Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay is a novel I have been anticipating for a long time.  I really enjoyed Ribay's last book After the Shot Drops, so I had really been looking forward to this one.  It was everything I hoped it would be.  This story is one that will stick with me for a long time.  It is a story about family and the past they share.  It is about discovering yourself and the role those around you share in doing that.  It is about grief and learning how to handle it.  It is about speaking up, even when it is the hard thing to do.  And it is a story about how to remember the good in people while at the same time reconciling the bad.  It is a phenomenal novel!

Patron Saints of Nothing is the story of Jay, a soon to be high school graduate.  Jay was born in the Philippines, but moved to the United STates after just one year of life.  It has been nearly eight years since he has been back to the island, but the death of a cousin, Jun, has made him desire to go back.  Jun and Jay were close growing up, often sending letters back and forth.  But Jay stopped writing a few years back and things went south for Jun.  When Jay hears about his cousin's death, a result of the president's drug war in the Philippines, something doesn't sit right with him. 

Jay convinces his parents to let him visit over Spring Break.  He is determined to discover what Jun was up to during his last few years of life and uncover the true story behind his death.  While doing so, Jay begins to learn about the life he left behind and struggles with how he can change things in a world that is often okay with the status quo.  He must figure out how to operate in a time that is filled with good and bad, while at the same time come to grips with the fact that it is okay to sometimes rock the boat.   

From Amazon:

"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 page-turning portrayal of the struggle to reconcile faith, family, and immigrant identity.