O Sinners!

Plt;bPgt;In this P#8220;engrossingP#8221; (Plt;iPgt;Los Angeles TimesPlt;/iPgt;) novel that sweeps from present-day California to the Vietnam War and back, a grieving young man is drawn into the orbit of a charismatic cult leader who forces him to reconsider why people give up controlP#8212;and what it takes, ultimately, to find oneP#8217;s place in the world.Plt;brPgt; Plt;brPgt; ONE OF THE SEASONP#8217;S MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS: Plt;iPgt;Time, Rolling Stone, Vulture, MenP#8217;s Health, Plt;/iPgt;WNYC, Plt;iPgt;Electric Lit, Feminist Book Club, Lit HubPlt;/iPgt;Plt;brPgt; Plt;brPgt;P#8220;A gorgeously written literary excavation of belonging and belief.P#8221;P#8212;Emma Donoghue, Plt;iPgt;The Boston GlobePlt;/iPgt;Plt;/bPgt;

Plt;bPgt;In this P#8220;engrossingP#8221; (Plt;iPgt;Los Angeles TimesPlt;/iPgt;) novel that sweeps from present-day California to the Vietnam War and back, a grieving young man is drawn into the orbit of a charismatic cult leader who forces him to reconsider why people give up controlP#8212;and what it takes, ultimately, to find oneP#8217;s place in the world.Plt;brPgt;Plt;brPgt;FINALIST FOR THE WESTPOINT PRIZE FOR LITERATURE P#8226; A Plt;iPgt;TIMEPlt;/iPgt; BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR P#8226; ONE OF THE SEASONP#8217;S MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS: Plt;iPgt;Time, Rolling Stone, Vulture, MenP#8217;s Health, Plt;/iPgt;WNYC, Plt;iPgt;Electric Lit, Feminist Book Club, Lit HubPlt;/iPgt;Plt;brPgt;Plt;brPgt;P#8220;A gorgeously written literary excavation of belonging and belief.P#8221;P#8212;Emma Donoghue, Plt;iPgt;The Boston GlobePlt;/iPgt; Plt;brPgt;Plt;/bPgt;Plt;brPgt;After the death of his father, a young journalist named Faruq Zaidi takes the opportunity to embed himself in a mysterious cult based in the California redwoods and known as P#8220;the nameless,P#8221; whose strikingly attractive members adhere to the 18 Utterances, including teachings such as P#8220;all suffering is distortionP#8221; and P#8220;see only beauty.P#8221; Shepherding them is Odo, an enigmatic Vietnam War veteran who received P#8220;the sightP#8221;P#8212;the movementP#8217;s foundational principlesP#8212;during his time as an infantryman. Through flashbacks that recount the cultP#8217;s wartime origins, we see four soldiers contend with the existential struggles of combat and with their responsibilities to each other, and by the end of the novel we learn which one becomes Odo. Plt;brPgt;Plt;brPgt;Faruq, skeptical but committed to unraveling the mystery of both P#8220;the namelessP#8221; and OdoPlt;bPgt;,Plt;/bPgt; extends his stay by months, and as he gets deeper into the cultP#8217;s inner workings and alluring teachings, he begins to lose his grip on reality. Faruq is forced to come to terms with the memories he has been running from while trying to resist OdoP#8217;s spell. Ultimately this immersive and unsettling novel asks: What does it take to find oneP#8217;s place in the world? And what exactly do we seek from one another?