Spud (novel)

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Spud
Author	John van de Ruit
Country	America/Canada
Language	English
Subject(s)	Boarding School Life
Genre(s)	Novel
Publisher	Razorbill
Publication date	4 October 2007
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	352pp
ISBN	ISBN-10: 1595141707 ISBN-13: 978-1595141705

Spud (Z.A edition)
Image:Spud-South-Africa.JPG South African edition
Author	John van de Ruit
Cover artist	Farell Grehan
Country	South Africa
Language	English
Subject(s)	Boarding School Life
Genre(s)	Novel
Publisher	Penguin
Publication date	2005
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	389pp
ISBN	ISBN-13: 978-0-143-02484-2 ISBN-10: 0-143-02484 1
Followed by	Spud- The madness continues . . .

Spud is the title of a 2005 book by South African author, actor, playwright and producer, John Howard van de Ruit. A comedy novel that captures the humor of life in boarding school, through the dairy of John 'Spud' Milton. The book is written in the style of a diary, and records the experiences of Spud, nicknamed 'Spud' because his balls haven't yet dropped. The story begins on Spud's first day at a private boarding school in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Midlands, following his year and experiences with the often eccentric characters found in the school environment. The dairy also follows Spud's family life.

The book is set in South Africa, 1990, against the historical background of the unbanning of the ANC and Nelson Mandela's release from Victor Verster Prison. The description of the school, its setting and characters, are a thinly-disguised description of Michaelhouse for boys, from which the author matriculated in 1993. This is a book that details the life of going to a boarding school, getting your first girlfriend, or overcoming your spudlyness.

A sequel was released in mid 2007 which details Spud's second year of boarding school.

After commercial success in South Africa (it won the 2006 Booksellers award), the United States saw a release of this book 2007. The U.S. version features a brand new cover, which shows Stefan Gamon, a blond haired boy (Spud) making a series of humorous faces. The US release date for the sequel is so far unknown.

1 Overview
2 Characters
3 Mistakes
4 Film Adaption
5 External links

[edit] Overview

Plot Summary It's South Africa 1990. Tow major events are about to happen: The release of Nelson Mandela and, more importantly, it's Spud Milton's first year at an elite boys only private school. Cursed with parents from well beyond the lunatic fringe, a senile granny, and a dormitory full of strange characters, Spud has his hands full trying to adapt to his new home. Surrounded by names such as Gecko, Rambo, Rain Man and Mad Dog, Spud takes his first tentative steps along the path towards manhood. (The path, it seems, could be a rather long road.) Armed with only his wits and his diary, Spud takes us from illegal night swimming to the cricket pitch, from ghostbusting to a catastrophic family vacation. He also invites us into the mind of a boy struggling to come to terms with a strange new world; a boy whose eyes are being opened to love, friendship and complete insanity.

[edit] Characters

Crazy Eight

The Crazy Eight consists of the eight boys in Spud's year and house at school.

John 'Spud' Milton - The protagonist.
Robert 'Rambo' Black - The (self-appointed and self-nicknamed) leader of the Crazy Eight. He is also known for having an affair with the wife of his housemaster and his brutal ways.
Charlie 'Mad Dog' Hooper - A fierce and ruthless thug-like boy so named because of his hunting habits. A talented cricketer due to his scare tactics and high speed bowling.
Simon Brown - A jock and cricket star. No nickname. Very popular with the girls, also plays A-side rugby. Wears braces.
Vern 'Rain Man' Blackadder- Spud's deranged cubicle mate who is constantly pulling out clumps of his own hair and has a strange relationship with Sparerib's cat, Roger.
Henry 'Gecko' Barker - A pale boy who is incessantly falling ill and later dies of cerebral malaria. He is Spud's best friend later in the book. So named because of his corpse-like colour and his tendency to vomit.
Sidney 'Fatty' Smitherson-Scott - Nicknamed due to his indulgent eating habits. Known for his excessive flatulence.
Al 'Boggo' Greenstein - A perverted boy who has a liking for porn and named because he is always going to the lavatories (the bogs) to masturbate. Has a bad case of pimples.

Other Characters

Spud's Mom and Dad, who are both considered to be "well beyond the lunatic fringe."
Wombat - Spud's senile maternal grandmother, who is always accusing people, especially her landlord, Buster Cracknell of stealing things that are considered pointless to the family, such as her yoghurt, bathmat, toiletries and strawberry jam.
Debbie "Mermaid" - Spud's long term girlfriend and first kiss. Prone to depression.
Amanda - Julia Roberts lookalike who is older than Spud and, despite everthing, she loves him as a "toy boy." In the second book, she prefers spending her time kissing him than anything else.
Christine - A promiscuous girl who takes a liking to Spud. She is described by Amanda as liking anything with a penis. She becomes Gecko's girlfriend later in the book but nearly has a sexual encounter with Spud at a party.
PJ Luthuli - Head of Spud's house, who Spud joins in his club, African Affairs. Has a slight lisp, as seen when he tries to pronounce Fatty's real name.
Grant 'Earthworm' Edwards - Spud's Matric prefect for whom he "slaves".
Julian - A blatantly homosexual Matric prefect whose favourite hobby is photographing the behinds of all the first years when they are beaten by Sparerib.
Leonard Pike: Spud's (and the Crazy Eight's) nemesis. He is consistantly bullying the members of the Crazy Eight. He seems to have homosexual feelings for Spud, as he enjoys revealing himself to Spud and also has a rather sexual encounter with him near the end.

Teachers

Mr Edly, (The Guv) - English teacher and U/14A Cricket coach, has very interesting teaching methods and swears a lot. Befriends Spud.
Crispo - History teacher, very old. Fought in the second world war, dies in first book, Spud sings at his funeral.
Mrs Wilson, (Eve) - Drama teacher. Plays Nancy the prostitute in the school play Oliver. Cheats on her husband with Rambo.
Mr Richardson (Viking) - Play director
Mr Glockenshpeel, (The Glock) - Headmaster
Mr Wilson (Sparerib) - Spud's housemaster
Mr Lilly - Under 14 D/E rugby coach.

[edit] Mistakes

The book makes the mistake of implying that Gecko catches cerebral malaria by not taking malaria pills, while cerebral malaria is not affected by pills and is caught whether pills are taken or not.