Cover Image: Cult Classic

Cult Classic

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Member Reviews

I rarely don’t finish books and the few times I do it’s because the protagonist annoys me. The chief character doesn’t have to be wonderful (a lot of them are serial killers in the thrillers I favor), but when she/he just seems pretentious and somewhat whiny, I tend to lose interest. I wanted to like Lola, “Cult Classic’s” aging millennial and her oh-so-trendy New York City friends, but I failed. The story is primarily about Lola’s doubts about marrying the fiancé she describes as “a person I’d swindled into a lifetime of mutual tolerance”. She keeps bumping into exes and we find out why she deemed those guys so awful and unworthy. But because I was only questioning why Lola might be worthy of them instead, I had to quit before getting totally depressed. So, although I was intrigued by the title “Cult Classic” and the knowledge that Sloane Crowley is a well known humorist, I had to put the book in my DNF list. I’m giving it 3 stars as a neutral rating. Previous fans of Ms. Crowley might enjoy this, I can’t count myself in her target audience.

Thank you to Farrar, Straus, and Giroux and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

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Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I found the dialog a bit of a stretch and overall the premise was executed unimaginatively.

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Lola is a 37 year old New Yorker wrestling with whether she wants to marry her boyfriend Boots. Suddently she keeps running into ex-boyfriends, and ruminates on these past relationships. This was quirky and fun, and a different change of pace from the type of novel I normally read.

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Thank you so much nethqlley for an early copy of Cult Classic



The story was intriguing and I enjoy the story up to the last page!

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An original story, creatively imagined.
Interesting & unique premise.
Great, unpredictable ending--memorable last line

With great thanks to NetGalley & FSG for this ARC!

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Ok, maybe this is a 3-1/2 star. When I started reading it, I was like "Oh yeah, I remember this author." I mean, sort of a high brow, chic lit attitude with lots of witty asides. Sometimes a little too-too. The premise of the story is kind of intriguing in a sort of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" kind of way, but it look a meandering 2/3 of the book to get to the core plot and then the ending (while surprising) was almost a little abrupt and came too fast to process. I can't say I would recommend, but I wouldn't exactly steer someone away if they were looking for thriller-esque/pseudo-literary read.

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OMG this book was so clever and interesting! Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC

Lola is engaged and thinks that she is happy, but there is a tiny part of her that is unsure. Strangely, her ex-boss has come up with a way for people to re-think the choices they've made, by compelling their ex-lovers to gravitate in their direction. Lola is the guinea pig for the project. Her fiance is out of town, so she rolls with it!

All the different characters were detailed and well-described, and the ending genuinely surprised me. This book was fantastical without being over the top or too strange. This is the first book by Sloane Crosley I have read, and will check out others for sure

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It took me a little while to get into "Cult Classic," by Sloane Crosley, and in fact I was never completely gripped by it, but by the second half of the book I felt myself enjoying the narrator's voice and wanting to see how things played out. Perhaps this is partly to do with me needing to change my expectations for what the book would be, as I didn't feel like it was a romance at all; rather, romance was the tool through which the book considered the hold the past can have on you and how difficult it is to choose to grow up and move on when you've reached an inflection point in your life. This is clearly a problem for the book's main character, Lola, who can't convince herself that her current relationship is The One. Although she could be frustrating at times with her overthinking and self-sabotaging, Lola was a believable character, and Crosley puts her in a beautifully-depicted New York City setting--Chinatown really popped off the page for me. What wasn't so believable was the character of Clive, Lola's interfering ex-boss, who never fully came alive for me, and certainly wasn't the magnetic figure that the plot needs him to be. If you're willing to overlook that weakness, "Cult Classic" will be a fun enough diversion.

Many thanks to NetGalley and to MCD for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review.

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This book was A RIDE. During the first ~75% I kind of didn't get it. Like "okay this is the premise, but why?" But the writing was hilarious and witty, and that kept me entertained throughout (despite still being confused).

I wasn't expecting any twists or surprises at the ending since this really isn't that kind of book. But then, the ending. I loved the ending. Sloane Crosley landed the plane!

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Cult Classic follows Lola, a late-30’s writer in New York City who can’t stop running into her exes. When the reason is revealed, she’s pulled into a world of cults, mind control, and mysterious investors. If you were given the chance to finally get closure, would you?

Sloane Crosley’s debut has smart and funny moments, but I felt somewhat underwhelmed by the actual plot and uneven pacing. I also found the ending to be rushed and…manipulative? I would be very curious to see if others felt the same way. Cult Classic is described as “a masterfully crafted tale of love, memory, morality, and mind control, as well as a fresh foray into the philosophy of romance.” I didn’t feel it was particularly deep or substantive in its examination of these themes - and it wasn’t very romantic either (it mostly just follows a woman as she decides whether to settle for a man she finds mediocre.)

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Dang this book was GOOD. Sloane killed it. Usually books either win me over by plot or characters but this one did both. The main character Lola was so freaking cool (thinking someone like Rob in High Fidelity). I wanted to be friends with her posse — but they would have been too cool for me. Sloane has a way with words and so many of her words stuck with me. I received a free e-book ARC, but will be buying a hardback when it comes out.

I received a free copy of this ebook from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All expressed opinions are my own and do not reflect any stance or position held by the author or publisher. This did not affect my rating or review in any way.

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Sloane Crosley does it again!

Crosley is one of my favorite authors and essayists, so I was thrilled to see that she had a new book (her second novel) coming out, and "Cult Classic" was just as sharp, hilarious, and perceptive as I hoped. The story follows Lola as she coincidentally keeps running into her ex-boyfriends in New York City, except it’s not a coincident at all. I don’t want to reveal too much more but implore fans of Sloane’s other books to read “Cult Classic,” a tale of love, memory, morality, and mind control.

One of my favorite passages: “Knox used to say that falling in love was like trying to remember something you never knew. The first time I heard him say it, I told him it was beautiful. But when he said it again, a pat piece poetry thrown into the evaporating pool of our love. I told him that it wounded too sad. It meant that love was always out of reach. It made it sound like a curse, to have happiness forever floating around on the tip of one’s tongue.”

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Holy MOLY what a ride CULT CLASSIC by Sloane Crosley is. I’ve been a fan of Crosley’s writing since college, and was thrilled when she began publishing novels a few years ago. I wasn’t completely enamored with her first one, THE CLASP, but this one reminds me so much of her essays and humor writing because it made me LOL multiple times. It is a very NYC book, a very Millennial book, but it is also witty and fresh and unlike anything I’ve ever read.

The only knock for me was that, at many points, I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I’m not sure if it just went completely over my head or I wasn’t really supposed to understand the ins and outs of this weird cult the protagonist Lola gets wrapped up in, but I was still happy to be on the ride. Filled with former run-ins with exes, the take-down of new wave gurus, and a contemporary look at modern romance, this book is a hoot. Crosley is truly an exceptional writer with a singular voice and you can’t ask for a more fun read if you like weird, contemporary stories that are ~very~ New York.

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This novel was very witty and fun. Lola is one of those neurotic characters you can relate to. Especially women who are commitment-phobes when it comes to relationships/marriage. I've never read anything by Sloane Crosley before, but I found her writing to be very introspective and quirky. This book is impossible to explain, and yet I found easy to understand. Lola is in a crossroads in her personal life. She's looking for closure from her past relationships. She's currently engaged to her boyfriend Max (aka Boots). She's not sure if he's the one for her, or if she's just afraid to be alone. The story is relatable and refreshing. I loved the mind control angle of this story. Very unique. And would you look at that cover art! It's a thing of sheer beauty. It's not a perfect novel, it's got flaws here and there, but overall - I very much enjoyed Lola and her "cult-like" friends.

Thank you, Netgalley and FSG for the digital ARC.

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A genre bending story of romance, thriller and humour, a combination which really shouldn’t work, but Crosley succeeds in pulling off in this short novel centred on mind-control.

The ‘cult’ storyline wasn’t super engaging for me, but it was fun to read about Lola’s encounters with her past lovers and the chaos that ensues, and it definitely made me laugh out loud a few times.

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This was SO fun. Sloane Crosley's voice, humorous and original, shines through Lola and all of her sidekicks. This was one of the most New York-y books I've ever read, and I was sad when it was over. Honestly, I could read a thousand pages of Lola complaining about men and her life.

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This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, Farrar, Straus and Giroux and by #NetGalley. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Fans of Sloane Crosley will love this one. If you’re new to Crosley’s works, you’re in for a treat. Witty, quirky and entertaining this packs a punch.

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Sloane Crosley has to be the funniest, smartest contemporary writer of our times. I will always run to read her books!
CULT CLASSIC is billed as a mysterious romantic thriller but seems more to me a comedic treatise of the self in contemporary New York,

Lola lives in New York City with her boyfriend whom she refers to as "Boots," Lola is less than excited about their pending nuptials and seems to be questioning herself at the start of the novel while at a dinner with her ex-coworkers. The ex-coworkers turn out to be quite important to the plot as Lola discovers soon after that they are literally creating a cult-like program in which she is the test case or patient number one. The program they have created attracts men from Lola's romantic past to interact with her in a variety of ways with the idea that it will allow here to come to some existential conclusions.

If this sounds.a bit far fetched, don't worry. The specifics are truly not important. What this novel features are amazing vignettes about the many relationships Lola has had. Some good, some bad, none of them leading to the "one." It's fascinating, it's thrilling and it is hilarious. I just want Lola or better yet, Sloane to hang out with me every day all day and maybe narrate my own life. Sloane Crosley has made the mundane, the literal every day pieces of our life to be ironic, hilarious and truly memorable. If you like a ironic romp, a hilarious retelling of life in New York or have an interest in the science fiction solution to romance, then #CultClassic is your book! #NetGalley #NetgalleyReads #FarrarstrausGiroux

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Living in Manhattan Lola doesn’t expect to bump into her ex-boyfriends. Until she does: again, and again, and again. This can be no coincidence, especially given the cult that has an interest in her romantic future.

Literary fiction always has a way of drawing me in with it’s witticism and wry characters, but also leaving me feeling like I didn’t fully “get it”. I loved Lola and learning about her past and her relationships. I enjoyed her take on pretty much everything and the dialogue. The whole cult thing felt a little over my head, but I still enjoyed the read.

“Romance may be the world’s oldest cult. It hooks you when you’re vulnerable, scares the shit out of you, holds your deepest fears as collateral, renames you something like ‘baby’, brainwashes you, then makes you think that your soul will wither and die if you let go of a person who loved you.

Cult Classic comes out 6/7.

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Wow, talk about a mind bending book!

Lola is putting to bed one stage of her life, writer for Modern Psychology magazine and a chaotic serial dater, to move on to a new one, engaged and stable. She has convinced herself she’s content with this plan until she by chance runs into one of her exes. Then another. And then another. Coincidence no longer covers what is happening to her and Lola finds herself at the center of a contemporary cult’s actions.

The writing is just absolutely cinematic. While reading this novel I felt like I was watching a movie. It’s strange and surreal and outlandish, but I couldn’t put it down. This book is classified as a mystery/rom-com but I feel like it read more like literary fiction. To my surprise, I enjoyed this more than if it truly were a rom-com. The writing is so beautiful that its subtle, self deprecating and odd humor as it relates to love just fit. There are many characters in this book and at some points I did get slightly confused, but it didn’t take away from the overall impact

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