This is a modern classic for a reason. So emotionally relevant and the writing is stunning. I have added this to my library and encouraged other teachers to add it to theirs. Students deserve to read this powerful novel.

Jay Reguero was born in the Philippines. When his cousin dies there, he goes there on Spring Break in search of what happened. What he finds rocks his world.
Opinion
This was an eye awakening book. I have friends who's families are from the Philippines but never imagined how rough it is there. His cousin's story (Jun) was heartbreaking. I must admit that I held out hope until the end that he would still be alive but in hiding. That made the story even more heartbreaking. I felt so many emotions while reading this book. It definitely kept me rapt with attention. I read the book in two sittings. It is well worth the read.
Many thanks to Net Galley and to Penguin Books for providing me with an ARC of this book (and many apologies for taking so long to read it.)

Terrifying. Heartwrenching. Grievous. Depressing. All too realistic. Unforgettable.
I definitely must read this novel in its entirety.

This is my first novel with a Filipino-American MC and culture. Ribay does such a great job with not only showing the culture to his readers but also the difficulties of being an immigrant as well as being a stranger in your culture. It's interesting and is able to convey complex themes in a manner that's interesting and easy to read for a variety of readers. This is a very important book and I can't wait to recommend it to my students.

I recently read this novel as a part of a committee looking to pick our district's next 9th grade core novel. Of the six selections, I think this one is my favorite. It strikes a good balance between engaging plot and relatable characters, while still having some richness of language for close reading. I do not feel the protagonist's voice is the most compelling, when compared to other YA protagonists, but there is so much else that works well in this novel I can fully recommend it as both a teacher and reader.

Beautiful. Culturally rich. Devastating.

I love this book. I loved everything about the writing and the story and how messy the arc was. It felt real and evocative, and everything I didn’t know I needed in a book. Nothing about life is clean and HEAs aren’t promised, but this book managed to be informative, sad, hopeful, and otherworldly all at the same time.

In Ribay’s wrenching coming-of-age story, half-Filipino, half-white, 17 year old high school senior, Jason “Jay,” returns to his birthplace, the Philippines, to investigate the cryptic circumstances behind the shooting and untimely death of his cousin, Jun. Though the pair of cousins, age-mates, were extremely close as boys and exchanged letters for a while, the passage of years and Jay’s delinquency in reciprocating their correspondence, eroded their bond. Wracked by guilt when he realizes how little he knew about Jun’s life, and what might’ve led him to turn to shabu—methamphetamine—Jay resolves to find out what happened. Ribay has penned a compelling, suspenseful, and intelligent read that provides a unique, if disturbing window into the Philippines under the Duterte regime and its ruthless policies in the name of combatting crime, corruption, and drugs. Yet, the novel also affirms the importance of cultural reclamation, friendship, loyalty, and family. Highly recommended!

So Good! I really loved how this book was written. Ribay is an excellent storyteller, and there were many times I was completely wrong about what I thought was going to happen. I feel like students will really like this book. I could see it being a good class read.

A Filipino-American teen seeks to uncover the truth of his cousin’s death arising from the drug war in the Philippines. This book has some of the most unforgettable writing I’ve ever come across in YA.

Many aspects of the diasporic explorations in this book resonated so deeply with the way I felt about my identity, whilst being insightful into the specific cultural experiences/political issues in the Philippines. I’ve said to multiple people that, alongside Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert (which I read in 2019), this is compulsory reading if you want to see how powerful contemporary stories and/or YA can be.

I will be the first to admit that I know so very little. The world is a HUGE place and there's so much I don't know. Reading books like Patron Saints of Nothing just remind me how much I don't know. For example, I didn't know that the Philippines is the only place in the world in 2021 where divorce is illegal. That's baffling. I also didn't know anything about the war on drugs there. As all things political, President Duterte's leadership is controversial. Some people love him for his strong stance on drugs and for making so many things like museums more accessible to everyone; however, others criticize his policies and harsh tactics when it comes to the war on drugs. I feel like this novel was well researched and situated strongly in current events worldwide. I did verify a few things I found particularly shocking or disgusting and the novel was never inaccurate compared to my google searches.

This novel was heart breaking in that it shows the reality of the war on drugs, the duality of human nature and what it is like for the poor and those who were victims of sex trafficking. While I admire Jay's hero's journey and his quest to find out how his cousin Jun was killed, I wish this novel didn't exist at all. Meaning, I wish the stories that unfolds on these pages were not so common.

I do like Jay's character development. And I do like the ending of the novel. Life is messy and as much as we long for a truth we so desperately want to believe, life is never that simple. I think this novel does that theme justice.

A solid coming of age story in so many ways for so many characters.

***Trigger warnings: drug use, sex trafficking

My Thoughts:

When this book showed up on NetGalley, it was just an excerpt, but this title kept calling me, whether I was at NCTE, an ALAN workshop or even the #disrupttext site so I grabbed the excerpt thinking that a little tease would be better than not reading it at all.

Sometimes for reasons I cannot fathom, my best decisions happen as chance or leaps of faith. This is one of those. As I head to the bookstore to pick up this book, I just needed to write down my thoughts first because this book needs to be talked about here in Hawaiʻi and I have not heard local librarians and teachers talking about this yet, despite the fact that 40% of our public school students identify as Filipino or part Filipono. I just attended the Hawaii children's literature conference this month and as middle grade and high school teachers and librarians in Hawaiʻi we just have to do a better job of keeping up with what is being published and start getting more BIPOC, AAPI, Oceania authors in the hands of our local students.

Start with this one. Use this as a novel to replace some of the canonical pieces you have in the closet collecting dust. Use the #disrupttext guide for this book to get other ideas for your classroom. Use this book to start uncomfortable but necessary conversations around equity, family, kuleana. Read this. Use this. Pass it on.

Besides being a great story, Randy Ribay's writing is so rich I found myself rereading certain images. One of my favorites is when the main character, Jay starts delving into the death of his cousin. His research just gets him so disturbed, but he is even more irritated when his white friend, Seth, seems to know more about what is going on in the Philippines than Jay who is half Filipino.

"Man," he [Seth] says, shaking his head, "I forgot you're Filipino.". . ."You're basically white."
I stop, stung. "What do you mean by that?". . .
Seth: "I don't see color, man," he says. "We're all one race: the human race. That's all I meant."
"No it's not," I say. And even if it is, that's kind of f*#%ed up. First, to assume white is default. Second, to imply that difference equals bad instead of simply different.

I would love to pull an excerpt like this and start a p4c (philosophy for children) discussion where students come up with their own vanilla questions around this excerpt, vote on the question they want to talk about and have that student lead/start off the discussion.

I want to end my thoughts by going back to the book, as I do not want to just leave that excerpt without any kind of end. Basically Jay cannot let it go. He wants to know why Seth thinks he is white. Seth says to promise not to get offended and continues.
"You talk like everyone else. You dress like everyone else. And you, like, do the same stuff as everyone else.". . .
"What would you expect me to do?" I ask. "Walk around draped in the Philippine flag?" Jay then stomps off home as he realizes that Seth doesn't and can't understand why Jay is so upset.
It's a sad thing when you map the borders of a friendship and find it's a narrower country than you expected.


From the Publisher:
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.

I had an opportunity to read a sneak peek of Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay and I must say so far so good. I can definitely see adding this to my class library. Jay learns that his cousin Jun was murdered in the Philippines. But the family won't talk about it. His cousin's death haunts him because he feels guilt for not having kept in touch when they were younger. A mysterious Instagram communication causes Jay to decide he needs to go to the Philippines to get to the bottom of the events surrounding his cousin's murder. I think the plot will provide mystery, suspense and action in a character that is relatable to young adults, while also giving them a glimpse into the Philippines war on drugs. It also will help them see how drug trafficking and the solutions are more complex than one may think. Lastly, it can also teach readers that how events that happen outside of the U.S. can have a personal affect on them as well. My rating is only based on the few chapters that I read in the sneak peek.

Narrative storytelling on Social justice & civil unrest in Philippines under Duterte’s & his war on drugs. Questions of who is fighting for the victims, the addicted are raised.
Can’t say that I enjoyed this read but it was informative regarding current situation in the Philippines.

Deeply moving, brave, lyrical: what else can I say about this book? It's definitely one I will be adding to my shelf of books for students!

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC of this title
A poignant read about the closeness and importance of family and culture awareness. I really had never done much research about the Philippine community. During the reading of this book I learned so much about their society and the war on drugs that has significantly impacted their country. Some have compared this to The Hate You Give.... it is a bit but more importantly makes the reader aware of a different community with a different struggle.

Jay Reguero and his Filipino cousin, Jun, were penpals for years, but lost touch several years ago. When Jay learns that Jun has been murdered by police as part of President Duterte's war on drugs, he finds it hard to believe and seeks to find the truth. While in The Philippines, Jay learns about himself, his family, Filipino culture, and Jun.

A couple times throughout Patron Saints of Nothing, Jay makes a comment about how little about Filipino history or culture is taught in American schools. He’s right. Before reading this book, I knew almost nothing about Filipino history or culture, including the United States’ colonization of the country (for 48 years!) I also had heard Duterte’s name before in news headlines, but knew very little about the war on drugs, or how his presidency has impacted the Philippines.

This book did a great job of exploring identity, culture, masculinity, and the idea of what it means to be a senior in high school without a firm idea of what you want to do next. I really liked Jay as a character, and enjoyed seeing his growth, especially his developing confidence.

Penguin provided me a copy of this book for review as an educator, and I can absolutely see this book being a great addition to high school curricula.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Penguin for providing me a backlist copy for review.

I was given a preview of this book through NetGalley. It caught my attention enough that I got my own copy to finish the book. This is a great young adult novel about grief, growing up, and going to explore your culture. Patron Saints of Nothing is narrated by Jay Reguero, a high school senior, who feels ready to coast for the rest of his spring semester before heading to college.

Jay’s world stops when he learns that his cousin, Jun, was murdered as part of President Duterte’s war on drugs. Jun is Jay’s connection to his family in the Philippines until they lost touch. Jay decides to travel to the Philippines to figure out what happened to his cousin. He is faced with hard truths about his cousin and his own ignorance in the issues in this culture.

I enjoyed Jay’s journey to connect with his Filipinx roots. Randy Ribay does a great job of showing Jay’s emotional progression through this process, including acknowledging his own ignorance, guilt from losing touch with Jun, and empowerment as he reclaims some of his Filipinx identity.
The book was very well written, but I felt like it was missing something to make this a five-star read for me. I’d recommend this book as it is a solid young adult novel.

I was given advanced access to Patron Saints of Nothing from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Randy Ribay’s candid and authentic novel addresses the struggles the main character, Jay Reguero, comes face-to-face with as he searches for answers in his cousin’s death as a result Duterte's drug war in the Philippines. As the novel progresses, Jay discovers the atrocities his cousin endured and realizes the luxuries he took for granted in his life at home in the US. Although this novel has the typical YA hallmarks – parent/child drama, young love- it transcends those trappings as Jay wonders how well he knows the people he loves and as he realizes the complicated choices poverty forces people to make.
The trait of an enduring novel and one destined to be a classic is the impact it has. By the end of Patron Saints of Nothing, I felt compelled to do something, to give back to my community, and to take more time to know those whom I love.

I really enjoyed the preview of Patron Saints of Nothing. Jay is a Filipino American in his senior year of high school when he receives word that one of his cousins in the Philippines has died. At one time, Jay was pen pals with Jun, but it had been years since Jay had reached out to Jun. Jay feels a great deal of guilt about not keeping in touch and has many questions about the circumstances surrounding Jun's passing. With so many questions and no answers from his parents, Jay decides that he wants to go to the Philippines and found out what lead to Jun's death. This is where the preview stopped. I am looking forward to reading the entire novel when it is released.

This 'review' is based on a 'sneak peek' sent by NetGalley. The writing in this is beautiful, and the characters are immediately empathetic. Their emotions are deeply felt from the first page--which starts with the trauma for the narrator/MC of watching a puppy die soon after it was born. It seems like a fitting prefiguration of the heavy material of the rest of the novel, but again, the prose is so lush and poetic.