Page 28 - IFV Jan Feb Issue 2025

Book Reviews

Spud: The Reunion
BY JOHN VAN DE RUIT
It is 2003 – ten years since Spud Milton’s
class of 93 matriculated and the boys went
their separate ways. Despite their seemingly
unbreakable bond, the Crazy 8 – Rambo,
Mad Dog, Vern, Fatty, Garth Garlic, Boggo,
Simon and Spud – have not kept in touch.
Or at least, not as far as Spud knows. When
he receives an invitation from the school
to attend the Ten-Year Reunion weekend,
Spud is determined to avoid the event at
all costs, but he hasn’t reckoned with the
bombardment of intrusive messages and
threatening phone calls from his former dorm mates. Into the Uncut Grass
No one is going to bend his arm, not this time; he is immune to peer pressure
and wise to Rambo’s devious manipulation techniques. Spud has moved on. And, BY TREVOR NOAH
anyway, he has enough to worry about on the home front. At 28 Spud is stuck From Trevor Noah, the author of the
in a one-third life crisis. Reflecting on a decade of spectacular non-achievement, #1 bestselling memoir Born a Crime,
at a point where he’s coming to realise that his glittering stage career might comes a gorgeously illustrated fable in
have stalled before it’s even begun, casts him into deep gloom. For the former the tradition of The Boy, the Mole, the
scholarship kid, the prospect of once again having to measure up to his blue- Fox and the Horse about a young child’s
blooded school friends – and be found wanting – has him riddled with anxiety. journey into the world beyond the
Not only that. shadow of home, a magical landscape
Spud still doesn’t have a serious girlfriend, which has seen him resort to a where he discovers the secrets of
questionable international bath-sexting relationship with an old flame. Not to solidarity, connection, and finding
mention that circumstances have forced him to move back in with his parents peace with the people we love.
and his senile grandmother, Wombat, whose walks never end where they began. Infused with Trevor’s signature wit
After a wildly unsuccessful fishing trip with his father, as well as a return to his and imagination, in collaboration with
old way of figuring things out – writing in his diary – to his surprise, Spud finds visionary artist Sabina Hahn, it’s a tale
his reunion resistance crumbling. Curiosity and courage win the day. It’s just a for readers of all ages – to be read aloud
weekend, after all … what could possibly go wrong? or read alone.
Price: R360.00 Price: R409.00

World Champions - The Story of Champions 2nd Edition again offers readers
South African Rugby insights that go beyond the media-led
BY JONTY WINCH rendition of South African rugby.
World Champions (2nd edition) continues Further additions to this 2nd edition
the story of South African rugby in a new include a revised introduction, expanded
chapter that includes coverage of the index, updates to the history of South Africa’s
momentous 2023 Rugby World Cup win by first steps toward playing international
South Africa’s Springboks. rugby in the late nineteenth century, as
South Africa won the 2023 Rugby World well as additional content about, inter alia
Cup by defeating New Zealand 12-11 in institutions such as the national governing
front of more than 80 000 spectators at bodies, and the winning teams in 1995, 2007,
the Stade de France. As this 2nd edition 2019 and 2023.
shows, in winning the Webb Ellis Cup for In this way, the 2nd edition continues to
the fourth time, the Springboks became the provide both the most-relevant and most-
competition’s most successful team. Back-to- current history of South African rugby and
back victories in Yokohama in 2019 and Paris in 2023 inspired a the many organisations and individuals that have contributed to
renewed appreciation of the skills that have always existed across its evolution.
South Africa’s racial spectrum. In its telling of this story, World Price: R405.00

26 • Jan / Feb 2025 • The Villager