Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

12 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Drug use, and Death

Moderate: Drug abuse, Addiction, and Racism

Minor: Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Homophobia

ghoulomatic's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Grief, Murder, Drug abuse, and Police brutality

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

kalmia31's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Classism, Genocide, Grief, Colonisation, and Death

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Violence, Homophobia, Racism, Murder, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Misogyny

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Sexual assault, and Alcohol

jht5791's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

Moderate: Racism, Police brutality, and Sexual assault

bookishbaddie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Classism, Violence, War, Murder, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual violence, Trafficking, Rape, and Sexual assault

mysterymom40's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Gun violence, Police brutality, Drug abuse, Trafficking, Grief, Gaslighting, Drug use, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

jamies's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

i don't have the words to explain how stunning this book was, i saw myself through the eyes of jay as i am also a filipino living abroad that wants to learn about their culture,  i had other similarities with him but i won't expand on it anymore. it was an amazing read and i think more people should read this book right now!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Physical abuse, and Police brutality

Minor: Sexual assault, Animal death, and Trafficking

the_reading_seal's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Police brutality, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

dkayayay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

An extremely important book that sheds light on the Drug War in the Philippines and focuses on the victims that have been harmed or have lost their life due to an ill-educated society about drugs. Doing drugs is not something that a human being should ever be killed for. This book explores the inhumane acts that Duterte has done and has implored others to do, leading to an innumerable amount of innocent lives lost. All this is told through the perspective of a 17 year old Filipino teenager, who lives in America and is shocked to find out one day that his cousin in which he lost contact with, died a sudden death. No one will tell him about it, so he decides to take matters into his own hands and tries to figure out what happened. It was such an enlightening read and one that more people should read. It also had really great representation of Filipino teenagers living overseas and grappling with national identity as well as the connection between oneself and their country. Such a beautiful book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Trafficking, and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Sexual assault, Rape, Child abuse, Violence, and Drug use

Minor: Pedophilia

sammiesshelf's review

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious 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

4.25

Wow. This book was stunning. I found it by chance in a bargain bin at a used bookstore and I am sure glad that I picked it up.

This story follows Jay, a half Filipino teen who was born in the Philippines but raised in America. He finds out that his cousin, Jun, who he used to be pen pals with, has died at the age of seventeen under mysterious circumstances that the family doesn't want to talk about, and so he asks to spend his spring break in the Philippines to get to the bottom of what is going on.

Patron Saints of Nothing is a beautiful story that not only criticizes the drug war started by Rodrigo Duterte but also details what it is like to be an outsider in a country and a family that is supposedly your own. Jay is repeatedly criticized for his lack of knowledge of his birth country and Tagalog, and it is quite hard for him to reconnect with the family he hasn't seen in eight years. It is also hard for him to reconcile his Americanized reality with the reality in the Philippines. Seeing this already tense situation unfold on top of the fact of his family's refusal to acknowledge his cousin's death, the tension is palpable.

The writing in this book is also beautiful. There is an abundance of lyrical quotes that make you feel transported into the mind of Jay and depict his emotions in a way that no other words could. 

Overall, this was a beautiful novel about what makes a person good and asks if there is any real justification for murder. With morally grey characters, it makes for a complex and riveting story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, and Death

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Gun violence

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Trafficking