Page 20 - Interface February Issue 2025

BOOK REVIEWS

Spud: The Reunion worry about on the home front. At 28 Spud is
By John van de Ruit stuck in a one-third life crisis. Reflecting on
a decade of spectacular lack of achievement,
It is 2003 – ten years since Spud Milton’s class of at a point where he’s coming to realise that
93 matriculated and the boys went their separate his glittering stage career might have stalled
ways. Despite their seemingly unbreakable bond, before it’s even begun, casts him into deep
the Crazy 8 – Rambo, Mad Dog, Vern, Fatty, Garth gloom. For the former scholarship kid, the
Garlic, Boggo, Simon and Spud – have not kept prospect of once again having to measure up
in touch. Or at least, not as far as Spud knows. to his blue-blooded school friends – and be
When he receives an invitation from the school found wanting – has him riddled with anxiety.
to attend the Ten-Year Reunion weekend, Spud Not only that.
is determined to avoid the event at all costs, but
he hasn’t reckoned with the bombardment of Spud still doesn’t have a serious girlfriend, his father, as well as a return to his old way
intrusive messages and threatening phone calls which has seen him resort to a questionable of figuring things out – writing in his diary
from his former dorm mates. international bath-sexting relationship with an – to his surprise, Spud finds his reunion
old flame. Not to mention that circumstances resistance crumbling. Curiosity and courage
No one is going to bend his arm, not this time; have forced him to move back in with his win the day. It’s just a weekend, after all...
he is immune to peer pressure and wise to parents and his senile grandmother, Wombat, what could possibly go wrong?
Rambo’s devious manipulation techniques. Spud whose walks never end where they began.
has moved on. And, anyway, he has enough to After a wildly unsuccessful fishing trip with Price: R360.00

Into the Uncut Grass World Champions - The Story of South African Rugby
By Trevor Noah By Jonty Winch
From Trevor Noah, the author of the #1 bestselling World Champions (2nd edition)
memoir Born a Crime, comes a gorgeously illustrated continues the story of South African
fable in the tradition of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and rugby in a new chapter that includes
the Horse about a young child’s journey into the world coverage of the momentous 2023
beyond the shadow of home, a magical landscape where Rugby World Cup win by South Africa’s
he discovers the secrets of solidarity, connection, and Springboks.
finding peace with the people we love.
South Africa won the 2023 Rugby
Infused with Trevor’s signature wit and imagination, in World Cup by defeating New Zealand
collaboration with visionary artist Sabina Hahn, it’s a tale 12-11 in front of more than 80 000
for readers of all ages – to be read aloud or read alone. spectators at the Stade de France. As
this 2nd edition shows, in winning the
Price: R409.00 Webb Ellis Cup for the fourth time, the
Springboks became the competition’s
most successful team. Back-to-back
victories in Yokohama in 2019 and
Paris in 2023 inspired a renewed
appreciation of the skills that have
always existed across South Africa’s
racial spectrum. In its telling of this story, World Champions 2nd Edition again offers
readers insights that go beyond the media-led rendition of South African rugby.

Further additions to this 2nd edition include a revised introduction, expanded index,
updates to the history of South Africa’s first steps toward playing international
rugby in the late nineteenth century, as well as additional content about, inter alia
institutions such as the national governing bodies, and the winning teams in 1995,
2007, 2019 and 2023.

In this way, the 2nd edition continues to provide both the most-relevant and most-
current history of South African rugby and the many organisations and individuals
that have contributed to its evolution.
Price: R405.00

INTERFACEDigimag | FEBRUARY 2025 | 18