CULT CLASSIC - Sloane Crosley

Reading the description of this book I thought I might be in for something along the lines of the 1985 film, After Hours. 

Lola is a hip, modern New Yorker.  She's an editor, now in her early 30's. She's had her string of boyfriends and lovers but is currently living a boyfriend whom she will be marrying soon.

On one particular night out with some friends Lola steps away from the gathering to pick up a pack of cigarettes when she runs into an old boyfriend - someone she hasn't thought about in a very long time. The timing, however, creates some anxiety as Lola is currently in a relationship with 'Boots' and she's been stressing over whether or not this is 'the one' - the potential life-long marriage. Of course, running into this old boyfriend now prompts her to consider and compare.

But as the evening wears on, Lola continues to run into ex-boyfriends (and she's had quite a few).  The meetings all feel as though they are chance encounters, but what are the odds that she should run into so many just at the time she is considering a life-changing moment? Slim, of course, but what could be behind it? There is indeed something at play, a cult, oddly enough.  A cult of ex-boyfriends? Could it be?

As Lola continues her odd night of encounters, she realizes she has fewer and fewer reasons to be delaying her wedding to Boots.

I really thought this was going to be a deliciously odd book, right up my alley, but was disappointed in the presentation. 

This isn't the exciting, quirky story I was hoping for ... the kind where you eagerly look forward to the next paragraph, the next page, the next chapter, to see what comes next (more quirkiness or a revelation?!). This was a slow, methodical layering of a story. That works often enough, but with an idea so off-the-wall, we need a pace and energy to match, and this does not. Some of this has to do with the language.  Author Sloane Crosley writes with a rich, brilliant language, but that actually holds this story back. We get caught up in the prose, or stumble over the prose, instead of the action.

The concept is pretty brilliant ... a cult of ex-boyfriends - and even the over-arcing story of the woman trying to figure out her life and her future life makes for a potentially best-selling book. I think I'd like to see this same concept given to a dozen different writers to see how different the stories would be because I really like the concept.

Looking for a good book? Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley is an off-beat, satire, romance that doesn't quite provide the wit and charm that it promises.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Cult Classic

author: Sloane Crosley

publisher: MCD

ISBN: 9780374603397

hardcover, 304 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke

Image
 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead.  But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan.  Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life). Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni. As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my in...
Read more

THE WALLED CITY - Ryan Graudin

Image
  Jin and her sister, Mei Yee, were taken and sold and then sent to the lawless Walled City to serve as prostitutes or slaves to anyone willing to pay. Jin managed to escape her captivity, but not the Walled City and she now lurks about, disguised as a boy and is trying to track down the brothel where her sister is still captive. Jin will work odd delivery jobs to earn a small bit of money and hopefully have a legitimate means of coming in contact with her sister's captors.  This is how she meets up with Dai, a mysterious boy who has somehow managed to avoid running with any of the gangs in the city but he seems to have his own unusual connections, which Jon could desperately use if she has any hope of finding Mei Yee. But Dai has his own desperate needs.  The story is told from the different perspectives of each character and we do bounce around quite a bit as the chapters are generally short. This never bothered me, which is slightly unusual as often I find this techni...
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - ...
Read more