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.

This book was everything I wanted it to be. It had me turned pages without even realizing. It was so good!

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.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read Cult Classic. I am a huge Sloane Crosley fan, but this was unlike any of her other books. It's very "trippy," yet her trademark wit and humor is very much a part of the story. I laughed at times, but the story was so bizarre that I kept losing interest. It's like if the plot lines of” Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “The Truman Show” merged together and the main character switched to a female lead. This book was way out of my comfort zone, as I've never been a fan of magical realism in any media form. I enjoyed the humor and the writing is fantastic, but the story itself was too over the top for me.
The main character, Lola, who is currently engaged to her boyfriend, starts to run into all of the exes. And then she realizes that it's not a coincidence that this is happening. I liked the NYC setting and I could picture Lola walking around Chinatown, but I just wasn't interested enough in the story. The ending was pretty far-fetched and by then, the humor and sharp wit wasn't enough for me to fully enjoy the story. Some interesting passages, but it was mostly a miss for me.

Ghosts of boyfriends past. There is plenty of humor and cleverness, like Crosley’s other books. I was hoping for some plot and there didn’t seem to be much of one.

Great new read from Sloane Crosley, of whom I am a huge a fan! Huge Russian doll vibes, great recommendation for anyone who is a fan of that show.

I think if this had come out further apart from This Time Tomorrow, I would probably have less comparisons and more compliments.

I loved the premise of this book! The premise, plus the beautiful writing and compelling characters made this a can't-put-down read for me. Definitely a must read for fans of Crosley.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. A beautifully written and deeply intriguing story. So original and I loved the setting, the characters were captivating and the plot kept me so engaged.