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Patron Saints of Nothing

by Randy Ribay

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A family investigation shaped by grief, distance, and accountability

$13.38 USD
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Paperback New English

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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    National Book Award finalist

    Named a National Book Award finalist.

  • Editorial selection

    Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the Century

    Selected as a Best Young Adult Book of the Century.

  • Critical praise

    Starred review from Publishers Weekly

    Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review and praised Ribay's handling of justice, grief, and identity.

AlbakiReads Editorial

A family investigation shaped by grief, distance, and accountability

Jay Reguero’s search for answers begins after the killing of his cousin Jun in the Philippines, where silence within the family leaves crucial questions unresolved. The novel places that personal loss against President Duterte’s war on drugs, linking one family’s fractured understanding of Jun to wider questions of justice and whose lives are valued. As Jay reconstructs his cousin’s story, he must also confront the distance between his Filipino-American life and his relatives’ experiences, as well as his own connection to what happened. Grief, guilt, faith, family obligation, and cultural identity converge in a coming-of-age narrative built around uncovering a difficult truth.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Teen and young adult readers interested in family-centered coming-of-age fiction
  • Readers seeking fiction about Filipino-American identity and connections to the Philippines
  • Readers interested in stories that examine grief, justice, and social violence

Themes

Grief and guiltFamily silenceFilipino-American identityJustice and the drug warFaith and accountability

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST - A "powerful and courageous" (Kirkus Reviews) coming-of-age story about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin's murder.

"Brilliant, honest, and equal parts heartbreaking and soul-healing."--Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Shout

"Passionately and fearlessly, Ribay delves into matters of justice, grief, and identity."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

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 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 truth--and the part he played in it.

As gripping as it is lyrical, Patron Saints of Nothing is a riveting portrayal of the struggle to reconcile grief and guilt, faith and family.

A Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the Century

A Best Book of the Year: NPR, Paste, New York Public Library, Publishers Weekly, USA Today
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