Reviews with content warning for Racism - Patron Saints of Nothing

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

16 reviews

createandchaos's review against another edition

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.

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finnft4's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-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

Wow, this was incredible. This book immediately grabbed my intention based on an interesting premise and a main character I could relate to. I've never really seen a protagonist so similar to me. Like Jay, I'm also half-Filipino, my mom is white, my Filipino father is moderately disconnected from his family, I feel disconnected from Filipino culture but alienated in the majority white US, and I have no idea what I'm doing with my life. A few differences, of course. A good chunk of my Filipino relatives live in Florida, and I've never been to the Philippines. Like other Americans, I'm guilty of generically seeing it as a third-world country less fortunate than my own. I'm happy to say this book changed my perspective on it.

Onto the actual novel. Randy Ribay is a master of imagery and characterizations. Everything feels so alive, from the characters to their problems to the world they live in. Even though I've never been to the Philippines, it almost felt like I visited while I read. I was able to find recognition and relate to the long parties, the food, and the confusing mess of not knowing Tagalog. There was not a single character that felt fake or two-sided, representing a simple figure to love or hate. Even ones who the main character dislikes are not simply villains. There are shades of gray. I really love how complex the characters are and how Ribay humanizes all of them.

Oh and, like Jay, I had absolutely no idea about the drug war that only recently died down in the Philippines. I was completely oblivious to anything going on, including having no idea who President Duterte was. Like the American I am, I don't know much about the affairs outside of what is immediately around me. This novel has encouraged me to work on that.

I felt like I was experiencing the story right with Jay. His reactions to grief felt so relatable and real to me. I understood his desperation, his determination, his despair. As the story continued, the cousin's death changed from a mystery into a genuine tragedy. Jun's death was always sad, but seeing the care his family had, beneath what Jay thought as apathy, was so powerful. Jun's immediate family, who both Jun and I were convinced simply did not care about his loss, had so many raw emotions right below the surface.

GOD it's devastating. I was reading the end of this in my Spanish class and had to tilt my head up to stop crying. The memorial and eulogies absolutely destroyed me. Seeing how the grief affected everyone was unbelievably powerful. Writing true, realistic grief is so difficult to accomplish without the product being trite. This is one of the most successful examples I've seen.

Patron Saints of Nothing is a beautifully multi-faceted story that I highly recommend.

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kshertz's review against another edition

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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.

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