Review: O Sinners! by Nicole Cuffy

O Sinners! by Nicole Cuffy

Blurb from Goodreads:

A journalist investigates a seductive and mysterious cult and its leader, an enigmatic Vietnam War veteran, in this not-to-be-missed novel.

Faruq Zaidi, a young journalist reeling from the recent death of his father, a devout Muslim, takes the opportunity to embed in a cult called The Nameless. Based in the California redwoods and shepherded by an enigmatic Vietnam War-veteran named Odo, The Nameless adhere to the 18 Utterances, including teachings such as “THERE IS NO GOD BUT THE NAMELESS,” “ALL SUFFERING IS DISTORTION,” and “SEE ONLY BEAUTY.” Faruq, skeptical but committed to unraveling the mystery of The Nameless, extends his stay over months, as he gets deeper into the cult's inner workings, compassionate teachings, and closer to Odo. Faruq himself begins to unravel, forced to come-to-terms with the memories he has been running from while trying to resist Odo's spell. 

Told in three seamlessly interwoven threads between Faruq’s present-day investigation, Odo’s time before the formation of the movement as a Black infantryman during the Vietnam War, alongside three other Black soldiers, and a documentary script that recounts The Nameless’ clash with a Texan fundamentalist church, O SINNERS! examines both longing and belonging. Ultimately the novel What is it that we seek from cults and, inevitably, from each other?

 This was well written but the plot was ultimately disappointing for me.  I was bored and all of the characters were written in such a way that they were extremely hard to understand or like. I was unhappy reading this but I hope you have better luck! 

O Sinners! comes out next week on March 18, 2025, and you can purchase HERE.  

"I need answers."

"To what? What're you asking?"

"I don't know-nothing new. The same thing everyone asks: Why? What's the meaning?"

"Nah, don't do that-stay inside yourself. What are you asking? What are you trying to get to?"

"The truth, I guess."

"What truth?"

"I don't know, general truth, truth of the world, of my life?"

"And what's the truth gonna do for you? Hold you down?

Anchor you? Give you some promise that makes all the shit worth living through? Make you feel like what you've lost, you haven't lost in vain?" Odo chuckled. "You believe in Nothing, scholar. And I mean that with a capital N. But you ain't comfortable with it. Nah. You trying to fill all that Nothing with truth."