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Randy Ribay

Patron Saints of Nothing Paperback – 27 Jun. 2019

by Randy Ribay (Author)

531 ratings

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL 2020

"A heartbreaking and original novel." – Guardian

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.

When Jay Reguero hears of his cousin Jun’s death, everything changes. Although years have passed since they were last in contact, the stories about Jun just don’t fit with the boy Jay knew. Hoping to uncover the truth, Jay travels to Jun’s home in the Philippines – but the shocking realities of life there lead to even more questions. Can Jay find the answers he seeks?

A gripping and lyrical YA novel for fans of Angie Thomas’s THE HATE U GIVE, Patrice Lawrence’s ORANGEBOY and Nic Stone’s DEAR MARTIN.

A US NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR YOUNG PEOPLE FINALIST

"This is nothing short of a tremendous feat and will certainly solidify Ribay as a singular voice in the world of literature for years to come." – Jason Reynolds, author LONG WAY DOWN

"This powerful and courageous story offers readers a refreshingly emotional depiction of a young man of color with an earnest desire for the truth." – Kirkus starred review

"[A] much needed window [and a] deep, nuanced, painfully real family drama." – ALA Booklist starred review

Print length

384 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Stripes Publishing
Publication date

27 Jun. 2019
Reading age

13 - 16 years
Dimensions

19.8 x 2.8 x 13 cm
ISBN-10

1788951549
ISBN-13

978-1788951548
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Product details

Publisher : Stripes Publishing (27 Jun. 2019)
Language : English
Paperback : 384 pages
ISBN-10 : 1788951549
ISBN-13 : 978-1788951548
Reading age : 13 - 16 years
Dimensions : 19.8 x 2.8 x 13 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 66,910 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 285 in Law & Crime Thrillers for Young Adults
- 538 in Fiction About Family for Young Adults

Customer reviews:
531 ratings

Product description

Review

"This powerful and courageous story offers readers a refreshingly emotional depiction of a young man of color with an earnest desire for the truth." -- Kirkus starred review

"[A] much needed window [and a] deep, nuanced, painfully real family drama." -- ALA Booklist starred review

“Brilliant, honest, and equal parts heartbreaking and soul-healing. I’ll give this astounding book to all the teens and adults in my life. I suspect you will, too. I’d give it 50 stars if I could.” -- Laurie Halse Anderson, author of SHOUT

“Randy Ribay seamlessly takes the cultural texture of the Philippines, the complexities between ethnicity and nationality, political tension and the propaganda that buttresses it, and, most importantly, teenage life, and weaves them all into a thick braid that asks one question: What is the truth? And the necessity to know that truth – the fight it takes to find that truth – somehow gets right to the core of who young people are. This is nothing short of a tremendous feat and will certainly solidify Ribay as a singular voice in the world of literature for years to come.” -- Jason Reynolds, author of LONG WAY DOWN

“I can’t stop thinking about this beautiful book that left me in tears. A searing, soul-searching novel about grief and identity. This book makes me proud to be Filipino American.” -- Melissa de la Cruz, author of ALEX AND ELIZA

“Lyrical. Stunning. Searing. PATRON SAINTS OF NOTHING is the real deal, a unique and intimate look into the extrajudicial murders in Duterte’s war on drugs in the Philippines. Ribay’s arresting narration and knack for characterization drive a story that is unlike anything else you’ll read this year.” -- Mark Oshiro, author of ANGER IS A GIFT

About the Author

Randy was born in the Philippines and raised in the Midwest. He is the author of AFTER THE SHOT DROPS , AN INFINITE NUMBER OF PARALLEL UNIVERSES and PATRON SAINTS OF NOTHING, which was shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2020. He earned his BA in English Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder and his Master’s Degree in Language and Literacy from Harvard Graduate School of Education. He currently teaches English and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Customer reviews
4.6 out of 5
531 global ratings

5 star
78%

4 star
14%

3 star
6%

2 star
1%

1 star
2%

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Thunderbolt
Review
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 July 2020
Verified Purchase
An excellent book exposing and detailing the dark underbelly of life in the Philippines under dictator Rodrigo Duterte. A compelling read for anyone from a later teen to an adult.
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AJ
Beautiful, Powerful, and Important
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 October 2019
I was a little hesitant going into this because it follows the story of someone a Fil-Am teen, living in America, travelling to the Philippines to find out the truth about his cousin's death. Stories about people, even those from the diaspora, dealing with politics of a country in the East doesn't always fare well. But I was so pleasantly surprised by how well all of that was handled by Ribay. It's like he knew every single trope and stereotype that show up in these situations, and he totally dealt with them head on!

As a diaspora kid, I could really relate to Jay: being Filipino but also American. Having to deal with not knowing the language, culture, history. The way his dad felt guilty about leaving, the way his relatives in the Philippines felt guilty about his family leaving. It was all dealt with very honestly.

I also learnt a lot about the politics of the Philippines and Duterte's drug on wars. Something I didn't know much about. And even though Ribay's characters obviously take a certain stance on Duterte, he also seems keenly aware of how people in the Philippines feel about him, both those who support him and those who don't.

Lastly, the book doesn't paint things in black and white. It's very honest about many things and tackles everything head-on. (view spoiler)

The only bit of criticism I have is that, even though the writing was really strong, sometimes it felt a little...pointless? There were a lot of times where it seemed like we were getting paragraphs upon paragraphs of really menial things, and I think they could have been skipped over very easily. I found myself getting a bit frustrated at that.

I also feel like...maybe the US book cover doesn't quite do the book justice. I mean, don't get me wrong. I adore the cover. It's probably one of the things that drew me to this book but...it makes it seem like Patron Saints of Nothing is a high-stakes action-packed novel when, in reality, it's a slow unravelling of the truth. And it's beautiful and incredibly powerful and packs a punch in the way it handles this unravelling of the truth.

That being said, this is probably one of the best books I've read so far this year! I think, and hope, that Filipino and Fil-Am readers, in particular, will find in Jay, and the whole novel, something they can resonate with. I highly recommend reading this!
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Olivia ~ Olivia Catastrophe
A Saint of Books
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 June 2019
This book swept me in and took me away. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I started this book, but I came out of it emotional, informed and deeply moved. I’m going to tell you why in this review!

I like to consider myself a pretty well-informed person when it comes to news and such. But this book reminded me that it is impossible to know everything and that there is always more to learn. This was the first book I read set in the Philippines, and the first I was hearing of President Duterte and the Drug War that is ongoing in the country. This book does a very good job of presenting it in a factual way, that doesn’t shower the country in pity or take too lightly to what is happening either. I really liked the respectful way it informed me of events while still telling the story. I was shocked, to say the least. My eyes were opened. I love learning through reading and this book gave me that.

The main character in this book, Jay, is also struggling a lot with culture and identity. He is Filipino-American but doesn’t feel that connected to the Filipino side of himself. When he goes back to the country after years, he struggles to reconcile the two halves of his culture and ends up feeling like quite the outsider in what he supposes should feel like ‘the motherland.’ to him. As it was my first time experiencing the Philippines through reading, it was brilliant experience to discover some of the culture, food, history and languages of the country. But while we get to explore all this, we see Jay struggling with an identity crisis that is very familiar to me, and probably to lots of teens in our international world. It was so well done!

This book also deals heavily with the theme of grief. Jay has quite a unique grieving process as he hasn’t heard from his cousin for a while and understands that he hasn’t known him personally for quite a while. In a way, it makes it even harder for him to handle the grief he is feeling. Not only do we get to see Jay’s grief, but those of the different family members and how they all handle it differently. I really appreciated it, especially when it comes to the end of the novel.

Quietly, this book has a lot in it. Not only is this an ownvoices account of events in the Philippines, but it also has some LGBT+ representation in there. It briefly touches on some homophobia. It touches on family struggles that can come from parents who have different ideas than what you believe. It touches on coming of age themes, and expectations for the future and what you need to do once you’re finished with school. It touches on drug use, on being a sexual assault survivor, on poverty… And while it does take a moment to touch on all of these subjects, they don’t overtake the plot but rather contribute to it. As well as that, they also aren’t breezed over so quickly that they feel irrelevant. The author has found a great balance there.

I also want to talk about how wonderfully this book was composed. Which I have to applaud the author for! Even though there are some sad moments in this book, there are the happy moments interspersed as well. Peacefulness too. The development of the story and our main character, Jay, is wonderfully mapped out. We never quite get to meet Jun, but we feel connected to him too. The letters and the imagery used in some lines was brilliant. I really appreciated how well this book was written.

This will not be the last book I read by this author. It informed me, gave me hope, made me feel emotions and made me smile from time to time. It’s amazing how much of a journey I went on while reading this one too.

This review and others can be found on Olivia's Catastrophe.
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Lizzie H-J
An important, brilliant exploration of Philippines politics through a teen's eyes
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 August 2020
This was easily one of the best books I've read this year.⁠
⁠
Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay follows a teenage American Filipino boy travelling to Manila after his cousin is killed by the police, and his novice investigation into what happened. ⁠
⁠
It shines a light on such an important piece of recent history that is *still happening* — Duterte’s war on drugs. If you're not familiar with the current political situation in the Philippines, this would be a great and very important introduction, not least because of Duterte's recent actions concerning journalists and their journalistic freedoms. ⁠
⁠
Those of you who are YA skeptics may find this book crosses to an adult non-YA-picking-up audience better than others, and so I implore you to give it a go. ⁠
⁠
It's about family, grief, and the way dangerous politicians destroy people. Intense, beautiful and a never boring lesson on Filipino history.⁠
⁠
It deserves every accolade.⁠
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Patron Saints of Nothing Paperback – 27 Jun. 2019

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