One of my favorite things about traveling is the books! Whenever I’m on the road, I always try to hit up the used book stores to snag copies of local favorites. Stories that for whatever reason, just never made it across the ocean to find success with US publishers. Of course, one of the best ways to search out these hidden gems is to make contact with a local, and ask them about their favorite novels. And just a few years back, not long after landing in South Africa, this tried-and-tested strategy led me to pick up a copy of “Spud”.
“Spud”— known to his parents as John Milton— is fourteen years old, and just starting the ninth grade at a prestigious boarding school in the Drakensberg mountains. Spud decides to record his adventures in a diary, and by doing so, preserves all of his friends’ wild adventures for posterity. This group of bunkmates take to calling themselves “The Crazy Eight”, and their escapades grew to become the stuff of legends. And in between all this mischief, Spud even manages to pass most of his classes, and land a starring role in the school play.
But just as the author, John van de Ruit, took such care in building an amazing setting for his story, he also managed to capture a fascinating moment of history. Way back in the 1990s— just as Spud Milton was leaving home to start his secondary education— South Africa was undergoing a political transition, one which put the country squarely in the global spotlight. At the end of the apartheid era, when Nelson Mandela was released from prison, nobody was really sure what the future might hold. In this novel, Mr. van de Ruit used his ‘diverse’ cast of characters to convey the wide range of feelings that South Africans were experiencing during that unpredictable time. Spud’s father, for example— a raging, unstable alcoholic— can’t conceal his long-harbored racism any longer, and devotes all of his energies to preparing for the coming race war… in an insanely comical fashion!
As for me, I found that the most memorable characters in this story were the wildest boys in the school— the “Crazy Eight”. Mr. van de Ruit claimed that these supporting characters were based on friends from his own boarding school days… but if these stories are true, then it’s hard to imagine how this group could have avoided a mass expulsion. From sneaking out on adventures every night, to hunting pigeons in the stairwells to supplement the cafeteria food, the “Crazy Eight” did their best to live up to their reputation. But just as these antics got a little too wild, Spud Milton finds himself joining an extracurricular “African Affairs” study group, which helps to bring some balance back to the story. Ultimately, “Spud” ends up being a great balance between the chaos and drama of high school, and the chaos and drama of world politics.
After reading “Spud” for the first time, I felt that the book offered a truly unique perspective on a fascinating country, during a turbulent period of uncertainty and upheaval. And millions of South Africans must have felt the same way, because the book was wildly successful! “Spud” was followed by three sequels, with each book capturing a year of Spud Milton’s high school career. The book was eventually made into a movie, and the film proved so popular that it outsold “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” in South African theaters!
And even though “Spud” does have a few scenes which haven’t aged so well— such as the homophobic slurs, or the widespread bullying— Mr. van de Ruit should still get credit for capturing such an accurate depiction of daily life at boarding school, during an era that was much less “woke” than today.
But in spite of these occasional ‘cringe-worthy’ scenes, “Spud” is still a worthwhile read. And I think that’s because now, looking back through history, it’s so easy to lose perspective. Even during a time of such massive change, there were still a lot of kids out there, who were just doing their best to grow up. And in their eyes, anyway, the social unrest that came with South Africa’s post-apartheid politics simply wasn’t as important as their final exams, or the big cricket match next Saturday.
You probably remember all those things from your own teenage years… you know, the issues that really mattered back then.