John van de Ruit

I'm pretty seriously surprised this book gets the praise it does.
The level of homophobia is extreme--we cheer for Spud leading on 3 girls, but the gay kids are punished for trying to have a sex life? Let's not forget, too, that all of the characters who exhibit homosexual attraction assault Spud and the others, so, y'know--there's a good message to send young readers. The level of violence, and of highly-sexualized violence in particular, in this book was REALLY shocking. show more
**SPOILERS**
Gecko's death leads nowhere, and while we could say "sometimes death is for no reason" the rest of this book doesn't function in the dark mode that would lead to this conclusion.
I've never seen a book this happy to send the message to boys, "toughen up!" which is the worst kind if outdated, bullshit masculinity.
I'm keeping the book around to show passages of it to students as great examples of what bad books do, ideologically. show less

Definitely not South Africa's Catcher in the Rye, despite the many plot parallels and the blurb making big claims. Still, pretty good. As a parent, I was kind of creeped out by the author's acceptance of a horrible boarding school. Are beatings, uncontrolled bullying, insanity,rampant drunkenness, and affairs with students par for the course in South African schools? Yikes!

Spud is very likeable, though a little too good to be true -- star of the school musical, star cricketer, excellent show more student -- maybe a little wish fulfillment for the author? Still, the characters are really funny, and the plot builds to a thoughtful conclusion that worked well. show less

Spud! Oh boy do I love this book. Really, what's not to like? It's got a little bit of everything. There's a whole lot of humor accompanied by some life themes, classic literature, and some South African history. Almost anyone could find something they like in this book. At first I wasn't too sure how much I would like the diary-style entries, but I ended up loving them. John "Spud" Milton is a hilarious narrator and he handles the tough format well.
What really makes the book are the show more characters, namely "The Crazy Eight", which consists of Spud, Robert "Rambo" Black, Charlie "Mad Dog" Hooper, Henry "Gecko" Barker, Alan "Boggo" Greenstein, Vern "Rain Man" Blackadder, Simon Brown, and Sydney "Fatty" Smitherson-Scott. The group really lives up to its "crazy" name, what with Mad Dog cooking pigeons, Rambo and Boggo making racy comments left and right, Gecko either sick or injured 90% of the time, Fatty eating everything in sight, Simon and his inability to handle the crazy, Spud's humorous reaction to events, the whole group going on numerous illegal night swims, and last but certainly not last, Vern. Oh Vern! There is no end to the humor that Vern supplies. Spud's deranged cubical mate may just be the best part of the book. Hearing his conversations with Rodger and other various inanimate objects always made me laugh.
However, the Crazy Eight does not allow the other characters to slack off. Spud's father's fight with the neighbor's dogs is always good for a laugh. His mother's constant disappointment with the boys will always make you smile. His grandmother Wombat is nearly as hilarious as Vern. The headmaster, aka The Glock has his moments, and various other teachers help humor the book when things get slow. Even the family dog Blacky has his moments that include his fight with the robot that cleans the pool.
However, despite the humor, this book also has lots of serious themes and moments. This book delves into thoughts on relationships, loss, and friendship in a way that isn't corny. It's a great "coming of age" novel, but I'm sure that you don't have to be a teen to like this book.
This book is a laugh riot that you shouldn't pass up. It may be a little hard to get your hands on it, since it is a South African book, but if you have access to it, I would definitely suggest reading it! Trust me when I say you don't want to miss this one!
Five out of Five stars
See this review, and more like it, here: http://themessengerreviews.blogspot.com/2014/02/spud-spud-1.html show less

John “Spud” Milton keeps a diary in which he chronicles his first year at an elite all-boys boarding school in South Africa in 1990. This trying-to-come-of-age tale recounts the raucous, bawdy life of Spud, the boys in his dorm, his nutty family, and equally outrageous teachers. Spud (so-called because “my willy is tiny and my balls haven’t dropped yet”) and his housemates are preoccupied with sports, sex, pranks, and tormenting each other but not necessarily in that order and Spud show more can’t help detailing all of them. There is not much of a plot but after a slow start you begin to root for Spud on his adventures in love, in cricket, in rugby, and in his academics. He makes the cricket team, he falls in love with two girls, he auditions for and wins a coveted part in the school play, and his drunken English teacher, the Guv, introduces him to great literature. He even wants to become a freedom fighter as apartheid breaks down. Spud’s sensitive and often hilarious description of his personal experiences and those of the less favored of his roommates will surely win readers to his side. This sweet and funny novel will appeal to readers who enjoy stories about boarding school hijinks. show less