Patron Saints of Nothing - Randy Ribay

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⭐ 8.5/10

(Originally written by Magdalene)

This is a story about a Filipino-American teen named Jay who is forced to learn more about his birth country when his estranged cousin dies under Duterte's war on drugs regime. Jay's family won't tell him the details about what happened to his cousin, so he travels to the Philippines to visit his family and find out what really happened.

I was a little hesitant to read this book because I don't love reading books with such heavy subject matter, but I ended up really happy that I did. It is still heavy, but it's also about family, and has a great sense of place. I think it was the first book I've read set in the Philippines. Jay is biracial and has lived most of his life in the US, so it's interesting to see him experience Filipino culture and culture shock, and learn to stop judging people and places for being different from what he's used to in the US.

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