Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

(Format used for this read: Print-hardback)

Something I really like about this Book of the Month membership is the opportunity for me to find fantastic books by diverse authors I may not have found on my own.

This was one such book, written by Filipino American author Randy Ribay.

Here is a summary:

“A powerful coming-of-age story about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin’s murder.

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.

As gripping as it is lyrical, Patron Saints of Nothing is a page-turning portrayal of the struggle to reconcile faith, family, and immigrant identity.”

Technically this is a YA book but y’all know by now I am an adult who thoroughly enjoys this genre.

And this book deals with very grown up issues and emotions.

It’s a challenging journey both emotionally and physically that teenager Jay goes on to discover what really happened to his beloved deceased cousin Jun…he discovers truth about himself, his cultural roots, and his familial history.

The author also uses this story to educate readers about the corrupt “war on drugs” campaign the President of the Philippines, Roderigo Duerte, has inflicted onto the country since 2016.

Police are falsifying information to justify unlawful killings….it is estimated over 12,000 or even close to 20,000 people have been killed to date. After reading this book I of course went to Google to find more information.

I again am humbled at how ignorant I am in regards to worldly events…so many lives lost and continue to be lost…and I had no idea.

I’m grateful for multi faceted books like these that inform me to educate myself more, even thru a fictional story.

While reading this book, I dog marked a few pages where sentences just really jumped out and bit me…really had me thinking. Here are some:

“It seems to me there are so many older than us who are able to take care of those in need. If everyone did a little bit, then everyone would be okay, I think. Instead, most people do nothing. And that is the problem.” (Young teen Jun writes to his cousin Jay after visiting the slums)

“When you grow up in a country like the United States, you’re constantly told it’s the greatest place in the world. But then you go somewhere else one day and find out that bathroom doors like this exist and you start to question everything. But adults lie, I guess. That’s what they do.” (Jay when he arrrives at the airport in Seoul)

“None of us are just one thing, I guess. None of us. We all have the terrible and amazing power to hurt and help, to harm and heal.” (Jays farewell letter to cousin Jun)

Great book and I will definitely check out more of this authors work.