Ghosts and the Mundane

The novel opens with a meditation on the dead's desire to return to the living world, even for a few minutes, to experience the mundane. This sets the tone for Lola, the protagonist, who is haunted by her own past and the ghosts of former relationships. The prologue introduces Clive, her late mentor, whose mother's story about the dead's weekly lottery to visit the living becomes a metaphor for Lola's own longing to revisit and make sense of her choices. The narrative establishes that the past is never truly gone; it lingers, shaping the present in ways both subtle and profound.

Chinatown Encounters

Lola, now an editor at a digital media outlet, meets her old friends for dinner in Chinatown. The group, once close colleagues at a psychology magazine, is now scattered and changed by time and circumstance. The dinner is tinged with nostalgia and discomfort, as Lola reflects on her relationships with Clive, Vadis, and Zach, and the ways they've all drifted. The city itself becomes a character, its streets and restaurants layered with memories and chance encounters, foreshadowing the uncanny reunions to come.

Dinner with the Past

After dinner, Lola steps out for cigarettes and unexpectedly runs into Amos, a significant ex-boyfriend. Their conversation is fraught with unresolved feelings, witty banter, and the tension of old intimacy. Lola is engaged to Boots, a stable and loving partner, but the encounter with Amos stirs up doubts and nostalgia. The city's randomness seems almost orchestrated, as if fate—or something more deliberate—is at work, bringing Lola face-to-face with her romantic history.

The Cult of Clive

Lola is drawn into the Golconda, a mysterious organization led by Clive, who has reinvented himself as a new-age guru. The Golconda operates out of a renovated synagogue and claims to use a blend of technology, meditation, and social engineering to orchestrate meaningful coincidences—especially encounters with exes. Lola learns she is the subject of an experiment: her past lovers are being drawn into her orbit, not by chance, but by design. The Golconda's methods blur the line between science and mysticism, raising questions about free will and closure.

Exes in the Wild

Over the next days, Lola repeatedly runs into ex-boyfriends and old flings—Willis, Dave, Jonathan, Howard, Cooper, Oscar, and more. Each encounter is both surreal and emotionally charged, forcing Lola to confront the unresolved feelings, regrets, and lessons of each relationship. The city becomes a haunted landscape, every corner a potential site of emotional ambush. Lola's reactions range from indifference to deep introspection, as she tries to discern what these meetings mean for her present and future.

The Golconda Experiment

Lola submits to the Golconda's rituals: biofeedback sessions, memory mapping, and confessional interviews. She is both subject and observer, skeptical of Clive's motives but unable to resist the pull of the experiment. The Golconda's members, a mix of techies, spiritualists, and lost souls, treat her as both a case study and a catalyst. The process is exhausting and destabilizing, as Lola's sense of self is challenged by the relentless revisiting of her past.

Boots and the Present

Boots, Lola's fiancé, is a gentle, creative soul who offers her the comfort and security she's never had. Their relationship is marked by affection, routine, and a shared life—yet Lola is plagued by doubts. The contrast between Boots and her exes becomes sharper as the experiment progresses. Lola's inability to fully commit to the present, her tendency to hoard memories and compare partners, threatens to undermine the very stability she craves.

The Memory Box

Lola keeps a box of mementos from past relationships—letters, ticket stubs, notes—which becomes a symbol of her inability to let go. The box is both a comfort and a burden, a physical manifestation of her emotional hoarding. When Boots discovers the box, it triggers a crisis, forcing Lola to confront the ways she's been living in the past and the impact it has on her current relationship.

Coincidences Multiply

As the Golconda's influence intensifies, Lola's encounters with exes become more frequent and uncanny. She begins to question the nature of coincidence, agency, and destiny. The city's randomness is revealed as an elaborate stage, with Clive and his followers pulling the strings. Lola's skepticism is tested as she realizes that even her most private memories and choices are being manipulated.

The Meditation Room

Lola becomes obsessed with the Golconda's meditation room, a space she is forbidden to enter. With the help of a friend, she breaks in and discovers the true extent of the experiment: files on her exes, evidence of surveillance, and the unsettling realization that Boots has been involved all along. The room is both a sanctuary and a prison, a place where the boundaries between past and present, self and other, are blurred.

Closure and Catastrophe

Lola's journey through the Golconda culminates in a confrontation with Boots, who reveals that he orchestrated the experiment in a desperate attempt to help her move on from her past. Their relationship is tested to its limits, as both are forced to reckon with their fears, insecurities, and desires. Meanwhile, Clive's obsession with control and meaning leads to disaster: a fatal accident in the Golconda's elevator, which brings the entire enterprise crashing down.

The Last Encounter

In the aftermath of Clive's death and the collapse of the Golconda, Lola is left to pick up the pieces. She realizes that closure is not something that can be engineered or purchased; it is a process of acceptance and letting go. Lola chooses to stay with Boots, not out of obligation or fear, but out of genuine love and the recognition that the present is all she truly has.

The Elevator Falls

Clive's death in the malfunctioning elevator is both literal and symbolic: the collapse of his grand experiment, the dangers of trying to control fate, and the ultimate futility of seeking perfect closure. The Golconda is dismantled, its secrets buried, and its members scattered. Lola and Boots are left to mourn, reflect, and move forward.

Aftermath and Farewell

Lola attends Clive's funeral, where the surviving characters gather to pay their respects and process the events. The experience has changed them all, deepening their understanding of love, loss, and the impossibility of perfect closure. Lola writes a final letter to Clive, expressing both anger and gratitude, and acknowledging the lessons she has learned.

Lessons from the Past

The novel ends with Lola reflecting on the nature of closure, memory, and love. She realizes that the past will always be with her, but it does not have to define her. True growth comes from accepting the messiness of life, the inevitability of loss, and the beauty of the present moment. The ghosts of the past may never fully disappear, but they can be integrated into a richer, more compassionate understanding of oneself and others.

Characters

Lola

Lola is the protagonist, a sharp, self-aware woman in her late thirties who is both drawn to and tormented by her romantic past. Her relationships are marked by a mix of longing, skepticism, and humor. Lola's inability to let go of old loves and her tendency to hoard emotional artifacts make her both relatable and frustrating. She is deeply introspective, often psychoanalyzing herself and others, and her journey is one of learning to accept imperfection, uncertainty, and the limits of closure.

Clive Glenn

Clive is Lola's former boss and mentor, a once-respected editor who reinvents himself as the leader of the Golconda. He is both brilliant and manipulative, driven by a desire to impose meaning and order on the chaos of human emotion. Clive's obsession with closure and control ultimately leads to his downfall. Psychologically, he is a study in the dangers of unchecked ambition and the need for validation. His relationship with Lola is complex, blending mentorship, rivalry, and unspoken affection.

Boots (Max)

Boots is Lola's fiancé, a gentle and creative man who offers her stability and unconditional love. He is patient and supportive, but not without his own insecurities and doubts. Boots's involvement in the Golconda experiment reveals his desperation to help Lola move on from her past, even at the cost of his own dignity. His development is marked by a growing assertiveness and a willingness to confront difficult truths. His relationship with Lola is ultimately redemptive, grounded in mutual acceptance and vulnerability.

Vadis

Vadis is Lola's best friend, a former colleague who becomes involved in the Golconda. She is both a confidante and a co-conspirator, pushing Lola to confront her past while also keeping secrets of her own. Vadis is emotionally intelligent but often evasive, using humor and distraction to avoid intimacy. Her loyalty to Lola is tested by her allegiance to Clive and the Golconda, but she ultimately remains a source of support and perspective.

Zach

Zach is another former colleague, whose skepticism and wit provide a counterpoint to the novel's more earnest characters. He is both critical of and fascinated by the Golconda, serving as a voice of reason and comic relief. Zach's own romantic failures mirror Lola's, and his friendship with her is marked by a mix of camaraderie, rivalry, and unspoken affection. He is ultimately searching for meaning and connection, even as he mocks those who seek it.

Amos

Amos is one of Lola's most significant exes, a writer whose relationship with her was marked by passion, conflict, and mutual misunderstanding. He represents the allure of the past and the dangers of idealizing what is gone. Amos is both self-absorbed and vulnerable, and his encounters with Lola force both to confront the limits of nostalgia and the necessity of moving on.

Willis

Willis is another ex, an Olympic athlete whose innocence and optimism contrast sharply with Lola's cynicism. He is physically impressive but emotionally simple, representing a path not taken and the seductive appeal of a life unburdened by self-doubt. Willis's presence in the story highlights the ways in which Lola's own complexity can be both a gift and a curse.

Oscar

Oscar is a former boyfriend whose embrace of alternative medicine and new-age beliefs both attracts and repels Lola. He is a mirror for her own search for meaning, but his inability to commit to reality makes him ultimately unsatisfying. Oscar's presence in the Golconda experiment underscores the novel's themes of belief, skepticism, and the limits of self-improvement.

Jin

Jin is a key member of the Golconda, responsible for the biofeedback and data analysis. She is both a true believer and a survivor of her own traumas, bringing a mix of scientific rigor and spiritual longing to the experiment. Jin's interactions with Lola are marked by empathy and curiosity, and her own backstory adds depth to the novel's exploration of pain and healing.

Errol

Errol manages the Golconda's operations, serving as Clive's right hand. He is both a gatekeeper and a caretaker, smoothing over conflicts and maintaining order. Errol's loyalty to Clive is both admirable and tragic, as he is ultimately left to pick up the pieces after the experiment's collapse. His presence adds a note of warmth and humanity to the otherwise cold machinery of the Golconda.

Plot Devices

Orchestrated Coincidence

The central plot device is the Golconda's manipulation of Lola's environment to create "meaningful coincidences"—engineered encounters with her exes. This device raises questions about agency, destiny, and the ethics of intervention. The narrative structure is episodic, with each chapter focusing on a different encounter, building toward a cumulative reckoning with the past. Foreshadowing is used throughout, with early hints of manipulation and surveillance paying off in the revelation of the Golconda's true methods.

The Memory Box

Lola's box of mementos serves as both a literal and symbolic device, representing her inability to let go and the ways in which the past is preserved, curated, and reinterpreted. The box is a catalyst for conflict, especially when discovered by Boots, and its contents are woven into the narrative as touchstones for memory and reflection.

The Cult/Secret Society

The Golconda is both a parody and a serious exploration of self-help culture, blending elements of cults, therapy, and tech start-ups. Its rituals, jargon, and hierarchy provide a satirical lens on the commodification of emotion and the search for meaning in a fragmented world. The society's ultimate failure is both a critique of quick fixes and a testament to the messiness of real healing.

The Meditation Room

The meditation room is a classic locked-room device, representing the unknown, the unconscious, and the limits of self-knowledge. Lola's eventual breaking and entering is both a literal and metaphorical act of confronting what has been hidden—from herself, from Boots, and from the reader. The room's secrets catalyze the novel's final act and force a reckoning with truth and consequence.

Catastrophic Closure

The novel's climax—the fatal elevator accident—serves as both a literal and symbolic end to the experiment. It is the ultimate consequence of trying to control fate, engineer closure, and commodify healing. The catastrophe forces the characters to confront the limits of their power and the necessity of acceptance.

Analysis

Sloane Crosley's Cult Classic is a sharp, witty, and deeply humane exploration of love, memory, and the modern obsession with closure. Through Lola's journey—engineered by a secret society that manipulates fate—the novel satirizes the self-help industry, the commodification of emotion, and the illusion of control in an age of algorithms and curated lives. At its core, the book is a meditation on the impossibility of perfect closure: the past cannot be erased, only integrated; love is not a problem to be solved, but a process to be lived. The Golconda's experiment, with its blend of mysticism and technology, ultimately fails because it misunderstands the nature of healing—true growth comes not from orchestrated catharsis, but from embracing uncertainty, imperfection, and the messy, ongoing work of being human. Cult Classic is both a love letter to New York and a cautionary tale about the dangers of living in the rearview mirror. Its lesson is clear: the ghosts of the past may never fully disappear, but they need not haunt the future.

Last updated: July 26, 2025