is a hard act to follow nowadays because most rom coms seems to follow the same patterns. This was a light and quick read that is sure to satisfy.

Is it coincidence or are you running into all your past boyfriends on the same day? Cult Classic is hard to genrify--little bit romance, little bit science fiction, little bit mystery. The story tells the tale of Lola who has become recently engaged, but she still needs to "deal" with her past relationships. Luckily for her, her former employer's new business venture can help her with this. While it wasn't a fast-paced read, it did make me think about how all of your relationships make you into the person you are today. Recommended.

I really enjoyed Cult Classic! It was very strange, very funny, and just all around well written. It reminded me a lot of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - though instead of forgetting your ex, you're forced to get closure from the romantic wounds of the past. I hope to get a physical copy too because the cover is truly stunning!

Great thriller. Never heard of the author but gave the story a try and really enjoyed it, the plot, characters, all of it. Highly recommend! Thank you NetGalley for this ARC

It's hard to imagine any millennial woman not being immediately drawn in by Sloane Crosley's trademark brand of acerbic wit, which manages to be introspective and intelligent while also balancing that with a healthy dose of satire in the form of recognizing the absurdity of-- well, everything. That quality is in full effect in her latest effort, Cult Classic. Add to it the concept, of a woman possessing said acerbic wit, who gets stuck in a sort of loop whereby she must confront all of her former exes (or, really, flings), and I couldn't wait to dig in... But by the 25% mark, I realized the book wasn't working for me. I continued to push through, because Crosley's writing is fun and her observations and sarcasm make the read worthwhile, but I never fully 'dropped in'. The device, of the quirky Soho House-cum-cult offering specific services, was a bit too amorphous-- I couldn't pin down what the aim was, how it worked, or what it was helping Lola/its customers achieve. I think the plot as a whole suffered from this watery, loose approach. Based on the premise, I was expecting something more like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but there's really no strong through line and nothing really happens when Lola meets her former paramours. But the biggest problem, for me, was the narrative distance; because of all the quips and cleverness, I never felt a connection to Lola. She always felt removed, so there was never a moment when I felt real emotional stakes. Although there were many times that I related to her situation, having 'Mr. Right', but not feeling passionately for him, or being so hung up on your exes, on 'what if's' that you sabotage the good thing in front of you.

A warm, funny, furious novel about... well, it's strangely hard to describe. What starts out as a sort of Russian-Doll-esque "woman in NYC having a weird thing happen" story turns into something else altogether. And then it turns AGAIN into something else! Something altogether more classic and traditional, except that I never saw it coming.
I enjoyed this immensely, and found that it was like reading Crosley's early work again in terms of the snap of her pen.

The premise of this book struck a chord with me and had me intrigued. A mysterious string of random encounters with old boyfriends in a short frame of time and a cult. Sounds awesome!

The character development and story are interestingly interwoven and the pacing feels just right. Very stellar writing!

It is not very often that I don’t finish reading a book and this was one of them. I decided to step away at about the 45% complete mark.

The hardest part of the story for me was Lola, the main character. I knew a girl very much like her when I was in school. Very bright, a little self-absorbed, and had a sarcastic sense of humor. I really liked hanging out with her but only in short bursts; so spending time with this type of personality for the duration of a novel was draining for me. I also felt like many of the other characters were similar.

I was excited when I reached the “Cult” part of the story and had great hopes that this would override my focus on the characters and then pay more attention to the story. I tried to hang in there. I really did. Without giving any spoilers, all I can say is that the cult only reinforced my feelings and left me with no choice but to put this one down.

A huge thank you for my e-ARC, which was provided by the publisher and the author via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Whip-smart comedy that gives its somewhat old premise -- woman with long, fractious romantic history runs into all her old lovers and tries to arrive at a reckoning about whether or not to commit to her current beau -- new life with an unexpectedly fantastical twist. Crosley's voice is the star here, with her protagonist's acerbic take on the Manhattan struggling literati's life as spot-on as it is frequently hilarious.

All things cultish are in right now and it is entirely fascinating. This book was no exception. Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley captures everything readers love in a good cult story and is perfectly named. (Full review to post to good reads and Twitter closer to release date)

We're all patchworks of our past carrying through to the present and trying to carve out better futures, but how much time do you find yourself spending reminiscing and comparing the past? What would you give to be able to move forward without that pressure? Without the constant reminder of open wounds people leave on us when they leave? Without the constant drive to be the perfect version of someone you're not just so someone might love you, only to have it fall apart so you get stuck in an endless cycle of rediscovering yourself? For Lola of Sloane Crosley's Cult Classic, the answer is a little…complicated.

Lola is still a little attached to every man she's ever fallen for, which means she sometimes ends up comparing them to her healthy, stable relationship with her fiancé Boots, even though each of them ended in uniquely catastrophic ways. After her job at Modern Psychology falls apart when her boss announces they can no longer keep the magazine afloat, she begins bumping into every man she's ever dated. After enough encounters to establish it as a pattern rather than some freak accident, she confides in her best friend Vadis, who reveals the truth behind the astronomical coincidences. What unfolds from there is a unique, messy, complicated journey through Lola's past that forces her to confront her true feelings about both her present and her future.

I did not at first expect to find so much beneath the surface of Cult Classic, but what starts as what may as well be my own personal hell soon develops into a surprisingly poignant meditation on the ways women often mold themselves to fit into the confines of society's - and men's - ideas of worth, and what kind of lasting impact that can have on someone. Lola's history is peppered with both self-sabotage and genuine horror that feels all too common to the dating scene, where she by turns finds someone who doesn't interest her enough, someone who can hardly see past their own reflection, or someone who felt almost star-crossed for a fleeting moment. The ways in which she handles each confrontation with each of her exes serve as excellent litmus tests for how connected she still feels to them, and how often she must confront that she is no longer the center of their world.

Perhaps the strongest thing about Cult Classic is its willingness to let Lola be as consistently messy, and selfish, and toxic as she is without trying to defend her, justify her, or demonize her. Her fixations on each of the men and what they think of her are tragically familiar signs of someone so marred by their history they cannot see the progress made in their present. Only through confrontation with the truth - that each person's view of and emphasis on a relationship may not be as equal as we imagine - can she grow past her tendency to compare and embrace the person and circumstances in which she finds herself now. Because the truth is, despite their differences, her and Boots are truly matched for each other in ways she does not even begin to imagine for most of the novel, and he might be the first one on her level she's ever had.

Readers will find humor, heartache, and - if your history is anywhere as checked as mine - an uncomfortable sense of horror and suspense, pulsing through the heart of Cult Classic, making it a propulsive and engaging read perfect for the heat of summer nights and the dawning push and pull of existential crises we find ourselves in more and more with each passing major event. It'll have you laughing and pondering through your own past to wonder what kind of marks it's left on you and what kinds of healing we all have left to do to move forward. Let the messy, complex Lola be your guide through the semi-toxic minefield of mindfulness culture and genuine growth.

"Cult Classic" is witty and genre-bending blend of fun fantastical literary fiction that defies all categorization.
The novel follows the 30-something Lola who lives in New York with her fiancee, Boots. As their pending nuptials loom, Lola starts to question her choices and past while at a dinner with co-workers. Seemingly coincidentally, she soon starts running into the men of her past, giving her a glimpse of her past self and what could have been. Turns out it's not coincidence, but a cult-like program designed by her friends to help her reach some existential conclusion about her life — and she's their first test case. With each meeting, the reader gets a tiny glimpse into Lola's past love life and her own past — all the mundane, crazy, cringe-worthy and heartbreaking.
It sounds insane in summary, but Sloane Crosley's "Cult Classic" truly is fascinating, witty and engaging. It reminds me of a much more upbeat romp of Otessa Moshfegh's "My Year of Rest and Relaxation." Crosley truly shines throughout it all as she waxes on love, life in New York, missed opportunities and so much more. It's outlandishly fun and shouldn't be missed.
Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for sharing this advance copy with me in exchange for my honest review.
4/5

Cult Classic by Sloan Crowley



One night in New York City's Chinatown, a woman is at a work reunion dinner with former colleagues when she excuses herself to buy a pack of cigarettes. On her way back, she runs into a former boyfriend. And then another. And . . . another. Soon nothing is quite what it seems as the city becomes awash with ghosts of heartbreaks past.

What would normally pass for coincidence becomes something far stranger as our heroine, the recently engaged Lola, must contend not only with the viability of her current relationship but the fact that both her best friend and her former boss, a magazine editor turned mystical guru, might have an unhealthy investment in the outcome. Memories of the past swirl and converge 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.

Is it possible to have a happy ending in an age when the past is ever at your fingertips and sanity is for sale? With her gimlet eye, Sloane Crosley spins a wry literary fantasy that is equal parts page-turner and poignant portrayal of alienation.

————————————

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Cult Classic. Well guys, I wish I could say I enjoyed this book until the end. While it started off great for me, I found myself getting lost in its wordiness. At points, I felt like it was trying to be the next literary classic- maybe too much. I did however think it was clever at times and a quick read. Overall, nothing to write home about.
3⭐️