Patron Saints of Nothing

"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 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 show more 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

"We can only handle so much truth at any given moment, I suppose."~Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

The world too often is quiet about things that should set off alarms.

Horrible things happen. Articles, buried deep in the newspaper, or a flash of video and a few spoken words on the screen, mention countries we don't know and perhaps don't care about. The people and their suffering are real but they are 'other', foreign, from countries where dictators rule or rival factions destroy, while we are cocooned in comfortable homes and easy lives.

Until it gets personal. Then the news is a clarion bell to wake us.

The Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay wants to wake us to the realities of life under a dictatorship that placates show more citizens with free birth control while suppressing journalism and truth, through his profoundly moving and beautifully written novel.

With early acceptance to the University of Michigan, Jay can coast through the rest of his senior year. But learning that his cousin Jun in the Philippines was shot by the police as a drug dealer turns Jay's life upside down.

Jay visited his father's Filipino family when he was ten. He and Jun became fast friends and were pen pals for years until Jay's teenage activities and concerns took precedence and he stopped responding to Jun's letters.

Racked with guilt, Jay wants answers. Jun was a good person. What happened that caused Jun to run away from his home? He wouldn't have done drugs. Why was Jun murdered? Why won't anyone tell him the truth?

Jay becomes obsessed, learning all he can about the Philipines and life under President Duterte. Determined to find answers, Jay proposes a trip to visit his Filipino family and learn about his heritage.

Staying with his father's siblings' families, Jay comes to understand that people are not always who we think they are and how growing up and learning the truth engenders more questions than answers.

Although YA fiction, Ribay's novel will speak to all readers. He is a master of his craft.

I received a book from the publisher through Bookish First. My review is fair and unbiased.

Sometimes I feel like growing up is slowly peeling back these layers of lies."~Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay show less

Patron Saints of Nothing is the best YA book of the year so far.

Randy Ribay really knows how to write. His style is clear and straightforward, and the occasional figurative language never feels purple. His pacing is perfect. Jay’s journey and the lessons he learns from it are nuanced, not hamfisted. In one particular, subtle stroke of brilliance, every chapter title consists of the last words of that chapter... until, toward the end of the book, Jay grows less obsessed with Jun’s ending and begins to look to the future. Then the titling pattern changes, mirroring his shifting perspective. Details like that really make this book stand out.

What I appreciated most, however, was Ribay’s compassion for people who are so often show more overlooked or demonized. I am not Filipino; I have no personal experience with the war on drugs in the Philippines. But I do come from a region in America where opioid addiction runs rampant, and addiction in general runs in my family. My country has had its own war on drugs and has its own messed up preconceived notions of addicts - plenty of people here would rather a drug addict die than receive help. Of course, this book, which takes place mostly in the Philippines, is primarily about addiction and poverty there, not in America. But there’s a moment when Jay, who grew up in the States, realizes that these dangerous ideas - that addicts are societal parasites, that they deserve to be killed or at least do not deserve justice - have been ingrained in him, too, pointing toward an unfortunately universal truth.

Ribay spends the whole book challenging attitudes like this. He does so well, with tremendous empathy. His love for the Philippines - all of the Philippines, including and especially those who live on the margins - shines. This sort of work, this pushing back against the dehumanization of addicts and the impoverished, is important. It’s important, too, to center people of color, and in this case Filipino people especially, who are disproportionately affected by anti-addict policies and rhetoric.

My one quibble with this book is the quasi-romantic relationship between a seventeen- and nineteen-year-old. Jay is at the end of his senior year, so it would’ve been easy to make him eighteen and eliminate that gray area; I’m not sure why Ribay didn’t do that. Maybe because people expect YA protagonists to be 15-17? I don’t know. It was an odd choice. Also, there’s a character who switches from fifteen to sixteen and back again. That’s a small detail, though, and overall this is a fantastic book, beautiful, touching, complex in exactly the way it needs to be. show less

Powerful and poignant. This young adult book chronicles one American Filipino teen who travels back to the island for the first time in a decade when he finds out his cousin and childhood friend had been killed. Jay has to confront the fact that while he has been living in a bit of a bubble in his middle class white suburban neighborhood and hasn't really bothered to keep up with his relatives, specifically Jun, who he used to write to frequently. Jay HAS to know what really happened to his beloved cousin Jun, or the grief may eat him alive. Everyone is saying he was shot because of drugs, but Jay can't wrap his head around that, that is the Jun he grew up with. Even though they hadn't talked in years, the island is calling to him to show more honor his cousin's memory by at least trying to put the pieces together. A wonderful story of identity, family, poverty, desperation, and hope. It's gripping and wonderful, the search for the truth doesn't always take us where we expect it to. A must read. show less

Confident five stars. Definite one for the classroom. Please, just read it. If nothing else, google "Rodrigo Duterte" and understand that this story IS real, for so many people.

See full review and more here!

Recommended: YES, TO EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE
For those who struggle with their identity, their family. For those who have let someone they loved drift away for no good reason. For those who value and seek the truth. For those who are impassioned by injustice. For those who are angry with or horrified by or unaware of government sponsored police brutality around the world. Honestly, it's also just a really powerful, heart-wrenching story.

Thoughts:
I saw this and thought, "Yeah that has some serious potential."
Then I read the 5 chapter show more excerpt from NetGalley, and was already slavering for more.
FINALLY, release day came, and it was everything I had expected and more.

Our characters are complex, so much so that I felt like I had run into them before in classrooms, meetings, or coffee shops. The truth is complex, and that's what this story grapples with, as well. Every part of this story feels real, like it was torn straight from the author's heart.

The shame Jason feels at letting Jun drift away, and at knowing nothing about his home country across the world. The anger he has toward his father for never reacting, never pushing, never caring. The constant surprises and chagrin at being surprised that he faces during his trip - that people living in slums are still living, and still have happiness within them, faces him to confront his own judgments and the inherent biases he has from only being exposed to what is shown to him by Western media.

God, I could go on forever about this book. It's important, it's real, and it will make you cheer, grimace, rage, and so much more. Please, just read it. If nothing else, google "Rodrigo Duterte" and understand that this story IS real, for so many people. (I put this at the beginning AND end of the review, because it's that important and I want to make sure as many people as possible see it.) show less

I never imagined when I first started reading this book how much I would fall in love with the story. I underestimated and thought it would be a typical story about a teenager coming to terms with his cousin's death. And while that was certainly an aspect that was well-done, the author also did a fantastic job in incorporating Filipino culture and some history into the story. It always feels like an added bonus when you are able to learn something while reading a fiction book.

Jay Reguero was born in the Philippines but moved with his family to America when he was one. He is a senior in high school and was recently accepted to the University of Michigan (Go Blue!). He finds out his cousin Jun has died but he isn't given a whole lot of show more information about the circumstances. So Jay decides to fly to the Philippines and hopes he can get more answers there while staying with relatives. He is horrified to learn President Duterte's war on drugs might have something to do with Jun's death.

I like how very early on in the story Jay comes to the realization he's pretty uniformed when it comes to what life is like in his birth country. He recognizes he's been practically living in a bubble and the fact that he could see this and want to do better, is an admirable quality.

Nothing I can say will really do this book justice so please just trust me when I say it's a worthwhile read. It was a good story throughout but the last few chapters particularly resonated with me. And while the political climate is explored in depth, I was also impressed with how the author had this subtle way of dropping other important topics into the story. It's like he had many things he wanted to say with this story but was smart enough to not necessarily cram too much into the plot. Not that other writers don't put a lot of effort into their novels, but it just feels like this one really fine tuned everything and the result was impressive. Even if you don't normally read this genre, consider giving this one a chance!

I won a free copy of this book in a BookishFirst giveaway but was not obligated to post my review here. All views expressed are my honest opinion. show less

A beautifully written and poignant novel, Patron Saints of Nothing focuses on contemporary events that few (if any) YA novels (or any novels that I know of) address—Duterte’s “war on drugs” in the Philippines and its devastating impacts on families.

Randy Ribay’s protagonist, Jay Reguero, is a Filipino-American high school senior leading a typical, rather mundane adolescent life in Michigan. When he learns of his cousin Jun’s unexpected and suspicious death in the Philippines, however, personal regret and curiosity compel him to travel to Manila during spring break to visit his extended family and find out the truth behind Jun’s murder at the hands of Filipino authorities.

Soon Jay’s “detective work” leads him to a show more host of discoveries he never anticipated. He learns a great deal about the country of his birth, the family he hasn’t seen since he was a child, and the personal consequences of national politics. While this story features numerous elements that you’d expect to find in a YA novel—friction between teens and their parents, budding romance and its inherent complications, dilemmas regarding identity and the future—Ribay’s novel transcends the trappings of the genre and depicts compelling moments of epiphany as Jay arrives at uncomfortable but necessary truths about how well we actually know those we profess to care about, the complex motives that drive human behavior, and our ability to control our own destinies. Highly recommended. show less