Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

34 reviews

ghoulomatic's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This book was beautiful and moving. Each sentence was meticulously crafted... Each word was purposeful. The love and care the author, Randy Ribay, put into the book practically floods out of the pages. This is a beautifully crafted story about so many things. It's certainly a book worth reading again and again and again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Grief, Murder, Drug abuse, and Police brutality

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

kshertz's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Excellent book. This narrator finds himself by going to the Philippines and finding out the truth about how his 17 year old cousin, that he used to be close with, died. It’s a coming of age with commentary on our biases, our differences, our similarities, our assumptions, and what really the truth can be. It started slow for me but became very intense and reflective toward the end. It’s a serious and sad coming of age story, but one we should probably all read to reflect on how we too can do and be better so 17 year olds are not suing the way his cousin did.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Abandonment, Murder, Drug abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Drug use, Addiction, Death, Racism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Police brutality

manawuari's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Murder, Mental illness, Police brutality, Trafficking, Animal death, Death, and Violence

Minor: Rape and Animal death

gellyreads's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Colonisation, Drug use, Murder, Police brutality, Drug abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Trafficking

amandalorianxo's review

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Throughly enjoyed this. Medium paced, short chapters, easy to understand but impactful language made this journey into the Philippines a worthy experience. We follow Jason, a biracial (half white / half Filipino) seventeen year old who learns very early on in the novel that his cousin Jun is dead. Except Jason doesn’t feel right that no one seems to be questioning it. So Jason takes it upon himself to find the answers that he desperately needs. The plot moves quickly from the time Jason lands and we are right along with him as we learn about the past, present and possible future of this far away country. I liked the normalization of his aunt’s relationship with her partner Ines. I do wish there had been a little more insight into Jason parents & what made them connect but minus that, a worthy read. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Drug use, Abandonment, and Child death

tahsintries's review against another edition

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Trafficking, and Drug use

jesthemess's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death, Violence, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Racism, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia

bookishbaddie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Classism, Violence, War, Murder, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual violence, Trafficking, Rape, and Sexual assault

l_arand's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

randy ribay’s patron saints of nothing follows the story of jay, a biracial filipino american in his senior year of high school. once he’s told about his cousin jun’s death and the mysterious circumstances surrounding it, he uses his spring break to travel to the philippines in hopes of finding the truth about jun and his death.

i need everyone to read this book. not only does it provide insight into the drug war and duterte’s policies, it also shines a light on the way americans sensationalize what’s going on in foreign countries.
i think a line of bo burham’s how the world works can put this into words better than i can, “why do you rich fucking white people insist on seeing every socio political conflict through the myopic lense of your own self actualisation? this isn’t about you.”
this can be aimed towards jay, our narrator, by his family members in the philippines, especially grace and  tito maning. jay gives us an interesting perspective because he was naturalized in the states. more specifically, the midwest. he’s dealing with an identity crisis over his birthplace and race while being told by his white peers that “you’re basically white.” jay is self aware and is incredibly conscious of how american ideals have been ingrained into him, but he can’t help but think that some of the things going on in his home country would be different if they too functioned based off of said ideals. the exchanges between him and grace (his cousin and jun’s younger sister) are quite eye opening and serve as a commentary on national and cultural differences.

that wasn’t an incredibly eloquent review and it was hard to put my thoughts into words, but i hope that doesn’t discourage anyone from reading it. ribay also has sources with information pertaining to the drug war at the end of the book, and ways one can support the fight against it from afar. just, please read the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Gun violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use, Trafficking, Drug abuse, and Death

Minor: Animal death and Colonisation

melzswag's review

adventurous informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

2/5 mystery
very inspirational 
family driven

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Drug use