Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Patron Saints of Nothing

Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

36 reviews

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad fast-paced

5.0

This hit close to home as my heritage has a lot of similarities with Filipino culture and the Philippines as a whole. I related heavily with being an outsider in a culture that is your own but not your own at the same time and trying to navigate what/how/how much you can criticize. When people told Jay he had no right since he doesn't understand and that he's looking at it from a very America lens, it reminded me of things my mom has said to me.
This made me cry.
I loved this book, and I will read more from this author. It is heavy in many ways so def check trigger/content warnings.

Content Warnings

createandchaos's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book has a special place in my heart as a first generation child of immigrants.

Patron Saints of Nothing is a poignant novel, tackling Duterte's war on drugs, how it affects those left behind, and reconciling with the ideas that made it happen when you are practically a foreigner yourself.

Content Warnings

ghoulomatic's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This book was beautiful and moving. Each sentence was meticulously crafted... Each word was purposeful. The love and care the author, Randy Ribay, put into the book practically floods out of the pages. This is a beautifully crafted story about so many things. It's certainly a book worth reading again and again and again.

Content Warnings

kshertz's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Excellent book. This narrator finds himself by going to the Philippines and finding out the truth about how his 17 year old cousin, that he used to be close with, died. It’s a coming of age with commentary on our biases, our differences, our similarities, our assumptions, and what really the truth can be. It started slow for me but became very intense and reflective toward the end. It’s a serious and sad coming of age story, but one we should probably all read to reflect on how we too can do and be better so 17 year olds are not suing the way his cousin did.

Content Warnings

manawuari's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

gellyreads's review

Go to review page

emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

amandalorianxo's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Throughly enjoyed this. Medium paced, short chapters, easy to understand but impactful language made this journey into the Philippines a worthy experience. We follow Jason, a biracial (half white / half Filipino) seventeen year old who learns very early on in the novel that his cousin Jun is dead. Except Jason doesn’t feel right that no one seems to be questioning it. So Jason takes it upon himself to find the answers that he desperately needs. The plot moves quickly from the time Jason lands and we are right along with him as we learn about the past, present and possible future of this far away country. I liked the normalization of his aunt’s relationship with her partner Ines. I do wish there had been a little more insight into Jason parents & what made them connect but minus that, a worthy read.

Content Warnings