3.5 that i'm rounding up because i'd hate to assign three stars to a book with such a gorgeous cover. look at it. love it. GOD.
I... feel pretty meh about the book's story. It's kind of on par with its actual prose, I think - the latter's attempts to sound like a 17-year-old is writing it comes off as kind of cringey to me, but there are some actual gems in it sometimes. Listen. I'm anti-Duterte and anti-drug war, so please understand how much it pains me to say that the way it was covered in the book felt kind of... shallow and force-feedy. ESPECIALLY at the beginning of the book with the exposition dumps. There was hardly any enlightenment on why so many Filipinos are for it, except for the most obvious surface reasons. It's probably because it's a YA story - all my gripes about the book all probably loop back to it being for young adults, I think - but, yeah. My family is DDS so while I wholeheartedly disagree with them, I do understand their reasoning. And Jun was disappointing. SpoilerThe fact that he did actually eventually become an addict wasn't a bad thing, but it was handled poorly. Felt like a rushed lil plot twist as the book neared its end. I could talk a bit more about other things - the deal with Mia's Spoilerboyfriend, the unnatural bit with the bookstore, how Tito Danilo really only showed up to fulfill one (1) plot purpose real late in the book, the professor who also just showed up for plot purposes - but I don't have the energy. It's... it's a YA book.
So, what brought it up from the 2.5-3 star rating I would've given it on the story alone? WELL. I'm very weak for nostalgia and appreciation of Filipino things. A lot of the times it's clumsy and "HEY LOOK AT THIS FILIPINO(TM) THING" and I remember not being able to shake the thought that this was absolutely written for Fil-Ams and foreigners (which, in a way, it really was, so I'm not really its target demographic), but sometimes it becomes painfully relatable and comes alive for me. The frosty judgmental family dinners, for example, or the wandering around malls, or the karaoke session. I felt feelings for it. Those feelings were enough to carry the book for me and left me feeling pretty good at the end of the book.
TL;DR yeah it's YA what did you expect, but when it's not cheesily pointing out filipino(tm) things it does touch on "filipino themes" like family and identity that resonate with me. cover gorgeous. jay ate SINIGANG with WHITE BREAD wtf
Jay Reguero feels so many complicated emotions when he learns about the death of his once close cousin, Jun. Conflicted by his family's nonverbal agreement to keep silent, Jay wants to pursue his conscious. That what happened to Jun wasn't right. That he has been ignorant for too long.
The themes of outsiderness and identity rings true when it comes to stories involving immigrants. Caught between two worlds, Jay feels denied his Filipino self by a concerned father who left a life behind to provide for his family. Yet, before Jay can move on to the next stage of his own life, he needs to know what he's leaving behind.
I think books like Patron Saints of Nothing are opportunities to enlighten many readers to issues outside of their own framework. The importance to engage and motivate a generation to be intraspective will lead to acting on what they think is the right thing to do. Jay sees injustice and instead of just tolerating or making it worse, he wants to take responsibility which is different from taking blame.
This is a promising read that will reach people. I recommend this to fans of woke books and maybe checking out I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter too!
Seriously, you need to check out the illustrator who did this amazing cover! You can find Jor @jor.ros and make sure to support this artist if you like them! Ah, everything from the color scheme to the hand lettering is to die for.
Thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP for a sneak peek in exchange for an honest review!
This was an eye-opener on Duterte's brutal drug war. The main character's journey as he navigated the country he long turned distant to while searching for answers to his cousin's death was gripping and gave me this feeling that I rarely get from reading nowadays.
This was overall an interesting book. I have not read many books set in the Philippines, if any, so it was really interesting to learn about the culture and language a little. I did like the characters, but just did not find them particularly compelling, and the mystery of Jun's death was just not as mysterious as I was for some reason expecting. I did enjoy it while I was actively reading it, and definitely learned more about life I the Philippines that I would not have known about normally. The letters exchanged between Jason and Jun were a big part of the story, but I found myself mostly skimming them or skipping them entirely after a paragraph. I really enjoyed the complex family history and dynamics. I personally thought that this book was similar to The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan. Although I does not have the same magical realism aspect to it, they both feature main characters returning to the country from which they are from in order to learn more about the life and death of a loved one while living with family that they do not know well and not speaking the native language, so I would recommend this to fans of that book.
**I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher via BookishFirst**
My initial reaction to this book is, such a unique book! Or maybe its only unique for me, considering the other books I have read. To be honest, my rating is closer to a 4.5 stars rather than 5 stars, but considering everything this book stands for, I thought I would just round it up. As someone who knew nothing about what's happening in the Philippines (the corrupt government, the civilian killings, the war on drugs) this book was very eye-opening and insightful for me. Also, I related to and understood many of the themes this book covers on a deeper level- being an immigrant in the west; disconnection from your origin; lack of connection with the extended family; the power of language; etc. Very powerful stuff. I've read a few stories that had immigrant characters, but none depicts the experience as accurately as this one does, so I especially applaud this book for that. I also loved the story and plot; somehow this book incorporated many aspects of murder mysteries while remaining realistic, which is an incredible feat. Other than that, it was just soo entertaining. This is definitely also thanks to the writing style, which is very easy to read, but whenever I finished a chapter I found myself wanting to read the next right away. Another aspect of this book is Jason's character development. Say what you will about him, but there's no doubt that he is the character who has changed the most throughout this book, and for good reason. Seeing how his discoveries affected his behaviour was such a rollercoaster, but one that I wouldn't mind riding again and again. The ending felt slightly underwhelming, which is one of the reasons I initially wanted to give this a 4.5 stars, but maybe that was intentional. Definitely is in line with one of the messages of this book, which is nothing is as it seems. The romance was a little weird, I wouldn't say its unrealistic or disrespectful, I mean, we're talking about teenagers here, but I did feel like it was a little pointless. Why include it if nothing comes out of it? But again, maybe that's purposeful. Overall, I do think this book is deserving of 5 stars.
Changed this to 5 stars from 4.75 because the more i thought about it, the more I felt there wasn’t anything I disliked about it. The writing was very well done, poignant, and made me tear up!! The romance was a tiny bit forced, but it didn’t take up a huge amount of space. Also, romance does happen even admist grief, so I found it okay.
