I have to say that I begun this book with rather low expectations. I don’t necessarily dislike diaries as a form of fictional literature but I find that unless they have the ability to consistently amuse you they can run rather dry. As well as that, I have never attempted a diary of the male species. Basically, I had no idea what to expect. Now, the only thing that I want to declare is that this book completely surpassed my expectations. John van de Ruit is a fictional genius.

The creation of Spud was a truly inspired one. The characters had qualities that were either easy to identify in others or identify within yourself; a setting that you could feel yourself being transported to and remaining for the duration of the story and a plot that, counterintuitive to the average adolescent diary was not packed full of events and instead adopted a rather deliberate pace which allowed the reader to justly appreciate its contents.

John Milton was an easy character to sympathise with and where I merely tolerated the story in its preliminary stages, I wholly enjoyed everything it had to offer by the end (due to this protagonist). I seem unable to recall any books of this specific genre that made me both laugh and cry but where others have failed, John van de Ruit has succeeded.

Hats off!