Randy Ribay

"Truth is a hungry thing." (pg 29)

"There are moments when sharing silence can be more meaningful than filling a space with empty chatter." (pg 123)

A thrilling story with a crisp narrative that makes you think and demand change. Patron Saints of Nothing masterfully tackles the bystander who looks at injustice and says nothing. Of course, there are many gut punches and some of the best family moments/dynamics I have seen.

I wholeheartedly recommend and definitely would reread it. I adore the show more character Jun. Just read the story you will too. this also acknowledges not to idolize a person/have unrealistic expectations. Jun was basically a good Samaritan/arguably a truly Christlike person yet he was still human. Every character felt so realistic because people aren't just black and white. A part of me wishes Jun would've died the upstanding radical activist, but him succumbing to drugs is also an interesting angle

Also, best love story that never was Pfft... Not Mia and Jay *rolls eyes* I'm talking about Jun and Reyna. ;___; show less

A story of four generations of Filipino-American men: Francisco, Emil, Chris, and Enzo. The story explores the perspectives of each of these men around the age of 16—so we see the first 3 as sons, and then as fathers and grandfathers through the perspectives of their sons and grandsons. It's an interesting way to move through the history of this family, through its fathers and sons, from the 1930s through the 2020s pandemic lockdowns. Along the way the history of the Philippines and show more relations between the Philippines and the U.S. are also explored.

The switching between times and protagonists is really deftly done. Just when you've witnessed some conflict between a teen and their father, in which the father is clearly wrong, you go back to see a pivotal moment from the father's own adolescence that shapes the way he sees the world. It was hard to hold any of these men in contempt, or hold their failings as fathers against them, once you knew where they had come from. Which seemed to be the point—that their generational conflicts could be resolved, if they could truly communicate with each other. I wonder if even Francisco's family-abandoning father would have seemed sympathetic if we had gone back to see how he had grown up? show less

Four generations of Filipino and Filipino-American men struggle with the version of the American Dream they've experienced: Francisco, who comes to America to work and send money home after his own father left the family, ends up becoming a leader in the labor movement to unionize farm workers. His son Emil clings to academic success and a job that provides financial security for his family. Emil's son Chris chafes under Emil's control, and has to discover his Filipino heritage and history show more on his own. And Chris' son Enzo, who has been raised within Filipino and Puerto Rican cultures in Philly, attempts to build a relationship with Lolo Emil when he comes to live with them during the pandemic.

Each of the four stories shows the character at a personal turning point and/or important historical moment: the Watsonville riots in 1930, the Delano grape workers strike in the late 1960s, the assassination of "Ninoy" Aquino in the Philippines in 1983, and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Outstanding.

Quotes

Sometimes the only way to survive is not to know. (Francisco, 5)

Utang na loob: a debt from within. (14)

...he cannot help but feel he is swimming for a boat that's vanishing over the horizon. (Francisco, 74)

Maybe his ignorance is his fault. But maybe not entirely. You don't know what you don't know, and how many people had to have failed so that there was so much Chris didn't know? (Chris, 118)

"Just remember," his mother says, "to leave is to leave something behind." (Emil, 129)

Some [people] he'll see again, but others disappear without a goodbye. It's impossible to know which will be which. Everything is seasonal. (Francisco, 156)

"What choice did any of us have but to leave when that's how you respond to us wanting to live our own lives?" (Chris to Emil, 178)

But how can anyone truly feel all this suffering and not want to give up? He can't do anything about any of it. (Enzo, 182)

He has come to appreciate the way history is not the memorization of facts, but rather a way of seeing. A way of looking at the world and understanding how the past acts as an invisible force perpetually shaping the present. (Chris, 185)

"This is a country of broken promises." (Lola to Emil, 216)

"Then they win."
"But we survive." (231)

This country is not an opportunity. It is a trap. A poisoned promise laced with lies. (Francisco, 242)

It's depressing as hell, the way terrible decisions from the past can ripple through time, fucking everything up forever. (Emil, 257)

...the present is the past is the future. (263) show less

Utterly Blown Away

I am genuinely stunned after listening to this novella. I am baffled and moved and excited and genuinely frustrated that there is currently no more Ribay to get on Audible.

The levels of meta are only more ludicrous than the deftness, purpose, and heart with which they are wielded. I am long time enjoyer of choose your own adventures and roleplaying games, so picking this up at random and that being one of the central conceits was wonderful to see, especially with it being show more pulled off and subverted with aplomb.

The narrative of the story within the story is fantastic and the one-sided additions from the artificial intelligence narrator in conversation and collaboration with the silent reader is witty and poignant.

I'm completely flabbergasted with just how much I adored this.

Thank you! show less