I'm bummed to say that this was a bit of a disappointment for me. Add this one to my list of most anticipated reads for 2022 that I didn't end up liking all that much! I usually love Sloane Crosley - I think her essay collections are great; she is a keen observer of elder millennial coastal elite society and wonderful at blink-and-you-miss-it quips. This book did have some of that, but I just didn't like the fictional format. It's her second novel (I haven't read The Clasp), but I may have had similar feelings about that.

The premise of this book is intriguing: Lola, a mid-30s woman in New York City, is experiencing something weird. She keeps running into her ex-boyfriends in her everyday life. First, when she's out buying cigarettes, next when she's at a trendy new restaurant, and over and over. Another reviewer described it as "the Christmas Carol if Jacob Marley was a serial dater," and that seems pretty accurate. But the book just felt like Lola running into these men and rehashing her dating experience with them. Pretty much nothing interesting happens with them - they're all nice and wish her well, noticing her engagement ring and excited that she has a fiancee (despite the fact that she's maybe getting cold feet).

Then you add in the "cult" part of this, which has to do with Lola's former boss starting a company that can use the energetics of the world to attract your exes back to you - finally putting a price on closure - and he's using Lola as a test case. I was just not vibing with that part.

I guess this is a book in the same vein as others about female malaise, burnt-out city living, and modern dating culture, kind of like My Year of Rest and Relaxation or The New Me. Some days I really like those books, and others I think they're boring and trying to be better and smarter than the reader. Today, I'm feeling like Cult Classic was the latter.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the ARC via Netgalley.

Cult Classic is somehow the kind of book that has both too much and not enough story to tell. When starting this on audio, I had to listen to the prologue twice because it felt like an important bit of world-building that I wouldn’t want to miss out on. In the end, I’m not sure how that prologue was actually related at all to the rest of the story, which is pretty indicative of my reading experience.

This semi-magical-realism-or-is-it-just-coincidence-or-maybe-mysticism? situation that Lola finds herself in when she keeps running into exes in the same place is interesting at first, but I think the explanation for why it’s happening comes too late in the book—or maybe it was too early? I just wasn’t getting it, or at least not getting anything from it. These brief interactions felt like lots of scenes Crosley could’ve developed into full stories of their own, but chose not to, and I found that an unfulfilling reading experience.

As I write this, I’m realizing my problem with this novel is very sixth grade, because it feels like a show-don’t-tell situation. Lola tells us about people who have been important in her life, Clive in particular, but I never saw or bought it. This is why I say the book is too much—I think there’s a lot left underdeveloped, but it’s also too little in that it feels like nothing is happening. Not an ideal takeaway.

I seriously need someone to help me pull my thoughts together on this one. This was such a wild experience of witty, funny, off-the-wall, and surprising emotional depth wrapped in a story with unlikable main characters that you still hoped would figure their issues out but with very little hope they really would.

Cult Classic follows a woman who is surprised to see her ex-boyfriend. Then surprised to see another. And another. Eventually she finds out that there may be a reason and its…weird. For her and us.

A modern day Christmas Carol if Scrooge was a serial dater and commitment-phobe and Jacob Marley was a cult leader, confronting a series of ex-boyfriends, lovers, etc. in order to maybe finally settle down.

The writing is sharp and witty with almost constant barbs and banter that almost bury the deep and philosophical that comes in between. I found myself wanting to highlight passages which is a struggle in the audio format. I think I may need to purchase a physical copy to be able to peruse and sparse out my favorite parts.

Our main character comes especially prepared with comedy that will make you laugh but also realize that they keep you at a distance from ever really getting to know her. Which felt like the point since she wasn’t allowing anyone to really get close to her. It makes it feel intentional that she isn’t easy to like in a super interesting way.

I’m still not sure how I feel about the ending but I feel like I will be thinking about it all for a long time and that I would probably re-read in a heartbeat.

I would compare this to the style of My Year of Rest and Relaxation. So if you like Moshfegh this might be for you (and similarly if you hate it, then its probably not).

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy of this audiobook. The book was narrated by the author who did an ok job, but could have made character voices a little more distinct as some scenes with a lot of back and forth got kind of confusing on who was talking.

loved this genre-bending little stack of dynamite of a book! thoughtful, sometimes scathing take on commitment, sex, ambition — and what it means to be doing the best you can do in a world that likes to spit conflicting visions of perfection at you.

Thank you @netgalley for the advance audiobook.

I really liked the story idea of exploring past relationships, but I wonder if I’d have liked the actual book more if I had the physical book, not the audiobook. The story line was good, but I thought the narration was, well, boring. I know, I tried to think of another adjective, but that’s all that I could come up with, but I would catch myself daydreaming while listening and it didn’t help the story for me.

I was so excited by the premise of this book and liked the beginning, but I started to struggle with it very much once I clocked its slow pace and lack of a plot.

I had wanted to read this book since I read the excerpt in the Buzz Books: Spring/Summer anthology in January 2022 because the featured chapter was so quirky and intriguing. As sad as I was that my book request lingered in limbo, I was delighted to be recently approved for the audiobook, which was read by the author herself.

Overall, I really enjoyed the eight hours or so that I spent with Cult Classic. It was absurd at times, tender at other times, and scathingly sarcastic at yet other times. And the ending!!! To me, it read as if it were a Chuck Palahniuk novel with some heart. (And I’m a big fan of his.) And it was just the right length to be an entertaining story without loose ends or overkill.

The narrator did an excellent job with the reading. Clear, flat, unaccented English, with a bit of inflection to distinguish the characters speaking. She didn’t necessarily do voices for the different characters, but it isn’t the type of novel where that would be appropriate.

I’m not sure whether I would have enjoyed the experience even more if I was actually able to read the black and white print book. But if I do return to it in the future, I’ll likely read it in print just for the different experience.

I received this audiobook as a digital advance reader copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion.

I loved this book so much. As someone in her 50s who lived in NYC and had her share of dates/boyfriends/hookups this book was so relatable and the concept was really fun. I highly recommend. Plus I am a big fan of this author.

Gave it a try but I wasn’t connecting to the voice or characters. It’s an intriguing concept with some quotable moments and observations. But I also found some passages to be trying too hard and the glibness too far reaching. It just wasn’t the book for me so I set it aside. 3 Star neutral rating.

4 stars

Despite the strong urgings of several trusted friends, this is still - somehow - my first Sloane Crosley effort, and I can see what the buzz is all about.

Lola, the m.c., is on the path to getting married, and unlike so many heroines who find themselves on this same trajectory, she is edging up on 40 and thus has a fair amount of life in her back pocket. This is important because Lola's past plays a central role in this novel, which is a little bit love story, a dash of _The Truman Show_, a hint of _Sliding Doors_, and a sprinkle of a character Parker Posey would have played perfectly a few years ago (and no doubt still would). The main talking point I hear about Crosley is the wry humor, and while I did find this funny at times, the situations were (to me) too awkward to be funny (and that is admittedly my own problem stemming from the thought of running into a bunch of exes. Lola is healthier, or at least really different, than I am in this way. It is what it is). Overall, the concept feels fresh, incredibly quirky, and meaningful based on an ending I particularly enjoyed.

This is a quick read and a terrific audiobook for those who are able to access this version. The narrator adds a lot of personality to an already compelling m.c. I expect I'll *finally* be taking that good advice and circling back to Crosley's earlier works and keeping an eye out for future installments.

Partly an incisive look into modern relationships and closure in the age of the Internet and big cities, partly a reminder of what crazy rich people do with their money—namely cults, that *aren't* cults, come on now, of course it's a cult, have you seen these people?—but in all parts funny, personal, metropolitan, and a little unhinged. Sloane Crosley, from one weird crazy Internet girl to another, I raise my glass to you. May we all survive the last frontier, romantic connection in the digital world. People are crazy.