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Patron Saints of Nothing
- Narrated by: Ramón de Ocampo
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
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Patron Saints of Nothing
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Publisher's Summary
A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
"Brilliant, honest, and equal parts heartbreaking and soul-healing." (Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Shout)
"A singular voice in the world of literature." (Jason Reynolds, author of Long Way Down)
A powerful coming-of-age story about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin's murder.
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 Filipino 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 horrible truth - and the part he played in it.
As gripping as it is lyrical, Patron Saints of Nothing is a pause-resisting portrayal of the struggle to reconcile faith, family, and immigrant identity.
What the critics say
A National Book Award Finalist
An NPR Best Book of the Year
An NBC News Best Asian American Young Adult Book of the Year
A Paste Best Young Adult Book of the Year
A New York Public Library Top 10 Best Book of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A USA Today Best Book of the Year So Far
A Raleigh News & Observer Best Book of the Year
An Amazon Best Book of the Year
A Junior Library Guild audio selection
National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) Freeman Book Award Winner
An L.A. Times Book Award Nominee
"Passionately and fearlessly, Ribay delves into matters of justice, grief, and identity." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
"A perfect convergence of authentic voice and an emphasis on inner dialogue." (School Library Journal, starred review)
"Powerful and courageous." (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)
More from the same
What listeners say about Patron Saints of Nothing
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Jamie @ Books and Ladders
- 2022-09-20
Highly Recommend!
There were a lot of really good things about this novel, including the characters, the setting, and the obvious emotion that went into writing it. I fully connected to our main character, even though we don't share any similarities, which is a true testament to Ribay's writing ability.
A beautiful, powerful story about learning about yourself, your heritage, and the past to move forward into the present and the future. It explored themes of guilt and family in a way that I rarely see in fiction, especially Young Adult fiction. I was enthralled in this story once I got into it (about 15%). I thought it was truly incredible - and it evoked so many emotions, especially the ending.
It intertwined the political atmosphere so flawlessly and I appreciated those details mixed in with the understanding of how that impacts a family. I have mixed feelings about whether the way that Jun's murder happened was justified in the context of the story, but I did think that it worked in the moment.
This is an important book that showcases the life of an immigrant, especially one trying to find their way in their own culture, while highlighting the political aspects of the war on drugs in the Philippines. I appreciated learning from a perspective of impact and "victimhood" to see what people perceive to be the issue for themselves.
However, I thought that the quasi-romance was squished in there (and unnecessary) and that the beginning was a little too slow for my liking, which is why I'm only rating this one four stars. It felt like the "romance" was an afterthought and something put into the story because it would appeal to the reader, but it just felt forced.
I really enjoyed this one. I loved reading it and I definitely cried at the end which means that overall I highly recommend it!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Carol
- 2020-01-30
A really good read
Excellent 👌 book. The narrator Ramon de Ocampo was awesome! The author Randy Ribay kept my interest through out the whole story. The main character's search for the truth did not turn out the way he expected, and the reader is also locked in as the main character digs deep to unvail the truth. Ribay's description of the Philippines is rich with details and the character s really come alive in this story. Nothing is ever as it appears 😉
5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Pedro Navejas
- 2019-07-09
Touching and informative
Really fast read that informs the reader of current events in the Phillipines without being preachy or too one sided. I enjoyed the characters. Jason is a clueless teen, which you can take as realistic or annoying- probably both.
5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle KNT
- 2020-05-14
intense. painful. ugly. sad. beautiful.
intensely relatable. painfully real. ugly truth. piercing sadness. beautifully expressed. thank you for this. salamat po.
3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Willy Joe Paguyo
- 2020-08-09
Amazing.
Amazing! Highly recommended! Great story, great narration go for it! A another great entry into Filipino / Filipino American literature!
2 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Derek
- 2022-09-13
One sided story
My wife has lived in philippines most of her life. She was upset about this book because she feels its put the philippines in a bad light. She believes Duterte was a good president and they should do a better job explain that side instead of always making it seem all negative. The worst comment to her was that people in slums use shibu because they are hungry and its a hunger suppressant. Its very easy to get cheap food in the Phils especially if you have the money for drugs. We wish they would have told the other side better. Don't read this book and think that Phils is a bad place with bad people. Its a wonderful country with great people.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Jo Ann Ocampo
- 2020-09-07
Great story and audio narration
The audio narration was great! I was pleasantly surprised that the Filipino words were not butchered - thank you!!! I also noticed the difference between the accents of the Filipino and Filipino-American/American characters. This was a strong audio performance and really helped to establish the characters and the atmosphere of the story.
This is the first Filipino diaspora story set in modern Philippines that I've read and I think it was tastefully done. It did a good job of providing a glimpse of the good/bad/ugly of Philippine culture and society and how Fil-Americans come to interact/conceptualize it. In the end, what I appreciated the most was the "lesson" that it is essential to first understand before imposing your idea of "solutions" to the Philippines' problems.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mldavis
- 2020-08-11
Story to remind you to take the time to reach out to those who are important to you
This is an important story that will reach people across cultures. A great choice for students who are at a point of their lives where they are reflecting on important moments that have made them who and what they are today.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Christopher M Cloutier
- 2023-02-15
Amazing
I was assigned this book in my class. I went into the book knowing nothing about it or the drug war it addressed, I got it on audio book because of my learning disability. The book is amazingly written and keeps you hooked front to back. The reader of this audiobook was amazing at adding emotion to the words, such an incredible read. (Ps sorry for any spelling mistakes)
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2023-01-06
Culture Shock
As a Fillipino born in America, Ribay shows a lot of things that I would’ve never seen my home country as.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Fernando Grillo
- 2022-12-05
There’s a but.
This story has to be one of the most interesting realistic fictions stories I have ever read, at times it could be slow. While it was slow, the specific story is fiction but based on true events that are happening right now. If you like to be caught up with world news, like myself, you need to read this. I guarantee that even though what is happening in the Philippines is huge, you do not know that much.
,Manny
age 14