Spud

While many of the books that I have reviewed this past year were written for a primarily female audience, I have stumbled upon a thoughtful coming-of-age story written from a male perspective in John van de Ruits Spud.

Fourteen year-old John Milton may share his name with a famous writer, but at his new boarding school in South Africa, he is given the nickname Spud. This novel is written in diary form, covering the confusion, fun times, girl troubles, and serious pondering of a teen boy. Spud and his insane housemates, with nicknames like Mad Dog, Fatty, Rambo and Grecko are known as the Crazy Eight. Boarding school life revolves around the excitement of nighttime swims, kitchen raids, porn-screenings, cricket games and the typical pastimes of teenage boys. Hilarity and chaos ensues, as can only be expected of boarding school life.

Van de Ruits story is not just all fun and games though. The setting is 1990s South Africa, when Nelson Mandela has just been released from jail and Apartheid is coming to an end. Spud writes of the impact that Madela has on him and on the other boys at school, showing the inspiration that Mandela offers to the black students at school. There is definitely controversy about Mandelas release, the boys in Durban debate politics in an African Affairs and Spuds father believes Mandela to be a communist.

Spuds family is a bit dysfunctional itself. Well, a bit is really an understatement. His parents are illegally selling homemade alcohol from their home. Actually, their maid, named Innocence is doing the selling; his parents are just taking a cut of the profits. His frighteningly batty grandmother, better known as Wombat, manages to ruin more than one family vacation. His mothers friend, Marge sets Spud up with her daughter, Debbie, and thats when Spuds first foray in the world of women begins.

The Mermaid, as Spud so affectionately calls her, is his first girlfriend. His first real love. He is dazzled by the sight of her and cannot believe that he is so lucky as to be in a relationship with his magnificent creature. When the Mermaid sinks into depression due to her parents divorce, and is shipped off to England, Spud encounters his first real test of commitment. He wins the lead in the school production, Oliver, which the school is putting on in conjunction with neighboring girls school. With so many girls suddenly thrust into his life, including the psychopathic Christine and the Julia Roberts look-a-like Amanda, Spud begins to learn the true meaning of love and the art of dealing with women. Spud and his best friend Gecko spend a great many hours making pro/con lists to determine the proper course of action with the ladies.

All in all, John van de Ruit is brilliant in his debut novel. Spuds thoughts leap from silly to profound with ease. Spud epitomizes what it means to be a teenage boy and represents the transformation from naivete to adult. His words are an honest rendition of the highs and lows of the teenage years that rival Catcher in the Rye in social significance.