Spud

"Spud: a wickedly funny novel," (John van de Ruit ) says it all.
        John Milton lives in South Africa as apartheid beings to dissolve, but politics may be the last thing on his mind when John, nicknamed Spud, is sent to an all boy's-boarding school.  This school year will be one to remember as he gets a girlfriend, cheats on her, takes the lead in the musical Oliver, bonds with his drunken English teacher over novels, listens to the saga of the disappearing strawberry yogurt too many times, goes on a disastrous family trip to his uncle's farm in Namibia, nearly emigrates to Malta, plays on the school's rugby game,watches his family's sanity disintegrate, gets a puppy, learns a bit about life, and becomes part of a nearly unbreakable group of friends.  Spud learns that when things get crazy, you just run with them -- and even though sometimes you might get stuck in a chapel window, more often than not you'll come out feeling stronger than ever.

I laughed so hard I cried when I read this.  My sides shook, my stomach hurt, I stopped breathing momentarily, and people gave me strange looks (especially the part where they put Mad Dog out on the green . . . or when Mad Dog hung the dead cat over Vern's bed).  It was the best time I've have had reading a book . . . since ever, I think.  As far back as I can remember, I cannot remember laughing as hard as this at a book.
         I love the Crazy Eight.  Sure, they're loony, but they're loony in that wonderful way.  Simon, Spud, Rambo, Boggo, Vern, Mad Dog, Gecko, and Fatty.  To get all technical and into the literate arts, the characters are perfectly well rounded.  They are real, believable, and you root for all of them, even as they commit heinous crime after heinous crime.  They each have their own characteristics, too, which makes them wonderful.  And, as far as I can tell, they aren't really stereotypical.  Take Vern, for example.  He talks to his toiletries, communicates with the drama teacher's cat, and pulls his own hair out.  Or Mad Dog, who's constantly hunting anything that moves:  Pigeons, guinea fowl, the drama teacher's cat.  It's amazing how uniquely bonkers everyone in the dormitory is.  Spud's family, too, is as wonderfully crazy as any dysfunctional family can be.
       For the first hundred or so pages, the story doesn't seem very concerned with the time period, but it gets there eventually, with the release of Nelson Mandela.  Spud's feelings about apartheid vs. the thoughts of some adults should be very relatable for my generation, and those generations that are a bit older than us, because it's the kids who are excited about the revolution.  Well, Spud is.  He's pumped up, he wants to be a Freedom Fighter, he wants to change the world, but his father wants to move to Malta before the country "goes to the dogs."  As with this present generation, and every other generation, there is change in the air, and the younger people are the ones who are doing the changing of opinion, for the most part.
       It is sort of confusing at first, because the book is written in diary entries.  That isn't the confusing part, but the heading was "February, 24," or whatever, and there was something about autumn approaching.  That gave me a pause, because I live in the northern hemisphere.
      I would just warn you before you get into this book:  It's about a bunch of teenage boys.  Locked, for the most part, in a dormitory together.  Alone. Use your imagination.  This book is not for a feminine fatal nor the faint of heart.
      If you truly enjoyed this book (as I'm sure you will) you will want to check out the sequel, which is called   "Spud:  The Madness Continues."  I have not read it yet, but I'm sure that I'll enjoy it greatly.  
       This book was funny, sad, happy, maddening, and embarrassing, but all the same, it was perfect Everyone in Spud's world has their own channel of crazy.  But, somehow, you manage to tune in each one and love them all.