Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

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. 

My Thoughts:

I have to admit, I was reluctant to read this book. If I hadn't needed more books to fulfill my YARC 2019 goal, I might not have read it at all. I knew about Duterte's zero tolerance of drug use, as well as the staggering amount of people who have been killed by both the Filipino government and vigilantes - people who may not have been drug dealers at all. I was certain that this would be a dismal, heart-breaking story, and I wasn't sure I was up to that.

And don't get me wrong. Patron Saints of Nothing is based on what is really happening in the Philippines, so it is heart-breaking. It's also a deeply moving novel. Jay hasn't been back to the Philippines for years, and while he does come back intending to solve the mystery of Jun's death, it's also a re-connection to his extended family, and to his Filipino culture. It's fascinating to learn about his uncles and aunts' opinions about Jay's father, who moved his family to America when Jay was an infant. Equally fascinating was Jun's father, a police chief who has very strong feelings about the current Philippines regime, and the devastating history of America interfering with Filipino policies. 

All in all, I love this novel. It is both political and deeply personal, a rare novel that brings true change to its characters.