The problem isn't the book. The problem was with my expectations for the book. I was hoping this would be more surreal than it was (I told you my expectations were wrong), and I'm not sure why I thought I would enjoy what is essentially a cult of romance? On paper, I should have liked this one, but I just didn't. The four stars are because the book is well-written, smart, and clever, but ultimately not for me.

Truly obsessed with this amazing original book about the ghosts of relationships past but in such a fun unique voice. Thanks to FSG for the arc for my honest review.

This one was totally unique. Lola steps out and runs into an ex. Not too strange living in New York, but the she runs into another ex and another and like dj khaled says, “Another one.” Soon she has run into All.The. Exes. This is a darkly fun one that is best to go in blind.
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Thank you #mcd and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

I really did enjoy this novel, it kept me engaged throughout the entirety of it, it was alot of fun and very exciting. I found myself wanting to know more and I connected to so many of the characters. I would highly recommend this read!

I have loved Sloane Crosley's essay collections and her first venture into novels still held all the wit and humor that I loved in her essays.

I love Sloane Crosley. Her writing is always tiptoeing against the strange and weird and this one did not disappoint.

A super fascinating story that unfortunately left me feeling a bit disconnected. However, I enjoyed the tone and Lola's experience as a cunning and strange protagonist, and thought that the ideas explored within it were smart and fun. The mechanics of the world ended up feeling a bit clunky and took me out of the story, leaving me without much emotional stake in what I was reading.

I honestly can't believe I've never heard of Sloane Crosley before this, but you bet your sweet ass that I've got my eye out now. This book starts off all fun and easy, and quickly it turns into something else. I found Crosley's writing to be witty, and full of humour - even in situations that do not call for humour. The ending had me basically sitting with a shocked and confused look on my face, and wasn't what I expected, but I think that made me like it all that much more. A solid four star read.

If I am being fully honest, this book had some deep and interesting lines, but those ones cut through a lot of muck. I did not feel my emotions were stirred in any way, and found the plot and narrator generally boring.

sloane crosley’s novel ‘cult classic’ was hilarious & absurd & just a really fun time. it follows lola, a woman living in new york who continues running into a different ex of hers every single day. what she would normally attribute to bizarre coincidence turns out to be a much larger plot from an organization that is attempting to develop a product based on her dating history, and are therefore invested in the outcomes of her encounters. memories of her present relationship and her past romantic encounters converge & lines of time begin to blur, as lola is forced to decide if she will buy into the “cult of romantic love” and ultimately change who she is to believe in it.

this book is suspenseful, and blends the thrill of a psychological thriller with the delight of a romantic comedy. lola’s ruminations on love are captivating, and made me think about love in a more abstract sense, as well as the equally valuable platonic love we hold for family & friends. i maybe didn’t pick up on all the nuance, but the book felt like a time travelling, culty haze, which i think was what the author was going for. a fun one worth reading!

I always enjoy Sloane Crosley, and liked this better than her other novel but probably not as much as her best essays. I found myself highlighting a lot, which I don't do that much with contemporary authors. The writing and human insight were highlights, with the plot not being as compelling as one would hope.

I really like the concept of this book. I went into it thinking that anything about Cults would be good. I did not know all of the details going in. But, I feel like the book had so much more potential. But, overall I do feel like the premise of love life of the past was good.

I love a good cult story. I love the WHY of how people get drawn into cults. Their vulnerability. Their need for acceptance. It's all fascinating. And I love fictional cult stories because in that world, a real person has not gotten hurt or manipulated.

CULT CLASSIC by Sloane Crosley is a bit out there (as most cult stories are). We find Lola about to get married to a man that is pretty damn good, but for Lola something is missing. Maybe it's the fact that the institution of marriage itself is an issue for her and not the fiancé? Who knows?

Thanks to behind-the-scenes manipulation she finds herself THE guinea pig for a cult trying to help people move on from past relationships. All of a sudden her list (very long list) of exes appear. Some she interacts with, some she doesn't.

And this is where I became lost. I couldn't figure out exactly how the cult was making these men bring themselves to Lola. I became too distracted by the HOW was this all happening. It's not really explained and even marinating on this, I'm not sure how these men were dragged to Lola by some pull.

I also didn't like Lola. She has very few redeeming qualities. She's not that great as a friend, lover, fiancé, girlfriend, co-worker … it made it hard to root for any of her relationships.

I liked that the story was different. It's not a romance, it's maybe not even women's fiction. I'm not sure what it is and even though it was confusing, I appreciate the author trying something different.

Thank you NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an e-copy of CULT CLASSIC to review.

I rate CULT CLASSIC three out of five stars.

Lola steps away from her friends at the dinner table to catch a smoke, bumping into a former boyfriend. Thus begins an eerie series of coincidences where she is confronted by character after character from her past. Before you know it she is questioning her current love, and whether she is even in love at all.

Just when you think it can’t get any stranger, it absolutely does. Its a comically written, suspenseful tale. The problem I had is that I really disliked this character. She isn’t a bad person, just so terribly self-absorbed that it made it hard to care about the outcome.

Thanks to the writer’s witty prose, I kept reading to see where it ended. It was at times comedic and it had great twists, I never suspected the ending.

Realistically, wouldn’t we all like to run into those ex-boyfriends and let them see how great our lives turned out?

The cover art is amazing!

Thank you @netgalley @sloane_crosley @fsgbooks

Sloane Crosley’s writing is endlessly appealing to me because her sense of humor and wry turns of phrase are so exceptional, but I much prefer her essay and story collections to her novels.

The high concept meets low content subject matter in this one really feels like a stretch. I suppose it’s the ultimate narcissist fantasy to have an entire (sorta kinda) cult fixated on your dating history, but this level of attention to one’s personal life by both friends and strangers is, for most of us, pretty off-putting. And it’s not really all that interesting to read about when it’s happening to someone else either.

Protagonist Lola has an exasperated, Alice in Wonderland style reaction to the whole thing, which does help. But In the end, the premise is too absurd to be interesting without a more universally interesting plot construct.

Lola is pretty likable and is personally relatable in some ways, which does help. And Crosley’s humor and bon mots make it easy to keep reading and stay I interested even though the plot itself fails to captivate.

Based on the synopsis and everything I had heard about this book, I figured I would adore it, but it really fell flat. Disappointed.

Gorgeous cover. Sloane Crosley rarely disappoints though if you ask me. Sloane is consistently one of the funniest writers out there and she does not disappoint with Cult Classic.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this free ARC! I am a big fan of Sloane Crosley and couldn't wait to get my hands on this. The premise really intrigued me and Crosley delivered. Lola is a 30-something in NYC, engaged to a guy who she loves but is wondering if it's really the right relationship. She has a sordid relationship history, as most of us do in our 30s. I could relate to that obviously. Suddenly one night, she runs into two exes. Turns out, she is part of an experiment her friends are doing to cosmically deliver her exes to a Chinatown neighborhood. I needed to see how the experiment work and ultimately what Lola decides to do. And it got twisty! I recommended it to my book group.

Really enjoyed this book. I've never read anything that dealt with past relationships and the idea of the one that got away like this. A fresh take that I'll be reading again.

Cult Classic, is in my opinion, the kind of book that's best to go into without reading much about the plot. Sloane Crosley can do no wrong. I am a big fan of her essays. The hilarity that is trademark for her comes through in Cult Classic.