Embedded Files
“..., his death tallied as an improvement to society.”
“..., his death tallied as an improvement to society.”
“I expected the truth to illuminate, to resurrect. Not to ruin.”
“I expected the truth to illuminate, to resurrect. Not to ruin.”
Summary
Summary
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.
Reader Reviews
Reader Reviews
It’s a real page-turner. If you enjoy reading stories about change, journeys, family drama and mysterious circumstances, you will enjoy it as much as I did. If not more. Jay, the protagonist, is easy to relate to, despite being flawed and a poor detective. Luckily he makes friends and strengthens his links with some of his family members who are of great help to him. I genuinely wanted to see him succeed in his search of the truth.
I especially enjoyed all that happened in between him finding out snippets of the truth. How he reconnected with people he hadn’t seen in a while, how he learned more about his culture and where he came from, how he started to understand that life outside the USA can be quite different—that every country has its own ruler with his/her own worldview and laws—and how the truth can sometimes be very hard to obtain.
-Lola
This book was an emotional rollercoaster and it has definitely left its mark on me.
The basis of this book is very real, this is emphasised throughout. You could feel the family’s pain in This book and it made me tear up a few times.
The writing was quite simplistic in nature but it is young adult and it did allow the facts and emotions really smack you in the face.
I flew through this when I had the time, this story is portrayed in such a brilliant way to convey the right message across.
-Katie
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