The Apocalypto Kid Goes To College by Grant Harper Reid
Five Star Review
The Apocalypto Kid Goes To College by Grant Harper Reid
Reviewed by Maria Victoria Beltran for Readers’ Favorite
The Apocalypto Kid Goes to College by Grant Harper Reid is an intriguing autobiography about one man’s quest to get a college education. Upon graduation from high school, Grant attends Lincoln University. However, after only three disappointing days at Lincoln, Grant returns home to Teaneck, New Jersey. To his surprise, his family has been evicted from their home. He ends up sitting on the sidewalk with his luggage. Determined to follow his dream, he decides to enroll at Marquette University far away in the mid-west. What follows is a tumultuous journey as he experiences the struggles of being a black student at a predominantly white college campus. The awkward teenage boy has to grow up fast and become a mature college graduate. This is his story.
Grant Harper Reid’s The Apocalypto Kid Goes to College is a life story that focuses on the author’s unusual journey in getting a college diploma. It is a record not only of the events but of his thoughts, emotions, and intentions during the five years that he spent in three different universities. Narrating in the first-person, the author’s literary writing style is casual, as if talking to a close friend. I found it fascinating that he could describe the settings and the characters in such vivid detail after all these years, warts and all. This a memoir about persistence and personal growth despite the odds. This book should inspire readers not to give up easily on achieving their dreams in life.
Recommended reading by Kevin Lathrop who attended Bard College with the author. There's the honesty (don't care what anyone thinks, opposite of political correctness or imitation of anyone else's style, no adherence to what's cool or acceptable, all his own thing and poetry. I remember from his film work at college.
The Apocalypto Kid Goes To College
This represents one of the Milwaukee abandoned Industrial Lots images where the author roamed when he attended Marquette University. He used to cry & pray there at night with his Holy Guardian Angels. Boy did he ever need their protection.