O Sinners! is unexpectedly a bildungsroman novel of Faruq's self-discovery. It is a bit misleading to mention the cult in the description as I know very little about the cult itself and less about its followers. The leader, Odo, is interesting enough, but too much time is spent on his time in Vietnam with too little payout. The big moments are skimmed over, leaving us trudging through the bush with the soldiers more often than learning relevant information. I wanted to know more about the cult and who Odo really was. There is much deflection and distortion instead. Faruq's story is the most interesting, and I would have loved to read the book he really wanted to write, at the very least an excerpt at the end.
TW: there are a LOT of racial slurs in this novel. Brace yourself before reading the Vietnam flashbacks.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House, One World for this ARC!

Thank you to One World for the copy! A lot of moving parts in this one, and not all entirely relevant or cataclysmic to the story. O Sinners! delves into a religious—or from the followers' perspectives, non-religious (yet still upholding concepts of god and dogma, etc.)—cult called the Nameless. At the center is the mystical and enigmatic Odo, whose backstory is told in Vietnam War flashbacks in between added context from documentary transcripts. And since that's somehow not enough, there's also our actual protagonist, Faruq, a journalist investigating the Nameless while struggling to reconcile with the recent death of his father.

With all of the narrative shifts, and even Instagram descriptions thrown into the mix, it often felt like there was a lot going on, but there were moments where I'd look up from the book and think how little the story's actually progressed. I think about 75% of the way through, I started to wonder where all of this was really going.

Although spirituality as a concept and practice is explored all throughout, I still felt like there was something missing as a whole. There's acts of defiance against religion, disbelief, and surrendering, yet none of it felt entwined with the other. They were all just pieces to the plot rather than genuine elements of a crafted story. The ending ultimately feels unearned and falls flat due to that lack of interconnectedness, especially with the Vietnam War flashbacks.

Those chapters were also some of the least appealing parts of the book. I don't want to negate the historical accuracy of the dehumanizing levels of racism towards the Vietnamese people but damn that was a lot of slur usage lol

2.5 rounded down!

An interesting read I didn’t really know what I was getting into. There is 3 different parts to this with so much going on. I felt like the war narrative was an interesting addition. Lots of confusing parts where I really did not know what was going on.

Unfortunately this really didn't work for me. O Sinners! seems caught between two aims -- the hope of being commercially successful and a lot of fun and the dream of being meaningful and wise. As so often seems to happen, it fails utterly to balance these two goals and winds up a big soggy mess that is too confusing and boring for the commercial reader and too stupid and shallow for the literary one. I've seen a lot of this sort of fish-nor-fowl novel in the past few years and it's frustrating because it seems so clearly to be a function of the state of the publishing industry and, more importantly, a waste of time and good ideas. I don't think Nicole Cuffy is a bad writer, but this book does her no credit.

I really tried to get into this because I liked the premise, but it was just too difficult. This wasn't for me but I don't want to say it was bad.

This book was not for me. I found the writing to be dense, confusing, and hard to follow. Because of this, the story fell short and after 100 pages, I decided to no longer continue.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House- One World for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I was so excited to read this because I love books about cults! However, the book did not live up to my expectations. I really didn't like the way the book was structured (it was very confusing and I just couldn't get into the book as a result). I didn't enjoy the fake documentary part or the Instagram posts... I was expecting so much more from this.

So this book piqued my interest because anything cult-related/adjacent... I LOVE. This book has an interesting format. It circulates between Faruq's current POV, Odo in the Vietnam War, and the transcript of the documentary about the nameless. This book made me realize that I don't love reading about active war scenes. I think it's because I don't have the background knowledge and vocabulary about military. The story had a lot of potential... I think that there could've been more done with Faruq and his distortions. I think the story fell flat. It was beautifully written, but it seemed to come to an abrupt stop.


Thank you to NetGalley and One World for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

O Sinners!
by Nicole Cuffy
A dark look at the need for people to find acceptance. The Vietnam war has significant affect on the soldiers. The acceptance and persecution they received on returning home made healing even more difficult. This book shows the repercussions of the narrow look of the government on the men and women they send to war. This book shows that this negative atmosphere makes bad situations.

I was expecting this one to be a bit more horror as Goodreads categorized it but it was not so much! I am fascinated by cults but maybe I am more interested in real ones/non fiction than fiction! This was well written and suspenseful but one I am not sure about

O Sinners! by Nicole Cuffy
Genre: Fiction
Themes: cults, belonging, war, race and religion

Reeling from the death of his father, journalist Faruq goes on assignment to investigate a mysterious cult in California called “the nameless.” Led by Vietnam War veteran Odo, the nameless follow the 18 Utterances, teachings that include “all suffering is distortion.” O SINNERS! is told through three interwoven points of view: Faruq’s present-day perception, the 1960s, and a documentary script that follows the nameless’ clash with Texas fundamentalist church.

O SINNERS! reminded me of Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, but it just didn’t capture my attention as much. I had a difficult time wanting to pick up the book, so it took me nearly a month to finish. I think the three points of view muddled the pacing; it could have been condensed or one viewpoint (war flashbacks) could have been eliminated. Also, no need for the Instagram posts. I definitely didn’t hate it, and I know lots of people will enjoy it. It just wasn’t for me.

Note: Goodreads lists one of its genres as horror, but I didn’t get any horror vibes — maybe a small touch of suspense.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Random Home for an advanced reader copy of #OSinners!

Jumping back and forth between two different timelines, and throwing in some epistolary formatting in between, this spiritual fiction novel HAD me.

A cult novel like I’ve never read before, I bought a physical copy the DAY it was released. I wasn’t yet finished with the ARC, but I KNEW I needed this in my collection. The depth of feeling behind the character Faruq, and the ways in which I could identify with him, made me apprehensive to put the book down for any reason. I wasn’t as enthralled with Odo’s backstory, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it to an extent. I think all of the military slang sort of held me back a bit because I kept having to Google certain terms . Other than that though, this book dug its way deep into my heart and I will recommend it till I am blue in the face.

Phenomenal. Gold.

Spoilers ahead: Faruq's struggle with balancing his own faith with this family's religious practices, and the wavering of his mother's mental health, felt all too real. His story was DEEPLY moving and relatable. While the military jargon may not have held me captive, the times when we are taken back to Odo's time serving in Vietnam gave me more depth as to what it was like for soldiers, especially those of color, during that time. I also very much appreciated how this novel on the topic of cults didn't ultimately result in the demise of the cult or get too dark and disturbing. It was very refreshing.

A BIG thanks to @netgalley and @randomhouse for the digital ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and One World publishing for letting me read an e-ARC of this book! I've rated the book 4.75/5 stars, but for the purpose of this review, have rounded that up to 5 stars.

It took me far too long to pick this one up from my digital TBR shelf, but I finally did and it was SO worth it. Cuffy's research on cults and the Vietnam War are extensive and her ability to capture the tone of two very different time periods is impressive. I loved the structure of the book: floating between the present-day storyline with Faruq (a reporter who's attempting to break a huge story on the cult known as "the nameless"), descriptions of the nameless' Instagram posts, a documentary rehashing a battle between the nameless and a church, and a group of military men in the thick of the Vietnam War. Each section blends seamlessly into the next, but each has a very distinct voice. I loved getting to unravel the mysterious threads of Odo's origins, before he truly became Odo. It only made the plot unfolding in the present day even more tantalizing, as Faruq tries to resist the urge to fall into the cult.

I feel like sharing any more would ruin the anticipation and suspense, so I'll leave it here. But if you're on the hunt for an emotional dual storyline that features cults and war veterans, this might be it. (And I highly recommend the audiobook! I tandem-read the audio and print copies!)

O Sinners! is not your typical just sit down and read sort of book. O Sinners! makes you think and contemplate the notion of what is truly sin, what is good, what is evil, and most of all who you really are. The idea of someone being defined only by their name and upbringing and race comes into question as the reader begins to consider what really makes them what they are.

Cuffy's novel focuses on Faruq, a journalist that is invited to learn about a cult run by a man named Odo and his cult The Nameless. While Cuffy could stop there and just have this book be about a journalist exploring and learning about a cult she doesn't stop there. The question of religion and cult and what makes one different from the other comes into play. There is also the nod towards the similarities of cults and religion which leaves the reader to consider who is in the wrong when it comes to the insight of what should be condoned and condemned when it comes to both.

O Sinners! also jumps between the current time with Faruq and his time with the cult and the time before Odo was Odo when he served in Vietnam. The story also has clips of a documentary of the issues and disagreement between a church and the Nameless.

I enjoyed O Sinners! and it's thought provoking depth. This is not a light read but it is enjoyable regardless of its depth. My favorite portions of the book had to be the flashbacks to Vietnam and the times Faruq was in the stable with the horses. There is so much to appreciate about this book.

What I found most interesting is the ending of this book. While some may see the book to not have a true ending per se there was a kind of open ended contemplation to be had when it comes to the reader. Here we have Faruq at the end finally at peace and accepting of his environment and himself but the ending leaves the reader to question just how at peace he truly is. Faruq towards the end seems to present a man okay with possessing his peace and his whole world within himself, a man that is content with being alone and the space he has. However, his actions at the very end seem to say otherwise.

To me O Sinners left me looking within myself to determine the ideal of what is truly self. The other contemplation goes back to good and evil, religion and cult and who is in the right and in the wrong. The book makes you evaluate who if any of us is ever truly a sinner. Is it our actions or is it the name and view of others that define us as a sinner? Needless to say this book makes you think. The characters have so much depth but there was some that I wish had more definition.

Minh-An i felt as she was older did not have explanation of her change from the girl in the Nero documentary to the woman Faruq meets.. Along with this there is no real transition of the soldier in Vietnam and the one that becomes Odo. Besides this I felt the book was thought provoking and enjoyable. Until next time, happy reading!

Unfortunately I just couldn't get into this book.

This book follows our protagonist, Faruq, who is a Muslim journalist and decides to write a story on the cult called The Nameless. He gets more intertwined with the cult the more he learns about it and the closer he gets with the cult leader.

The premise really hooked me, but the execution was not there. If this novel had focused specifically on the cult, like I thought it would, it could have been great. However, it jumped around a lot, and left me confused in places. There were too many perspectives and the pacing was off. I really wanted to like this, but I just didn't.

Oh Sinners by Nicole Cuffy this book is about Baruch and Islamic reporter who investigates a cult, deep in the redwoods in California. At the same time coming to terms with the death of his father and their relationship., every few chapters we also get a glimpse into the past of Odo while in Vietnam but throughout the book we’re not quite sure who or which one Odo is. Let me just say I liked a lot about this book not so much the Vietnam part because I wasn’t expecting it but it also was so adverse to the main story and what I chose the book to read it for in the first place. I mean I was so down to read about a Muslim man grappling with his own faith his relationship with the strict father and reconciling the two and at the same time that man talking to members of a cult about all the reasons they love the nameless and watching him descend into the same delusion but the whole thing about Vietnam in my opinion just takes you so far out of the story and I get it it was supposed to give us a glimpse into how although became old but I myself could’ve lived without it. Having said that that is only maybe 1/3 of the book in the rest is the main story in the main story is a great story in one I recommend.#RandomHouse, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #NicoleCuffy, #OSinners,

I loved how true to history this book was, how precient it was, and the gorgeous prose. One of my favorite reads of the year.

There were parts of this I found really interesting, namely that it was about a potential cult, it questioned religion, and it used various media to tell the story. I will say that the Vietnam sequence felt slower in pace than the present day chapters. The documentary sections reminded me so much of 'Wild Wild Country' and the Rajneeshpuram. I wish there had been more closure on the nameless, though perhaps that was the point: there's not need for us to understand what drives the faith of others.

O Sinners! documents a journalist’s infiltration of the nameless—not a cult, not a religion. A philosophy, maybe.

Following a drawn out conflict with a small-town Texas church, claiming the leader of the nameless, Odo, is the antichrist, Faruq decides he wants to find the truth. Still reeling from the recent death of his father, he disappears into the California redwoods—the Forbidden City, the home of Odo.

Of course, the entire time I was reading, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop; anticipating Faruq’s inevitable demise as the nameless managed to suck him in. I was waiting for the truth, the hidden dark underbelly of what for all intents and purposes is a cult. Who really is Odo?

My first few days reading were slow-going and I wasn’t making a lot of progress. I don’t know what changed but last night it was like something came over me and suddenly I was whipping through it; I looked up and it was one in the morning and I was 90 percent through. I remember thinking, Finally, something is going to happen.

The novel itself, I want to preface, is extremely well-written. However, almost nothing happens in the story. I’m not sure if this was purposeful and intended to make the reader feel the monotony of Faruq’s time with the nameless. That feeling only changes when he starts to feel like he’s going crazy, when inexplicable things happen and no one can give him answers.

At the end of a book, I think it should feel like you’ve just finished a really good meal—you’re sated, satisfied, full. Unfortunately, that’s not the feeling I had. The ending didn’t feel like an ending to me; I went to the next page expecting the story to continue, to get the answers I wanted, and they weren’t there.

All in all, I think the concept is really interesting and the way the story was structured worked well in keeping me invested, but it just fell flat at the end.

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House for the e-ARC.

I was immediately drawn to this not only because of the title but also because of the beautiful cover. After reading the blurb and seeing that it was a story about cults I was beyond excited to receive a copy thanks to NetGalley. The perspectives from which the story is told are extremely well written and the story itself was very intriguing. It just wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be going into it - which isn’t a bad thing. I appreciated Cuffy’s writing and the twists and turns that kept me invested. I’m beyond excited to read more of the authors work in the future.