Dear Reader Reviews

by Sloane Crosley

If you’re looking for a culty psych thriller, this isn’t the book for you. But if you’re looking for a beautifully written exploration of what “closure” means for relationships – past and present – you’ll love Cult Classic just as much as I did.

Sloane Crosley’s 2022 novel follows Lola, an almost-40 year old New Yorker who is nervous about her commitment to her seemingly perfect fiancé, codename Boots. Lola has had a long series of brief relationships and finds herself anxious about committing to Boots, a mild mannered glass artist who I pictured as Tom Wambsgans through the whole book. She becomes increasingly confused about her place in the relationship after running into two ex-boyfriends at the same restaurant two nights in a row. Shortly after Boots leaves for an extended business trip, Lola discovers these run ins have not been entirely coincidence.

Lola’s friend and former boss, Clive Glenn, is a cult leader and he is guiding his followers in a pseudo-scientific experiment focused on one unwitting participant: Lola.

Clive explains to Lola that the goal of his group, the Golconda, is to help people (wealthy people able to pay for the service) find closure from previous relationships by helping them to organically confront their exes. Lola, with her string of short-lived relationships – was the perfect guinea pig for “The Classic” package. She’d see all of her exes over the course of two weeks and at the end hopefully she’d find the ever elusive closure.

As the two weeks pass quickly by, Lola lets the reader into her mental state as she processes her previous paramours, considering what drew her to each man and what made the relationship fall apart. If you date men, chances are you’ve dated at least one of Lola’s exes before, and you’ll find yourself relating to her, perhaps a bit too much.

Because, as they stated their cases, they shook loose from the context in which I knew them. They were only people, mired in downy confusion, born a little broken and trying to fix it. In all of history, we had landed in the same city at the same time and, to ladle miracle upon miracle, we had met. What were the odds? What were the chances? How could I not love them all just a little?

She considers how a month long fling can be just as damaging as year and a half long committed relationship. She muses, “How badly can you be hurt by someone whose handwriting you’ve never seen?” She goes down social media rabbit holes, dresses herself up and lets herself go, and avoids calls from her travelling fiancé. Finally, the night before Boots returns home, only one man remains.

I won’t spoil Lola’s journey into the Golconda. I really want you to read what Crosley has to say about lost rings and shattered glass, about endings and the myth of closure.

4/5 Stars, Highly Recommend