Spud – The Reunion: An interview with author, John van de Ruit
Ten years after Spud and the Crazy Eight finished school at the KwaZulu-Natal school, Michealhouse, it’s a reunion that brings the character and his friends (or are they even friends?) back to life. This time, author John van de Ruit says readers can expect to take yet another list of life lessons out of Spud’s story, while also indulging in a fresh narrative and the humourous nostalgia his Spud series became known for.
How did the idea of Spud - The Reunion come about?
Well, during the Covid-19 pandemic of course – like with many other great ideas! “At the time, I was working on other projects, but the enforced shut down allowed me the space to think about projects further down the line,” van de Ruit explains. He started intensive planning in May 2023 and started writing a few months later, after which the book went to print on 8 October 2024. “It was a seventeen-month process from start to finish.” So, Spud fans, brace yourselves!
The approach to revisiting a character like Spud, whom readers feel so connected to...
John van de Ruit admits that sitting down to write the first pages of the first draft was “thrilling, albeit with a lingering sense of doubt.” Would he be able to find Spud again? Would the new Spud feel too much or too little like the old Spud? How has life changed him and how does he articulate that in his diary? “Once I settled these internal debates, I stepped back into Spud’s character and discovered that I already had a good piece of him locked down,” van de Ruit says. Still, it takes “a lot of work and thinking, reworking and rethinking,” coupled with clear guidance from his editor and publisher in order to reach a point of authenticity. “As a writer, it’s essential to fill in all the gaps of all the character’s backstories even if you don’t reference it in the final book.”
A delicious synchronicity
Like Spud, van de Ruit was also away from the literature space over the past ten years and so, their returns somehow connect them, but in different ways. “I was able to channel my doubts into Spud’s angst about his life and the reunion, while using a volatile era of my own life to inspire Spud’s. The truth is that I loved the writing process because it challenged just about every facet of my writing toolbox,” says van de Ruit. This here, is what makes us so excited about the book!
After ten years, has Spud really moved on?
“Yes, he has. Or at least he believes he has,” van de Ruit teases. “The problem for Spud is answering the question: ‘What exactly has he moved on to?’ The reunion only complicates matters – according to Spud, that is.”
What new themes or insights can readers expect from Spud - The Reunion?
There is no doubt that there is always a comedic pulse to the Spud novels. Still, these books are foremost stories of self-discovery and self-development. Van de Ruit says: “As a kid, Spud could touch on deeper human themes but just as quickly skip off to write about something else. That’s impossible now that he is an adult and his instinct is to interrogate rather than accept certain characters and events at face value. It’s not at all my style to hammer the polemic nail on the head, but Spud is taking us deeper into the marrow with this book and I hope it makes readers feel and think as much as it amuses.”
What has the feedback been since the announcement of another Spud book?
Having written the book in secret, it’s understandable why many initially thought it a sinister hoax. But, once it was established that Spud – The Reunion was legit, there were some sharp words about where John van der Ruit had been and why it had taken him so long to write another Spud. “Beyond that, I have felt continual excitement and anticipation from Spud readers,” the author says. “Some, who I might call super-fans, are even a trifle nervous. Quite how many people will go out and buy a copy, audiobook or e-book I have no idea which only adds to the intrigue of this profession. My publishers have warned me that it’s a different publishing and reading landscape that I’m returning to, so I’m not carrying any extravagant expectations – just the hope that it will connect with readers and they might experience pleasure from reading it.”
Are there any similarities between the 28-year-old Spud and the books author at age 28?
“Yes and no,” is van de Ruit’s short answer. But, then he asks us to permit him a tangent… “There’s a good reason why Spud is fiction and isn’t a memoir – it allows me to develop the story and characters to their best effect without being encumbered by the banal day-to-day truths of my life at that time. This disguise has allowed me to construct this huge cast and evolving story over five books like a magpie, plucking inspirations from all over.”
Still, van de Ruit agrees that there is no greater influence on Spud’s life than his own lived existence. “So, in essence, Spud allows me to write a fictional memoir choosing those eras, events and characters from my life that lend themselves to Spud’s life. When I was 26, I found myself in a similar situation to where Spud finds himself at the start of this novel. A year later, I was fortunate enough to break through on the theatre circuit with Green Mamba alongside Ben Voss. Touring Mamba allowed me the time to write Spud while on the road with the show. At 28, in 2004, I learned that Spud would be published, and Ben and I took off on a writing holiday to Thailand where we were hit by the Tsunami. When I was 29, Spud was published and my life was never quite the same again. Many might think that this return is all about the ten-year reunion, and in a sense it is, bit it’s also a return to Spud at a similar age to me when seismic events began to unfold in my life.”
How does John van de Ruit relate to Spud the most?
“I would say in that wry, self-affecting, slightly absurd way of expressing himself. I say ‘absurd’ but it’s more an acceptance of the absurdity of life and the pleasure both Spud and I derive from exposing it,” van de Ruit explains. “Weirdly, the way I get into the character of Spud is by finding our differences rather than our similarities. For example, Spud takes himself more seriously than I do as a person. The counter to this is that his blunders and disasters become excruciatingly funny at times because he takes them seriously too. He’s an only child with a problematic family which makes him more self-absorbed and is probably why he keeps a diary and ponders life so much. Spud is more intelligent than I am, he’s less decisive, less impulsive, more judgemental and generally feels up against it, even when he isn’t. Those are the sorts of emotional triggers that help me stay in his character without allowing myself to intrude on his writing.”
WIN, WIN, WIN!
Will there be any surprises?
Van de Ruit says readers are in for some surprises when it comes to the Crazy Eight and the happenings at the reunion, for sure. “Not just physical changes and life choices, but how their personalities have developed, or in some cases not developed, and how this impacts the direction of the reunion weekend.”
How will the book resonate with long-time fans and readers discovering the series for the first time?
You’d be surprised to know that the intention was never for the Spud series to be read by teenagers and pre-teens. “But, I suppose with hindsight the protagonist is a teenager too,” van de Ruit says. Now, Spud isn’t a teenager anymore and van de Ruit believes that Spud – The Reunion will resonate with adult readers. “Perhaps younger readers will want more adolescent thrills and spills, but adult readers will find humour in this book in unlikely places and the story has a kick that previous Spud diaries didn’t have, because Spud wasn’t mature enough to plot his way through such a tale back then.”
How has nostalgia been weaved into the new book while keeping the narrative fresh and relevant to today’s reader?
For Spud – The Reunion, the author had the challenge of not jumping too far ahead into the knowledge systems of 2024, since it plays off in 2003. “Many societal norms that are entrenched now weren’t in 2003 and I’m careful not to stray over those lines or the authenticity suffers,” he says. “I think the key with nostalgia is to control it and use it selectively, knowing it’s a pervasive emotion. In a ten-year reunion situation, nostalgia could easily engulf everything else which flattens the readers’ emotional experience. Fortunately, I have Spud who doesn’t indulge that nostalgia, because his life has always been a bit of a struggle. So, he never desires to go back and relive it.” Still, Spud’s reflections can be lyrical and moving at times. In fact, according to van de Ruit, he keys into some core themes about what it is to grow up, lead and become a human of worth. “If I get this balance right, it’s the reader who should feel nostalgic for their youth rather than Spud for his.”
Which moments from the original books might bring back memories for fans?
You’d bet that in Spud – The Reunion there will be many moments where the Crazy Eight settle in for a good old reminisce about the old days. Still, van de Ruit says: “I can assure you, there isn’t a single moment of that in this book.” Now, that has us guessing! “That’s not to say,” he continues, “that the past doesn’t bleed into the present, giving us glimpses of many moments in the previous books, but this reunion is its own beast.” Like Spud’s school diaries made some question whether they should send their sons to such an institution, the reunion will make you stop and question your motives before setting off to your own reunion.
How does the backdrop of South Africa continue to shape the story?
When researching the year 2003, van de Ruit realised that it was an interesting time for South Africa. “The nation had found its feet as a country after the change to democracy and President Thabo Mbeki’s government had a clear plan which was backed by the majority. In many ways, I think the early to mid-2000s were South Africa’s glory days. The economy was strong, Madiba was still holding us together and our political scene was yet to descend into gaggle of angry voices.” Looking back on his life over that time, van de Ruit says he was confident; perhaps a tad complacent and naive too, that the toughest years were done and that South Africa could finally develop as a semi-normal country of the world.
On another note, van de Ruit says the language that younger people used back then and how it has shifted since then, was another aspect of the time that required attention.
Has the friendship dynamics changed among Spud and his friends?
Another aspect that might surprise you, is that van de Ruit had never bought into the so-called friendship between the Crazy Eight. “When I re-read Spud’s school diaries in preparation for writing the new book, what really struck me was this aspect of friendship which readers of Spud talk about, but I’ve never really bought into,” says van de Ruit. “Perhaps that’s why it has surprised people to learn in the advance publicity that they haven’t kept in touch.”
For him, the Crazy Eight have always worked as a quasi-gang comprising an unlikely collection of people. “Yes, they bonded under the banner of the Crazy Eight, but I can hardly see the likes of Rambo and Boggo calling Spud to wish him happy birthday every year, or for Fatty to be jetting off to see Garlic at Lake Malawi,” the author says. Still, he says we’re not wrong in thinking that friendship is at the core of these books. “But, the reality is, the Crazy Eight have never really treated each other (Gecko and Spud excepted) like genuine and caring friends,” he adds.
What will readers be able to take away with them after reading Spud – The Reunion?
According to van de Ruit, the takeaway for young and old is that the struggle doesn’t just end when you turn eighteen. It continues through your life. “Struggles may change shape and colour,” he says, “but struggle – or overcoming personal obstacles – is what it means to be human. It’s how we test ourselves and measure ourselves, and it’s where our characters are revealed and developed.”
Luckily, Spud realises this just in time, or else he would have ducked the reunion and there would not have been another Spud book for us to read! And, for the true Spud fans, you’d be happy to know that author, John van de Ruit always has plans and he has certainly considered what follows the reunion. “That decision is for the future,” he says, “and in many ways it’s out of my hands now and in the hands of the readers.
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