With BIPOC authors hopefully getting their coming of age moment in publishing, teachers seem to want texts that are “not about the struggle”. But “the struggle” our life, and like all of life, there are so many experiences and layers to it. This is a theme of coming of age novels — realizing the complexity of one’s and others’ lives. This is the theme of Patron Saints of Nothing. Randy Ribay offers a look into a life in the Philippines from the perspective of an emigrant looking for an explanation. Jay is in the 2nd half of his senior year. He is struggling with his choice to go to the University of Michigan. He is struggling to regain friendships that were damaged, especially one that meant a lot to him — his similarly-aged cousin in the Philippines. But that one might be too late to fix, as Jay gets the news that his cousin has been killed. His father doesn’t want to talk about how his cousin died, which makes Jay’s suspicions even greater. When he receives a mysterious text, he knows he has to go to the Philippines to investigate under the guise of visiting relatives during his spring break.

Jay’s journey into the lives of his family in the Philippines helps him understand his family’s story, even amid his belief that his own uncle killed in son. Unraveling the mystery is tough on Jay. For this reader, the reminder is that there are many peoples of color, many stories, many struggles going on. Life is complex. Randy Ribay’s voice through Jay allows readers to follow him and see this complexity, see the struggle and appreciate that life’s choices are complicated, layered and sometimes not what we want, but we persevere. Ribay’s voice through Jay into President Duterte’s war on drugs is a bonus that one hopes readers will do a little wiki searching for their own greater knowledge of the world.