The narrator was okay, but talked really slowly so I listened at 2x speed. While I finished the book, it was not something that I really enjoyed. It was intriguing and I kept hoping there would be some big message or reveal, but there wasn't (or if what may be the "big reveal" was the big reveal then I wasn't impressed). The whole thing was just weird and didn't seem to have a point.

I was expecting something like a satirical take on a campy 1980s horror book; instead I got cringey millennial dating ennui mixed with a unique mystery. It was surprisingly enjoyable - mostly the mystery part, as I found almost all of the characters annoying as all get out - and did keep me interested to know what the real story was.

I'm still trying to figure out what I just read. Not sure what the whole book was about for that matter. Just not my thing. Very disppointed.

I requested this book after hearing about it on a podcast. Unfortunately I found it just didn’t hold my attention. The narration was fine but kept getting lost in the details. Perhaps I would have done better in print form. I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to listen to this ARC.

When Lola steps out of a work dinner to smoke a cigarette in the NYC Chinatown alley, the last person she expects to see is a former boyfriend. The next day, she runs into another former boyfriend. Then another … then another … Could it truly be coincidence that she is running into so many former boyfriends after not seeing them in years? Especially since she is newly engaged?

This was a very bizarre story. It was a little too out there for me, but I’m sure it will have a niche group of readers who enjoy it!

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

Sloane Crosley has written a few essay collections that I have adored. She's a fantastic essay writer but something about this book was a miss for me. I do hope to keep reading her work and still consider myself a fan of her writing, it wasn't bad per se and I knew not to expect the same thing we get from her essays but it was just middle ground for me.

This was a quirky and compelling concept, but unfortunately, this book was NOT for me. I couldn't even finish it. It was a slog to get through the audiobook, and I frequently found my attention drifting, and I honestly didn't care enough to go back and listen to what I missed. This was dull and pretentious, and just... meh,

I love Sloane Crosley's essays, so I was excited to receive an audiobook of Cult Classic. The narration of this one amplifies the experience.

Many thanks to the author, publish, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

Unfortunately I struggled with this book. I'm usually such a fan of Sloane Crosley and her work, but I had a hard time with the dense descriptions and the perplexing plot line. The audiobook narrator was terrific and kept me engaged throughout! I did very much enjoy the dark wit of the story.

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.

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.

Audiobook readers: This story works equally well in audio format as it does in written format, and the narrator captures the tone of the story with aplomb.

CULT CLASSIC by Sloane Crosley. Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publisher @macmillanaudio for the audiobook ARC.

All right listen - I really loved Sloane Crosley's I WAS TOLD THERE WOULD BE CAKE and I was super excited to listen to this audiobook because she was also the narrator even though it is definitely not my normal genre - but I just COULD NOT GET INTO IT. I did listen to the whole thing and tried to be interested in the characters and the story. I mean even the cult angle of the story did not really sway me and that is...well...surprising. I totally get the philosophical background of the story but just was not really interested in any of the characters as I found them a bit pretentious.

I will still pick up another book by Crosley because I definitely have liked her work before, but this one just wasn't for me.

HOWEVER, in case you like stories about New York thirty somethings that have an existential romantic crisis as they are on the cusp of getting married and are visited by the ghosts of boyfriends past and this is your thing, the synopsis is below.

Synopsis:
One night in New York City’s Chinatown, a woman is at a work reunion dinner with former colleagues when she excuses herself to buy a pack of cigarettes. On her way back, she runs into a former boyfriend. And then another. And . . . another. Nothing is quite what it seems as the city becomes awash with ghosts of heartbreaks past.

What would normally pass for coincidence becomes something far stranger as the recently engaged Lola must contend not only with the viability of her current relationship but the fact that both her best friend and her former boss, a magazine editor turned mystical guru, might have an unhealthy investment in the outcome. Memories of the past swirl and converge in ways both comic and eerie, as Lola is forced to decide if she will surrender herself to the conspiring of one very contemporary cult.

#cultclassic #modernromancebooks #booknerd #bookreview #booklover #constantreader

I loved the author's narration, she has the perfect inflection of the type of NYC young women in her story.
But reading a book about someone revisiting ex boyfriends and endlessly examining their motivations and comparing details of their times together with her relationship with her current fiancée seems pointless - or maybe that was the point.
The dialogue was amusing, but it reminds me of silly conversations I have on the phone with my sister, where we talk about everything & nothing.

What a ride. First of all, hats off to the author because this writing style is punchy af. I swear I had to listen slower than most books because I feel like I'd miss something (a joke, a whipsmart reference)

Plotwise, I love it in theory, but it definitely dragged in the middle before an oh-so satisfying ending!

This audiobook was so well done. The narrator’s voice was smooth, clear, and perfectly embodied the main character. The actual story and plot wasn’t as entertaining to me as I thought it would be, but I still enjoyed it as a whole! Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for access to this audiobook in exchange of my honest review.

Cult Classic
by Sloane Crosley
Genre: Lit Fiction
Pub Date: 7 July 2022

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞: One night in New York City’s Chinatown, a woman runs into a former boyfriend. And then another. And . . . another. As the city becomes awash with ghosts of heartbreaks past, she must find a way to make peace with herself and her collection of relationships.

Review: I love Sloane Crosley’s essay collections, so I was absolutely intrigued by this novel from the jump, and its glorious cover. Sloane has a way of reducing her environment and her subjects to their purest, sometimes most cynical but also most intimate components and for that I have a deep appreciation. She is an excellent story teller and, because this has a whole cult mystique quasi-thriller/mystery element to it, it definitely holds one’s attention. And, for me, the beauty of her writing is in moments of her narrator’s sneaky, profound, and seemingly accidentally insightful comments on love and relationships. I just ate this one up. She narrates the audiobook, which I thought was well done and listened in combination with reading on my commutes/hot girl walks. A solid 4/5 star read.

Read if you:
🏡Are a New Yorker
🏡Ever dated someone you can’t forget
🏡Have a fascination w psychology/cults
🏡Need closure

Thank you to @macmillanaudio & @fsgbooks / @mcdbooks for the ALC & e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

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4.25 stars! “Romance may be the world’s oldest cult.”

This was such a fun, witty, and modern portrayal of dating today! I fell right in step with the writing and style of the book. I love a NYC setting and loved the line it edged on being a little bit cultish and having magical realism integrated into the plot.

This is more character-driven and literary, and gave me similar vibes to Ghosts of Girlfriends past! This one might not be for everyone, but it really worked for me and gave me something to think about.

This feels like a clever love letter to millennials, and I think the humor and sarcasm landed just right!

This was an interesting read: a little too much romance for my taste. But I took a chance! 3 stars:)

I don’t think I’ve ever been more misled by the top tags on Goodreads as I was going into this book. Not even the synopsis captures how much Cult Classic is NOT a “mystery,” not a “thriller,” and barely a “romance.” At least, it’s a romance in the sense that the main characters gets what’s tangential to a happy ending with a romantic partner - even if she spends most of the book trying to avoid all of her past flings. The cult elements advertised (quite blatantly in the title, mind you) are so minimal that I think this book could have been written without them entirely and we would get to the exact same place. It would have been an even more uninteresting experience - and frankly just women’s fiction - but it could have happened.

I realized very quickly when I started reading this book that this is exactly the type of book I go out of my way to avoid and, all technical aspects ignored, generally find little value in. This book is about failed romantic relationships, but the disagreeability of it all is only exacerbated with how absolutely pretentious each of Lola’s ex-boyfriends are. And she truly isn’t any better, perhaps even worse than some. I don't know if this was a New-Yorker thing or a stylistic choice of the author but this book was filled with people that I would move across a cafe to avoid if I had to sit next to them and overhear their conversations.

Cult Classic is not objectively a one-star book, even if I would describe my reading experience this way. I think if you go into this expecting and wanting a story that is much more about one woman looking back on all her romantic relationships and lamenting her current one instead of a thriller, you’ll have an alright time. It’s not poorly written, though it’s not doing anything groundbreaking in the genre by any means. But I would assume there is an audience for this kind of retrospective women’s fiction with a faint sprinkling of cultish elements thrown in.

Thank you to the publisher Macmillan Audio for providing an audiobook ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

Thank you NetGallery for the advanced listen.

This was an odd one. I wanted to like it but I couldn't fully embrace it. I enjoyed the premise of running into past flames. I took away some snippets of wisdom when the character reflected on these past relationships. Wouldn't it be nice to run into every person you sometimes have "what if?" questions about to only be reminded why not. Where I was thrown off by the nonchalant response to the fact that she was living a bit of a Truman Show life. Without giving any spoilers away, I will say that I wanted more information about this piece of the story and more of a response from our main character.