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Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay
Review by Lauren
Source: personal copy; all opinions are my own
Official Summary: Jay Reguero plans to spend the last semester of his senior year playing video games before heading to the University of Michigan in the fall. But when he discovers that his Filipino cousin Jun was murdered as part of President Duterte’s war on drugs, and no one in the family wants to talk about what happened, Jay travels to the Philippines to find out the real story.
Hoping to uncover more about Jun and the events that led to his death, Jay is forced to reckon with the many sides of his cousin before he can face the whole horrible truth — and the part he played in it.
Review: For the Cybils Awards this past year, Patron Saints of Nothing was one of the 7 YA Fiction nominees. While I did enjoy the book overall, it was still a three star read for me and not a book that I’d want to re-read in the future.
One of the things that I loved most about Patron Saints of Nothing is that it mostly takes place in the Philippines, which I don’t know much about. I like reading books set in non-U.S. countries and being able to learn more about the culture. For example, I had no idea that President Duterte has a war on drugs in the country, which essentially allows people to kill drug addicts with very few repercussions. The book definitely explains things a bit more, but it was just horrifying to learn this. Addiction is a disease, and that doesn’t make the person addicted any less human.
I did feel bad for Jay. He cut off contact with his cousin, Jun, so to learn that Jun has died has really affected him and made him realize that maybe he could have done more if he’d stayed in touch. It’s hard to look back and think “if only” and Jay talking to Jun might not have changed his outcome in any way. I did feel like there was some judgement that was unwarranted, or at least I thought was a bit much, as the book progresses. I didn’t think it reflected well on certain characters, especially Jay.
Patron Saints of Nothing, at its heart, is about family. Jay gets to know more of his extended family, and I liked most of them, and I think it’s great that the book ends with him wanting to learn more about the Philippines and the culture there. Granted, he has one uncle that is very much an abusive man, and while there’s a softer moment with him near the end of the book, I still don’t think he’s redeemed himself. I didn’t expect any big shift here, but it’s just something I wanted to note, since the uncle is Jun’s father.
Oooh this sounds so interesting!
Definitely sounds interesting!
This one sounds interesting, but sounds like it fell a little flat for you. I do like learning about different countries in books too!
I don’t think I’ve read anything set in the Philippines so the setting sounds interesting. The lack of resolution with the uncle would bother me, too, though.
I love learning about new cultures too based in where books take place. I haven’t heard of this one but have always been interested in Filipino culture.
Hope you’re having a great week, Lauren!
I like to know how other countries live, too. That’s terrible about how they treat addicts. Sorry to hear this didn’t totally knock your socks off, but glad to hear you got some insight into a different culture. 🙂
I like learning about other countries especially ones like the Philippines which my knowledge is lacking. Thanks for sharing.
Sounds like an interesting read!
Oh, I like the sound of this book! Thank you for sharing. I live in a place where so very many die or disappear due to the very real drug war.
I like reading books set in non-US countries too, but I don’t think I’ve read one in the Philippines. I’m glad you enjoyed this, but sorry it wasn’t quite on the reread level of greatness.
The setting here interests me, as does the premise. It sucks that this execution wasn’t as good as you hoped.
I also like to read stories set in countries that I don’t know a lot about. This one does sound like it would be a hard read though, kind of scary that people can do those things. Great review though! Even with your misgivings, I can still think of who I might recommend it to.
sounds interesting