Smart, funny, and nearly scary enough to be believable. This is the story of when tech, social media, and bug data combine to interfere with one’s love life.

I was introduced to Sloane Crosley’s writing through her wry and witty essay collection, “I Was Told There'd Be Cake”, a Thurber Prize finalist.

In Crosley’s “Cult Classic”, the reader follows protagonist Lola, a soon-to-be-married New Yorker, who has concerns about her fiancé, and seems to be searching for a particularly elusive kind of love. Bizarrely, a high-concept cult arranges a series of seemingly chance run-ins with her ex-boyfriends and she is forced to confront them on the streets of Chinatown.

Lola is notorious among her friends for having a romantically haunted past. She’s dated many men, and has had, perhaps, 15 five-month relationships.

Clive, her former boss at a magazine called “Modern Psychology”, which is basically “Psychology Today”, has become a guru, and proves to be highly interested in how Lola is handling the doubts that keep popping up about her relationship.

“Cult Classic” is a romantic comedy and mystery set in a new age mind control cult, which works from an abandoned synagogue on the Lower East Side. “Cult Classic” is clever, surreal and inventive. It is about love. It is about memory. It is about New York.

A huge thank you to @NetGalley and @fsgbooks for the advanced e-galley.

I had never heard of Sloane Crosley before reading this book, so I went in without any expectations as to what this book would be. I was incredibly pleased! This book is smart but not pretentious. Crosley is a funny writer and her main character, Lola, is messy, hilarious, and easy to like. Every time I thought I knew where the story was going, I would be wrong. Crosley manages to strike the balance of a surprising plot twist that doesn’t feel out of the blue.

I did feel that the main story took longer than necessary to get started—I tend to like the action to start right away. If Lola herself wasn’t as fun as she is, I might have DNFed the book.

I am having a hard time deciding if I liked this book or not. Some of the prose was long winded and too abstract. Maybe if I had read this book when I was younger and single I would have connected more with the idea of visiting past relationships. Unlike Lola, I also don't think having a past is an unthinkable thing we must not talk about, I think it creates the person we are today. I also felt like sometimes the chapters were too long and I nodded off several times during longer sections.

I like the idea of the story though, and I particularly liked the end. I think the whole thing could have been done "better" though.

The book had an unusual plot. I enjoyed watching the relationships and story unfold. I related to the main character a bit as I used to hold on to the memories of relationships. I will recommend this to those interested in humor and literary fiction.

Feels dated in a way I didn't like. The criticism about wellness culture was neither interesting nor cutting. The protagonist's central dilemma (does she want to marry her nice-enough fiancé) isn't unique and lacks the definition to make the plot have forward momentum. All of Lola's exes were some form of cliché. Crosley is a maverick at observation, and the book is at its best when she's remarking on wacky elements of mundane life.

This genre bending novel was just wacky enough to keep me turning the pages. While our narrator’s self absorption seems generational, we soon learn she is the victim of a strange experiment. And things just get weirder from there. Read this book! So good.

Cult Classic, a compendium of the main character's many and varied boyfriends, is both amusing and a bit tedious. Lola seems to meet former lovers wherever she goes, since she has clearly had many, and as the book progresses, she is drawn into a burgeoning cult that is planned to examine her psychological stability and her understanding of love and happiness.

After meeting former coworkers for dinner, Lola runs into one of her ex boyfriends. When meeting a friend for dinner the next night ( at the same restaurant as the day before), she runs into another ex. She soon finds out that it was not coincidence but in fact her best friend, Vadis, and her former boss, Clive, are involved in a new business (or as Lola sees it, a cult) that is making the run ins happen.
Cult Classic is a smart and often funny book.

I love this author’s essays and had not yet read her fiction (this is her second novel). This one began with promise, then got a little sci-fi weird for me a third of the way through. Still, I enjoy her writing and will definitely read her again.

OK I loved this a lot more at the beginning when I didn't know what was going on and I could indulge in the hilarious and observant narrator, who's just as fun as Crosley in her essay books. I liked it so much, in fact, I can't even knock it for the fact that I lost the thread of the narrative when the cult part took over. The plot was fun, but the writing was addictive. I adored this. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I can’t work out how to classify Cult Classic, in the best way possible. Every time I thought I had a sense of what’s going on, something new would be revealed and I’d have to reassess my take on the book. With poorer writing this could have been jarring, but Crosley handled it beautifully.
This was a 10/10 vacation read for me, with enough substance to keep me hooked and intensely readable prose.

This was a very literary listen, though pretty short.
Lola is a woman living in New York who starts to suspiciously run into her exes as she goes about the city.
The writing is quite descriptive and thoughtful but sometimes overrides the bigger concept of the story, which is a fascinating idea.
I found my mind wondering sometimes as I listened to this book, so might be a better one to read. But overall I enjoyed the change of pace in the writing style and the ponderings of Lola in this confusing stage of her life.
It was quite good and very thought-provoking.

I loved this authors other books and this was good too. I felt that I connected with I Was Told There’d Be Cake more so than this book, but it’s still worth reading. Thank you for the ARC!

After multiple stops and starts, I have not been able to finish the book. Partly, because I felt no affinity for Lola and partly because the book did not flow for me. I kept wondering what was the point of it all. It may be my age, but I did not find the humor that other reviewers described. I really, really tried. Thank you to NetGalley and MCD for the DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Stunning writing - cool idea for a novel that kept me reading (mostly because of the great writing). I think this is one that If read with a discussion group, there would be a lot of sharing as everyone recounted stories of their past relationships and how their perceptions have changed as they’ve gotten older and had more experiences/relationships. I never fell for/enjoyed any of the characters which is a bummer and the reason for only giving it 3 stars. I never rooted for anyone, ya know? Thank you to MCD for the copy. I’m grateful.

I took a while to read this book because I was on vacation when I started it and the only times I got the chance to read it was right before bed and I could only make it a couple pages before I fell asleep. This made it harder for me to get into the book because I wouldn’t remember what happened in the previous pages and would be confused. I will say I love the cover of this book and the general plot. I liked that some exes she just saw and kind of avoided and some she actually talked to, but I felt a couple towards the end were pretty rushed (mainly the 2 in one night). I just found the execution a little confusing, where I had to read certain parts over again, and I didn’t understand her kind of obsession with Clive. And I really liked that Max was the ending but Clive’s death just didn’t do it for me.

"Cult Classic" was a book I saw other book influencers promoting and was really looking forward to it. The cover art, the title, the plot having to do with some sort of cult - all sounded very promising and exciting to me. Unfortunately this book was not my personal cup of tea. I really struggled reading the first few chapters of this book. The verbiage was very dense, and I found myself easily confused as to what was going on. I ultimately decided to DNF this book at 25% since I just was not having an enjoyable time reading. I think this book would be great for someone who enjoys very descriptive writing, and a slow progression of the story. I've decided to rate this book 2/5 stars - while I don't think I can fairly give a great star review since I was unable to complete the book, there was nothing upsetting or inappropriate about the book, it just simply was not something that I found entertaining enough to continue on reading.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Cult Classic was exactly the type of book I was in the mood for - the writing was witty, unique, and laugh out loud funny at times. I loved the quintessential NYC setting, and this book puts a unique literary twist on your typical "cult" book .Unfortunately I found the plot to be lacking, and a lot of the tangents that the MC went on her head had me disinterested and bored. The overall premise of closure and finding your way out of relationships was intriguing, but overall I was hoping for more by the end.

I love Sloane Crosley's essays, and she really does have a finger on the pulse of what it feels like to be in your 30s in New York City. So much of this novel resonated, though I wasn't necessarily as drawn in as I hoped I'd be. I'd recommend this to any fan of Crosley's essays, though it's super different from her other novel (which I enjoyed), THE CLASP.