Spud by jon van de ruit

This six weeks, I read a book called Spud. The author of this book is Jon van De Ruit. This book was first published in 2005. The genre of this book would be realistic fiction. In this book, the main character John Milton or "spud" lives in Durban  South Africa. It is 1990 and Nelson Mandela has just been released. It is Spud's first year at a High School Just for boys.  His parents, to make everything just a little better, are some what crazy. His dad is a paranoid lunatic afraid of getting his money and merchandise stolen and his mother is crazy over protective. His grandmother on the other hand is completely senile. During the story, she begins to lose her memory of everything and goes crazy. During Spud's first week at the all boys dorm, he begins to realize that along with his family, his new room mates are crazy as well. Eventually, he gets used to his new surroundings, and learns how to adapt to his new friends. With room mates Gecko, Rambo, Rain Man, Mad Dog, Boggo, Simon, Fatty and Spud, all come together to form the "Crazy Eight". Throughout the book, the Crazy Eight go on crazy adventures breaking the rules, playing rugby, acting and occasionally reading.

This book is told in the first person point of view. The author writes the story as if Spud is writing in a journal. He keeps track of the different dates and times that certain events happened. Eventually, when spud goes on break, the author lists off the most exciting events that happened to Spud and his room mates. Throughout the book, the author follows the crazy eight through their adventures and daily life. The intended audience would definitely be for an older audience for eighth graders or seventh graders. I think this because there is some inappropriate things in the book. The genre of the book would be realistic fiction and/or historical fiction. I said this because  the author includes some things about the release of Nelson Mandela. Spud's parents talk about Mandela a majority of times. The rest of the book would fit into realistic fiction. This is because some things in the book obviously did not actually happen.  The author kept me interested by having the crazy eight endure in new crazy adventures like night swimming and food fights.

This book affected my view on boarding schools and especially all boys schools. This book did change my idea on people going to boarding schools. It showed me that even though you are away from your parents, you can still have fun at school.  This book did not bring up any past memories of other books I have read.

I  especially like the writing style of the author. I found it interesting how he used more of a journal format than an actual book. I think that he could have put a little more dialogue throughout the story. A lot of the story was descriptive. This however, did not change my view on the story. I would give the story three out of five stars. I think this because the author could have been a little less descriptive, and pay more attention to the dialogue.

John Jones

12/17/13

3/5 stars