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Title details for Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8 by Naoki Higashida - Available

Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8

A Young Man's Voice from the Silence of Autism

by Naoki Higashida
KA Yoshida
Audiobook
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From the author of the bestselling The Reason I Jump, an extraordinary self-portrait of a young adult with autism
“Essential reading for parents and teachers of those with autism who remain nonverbal.”—Temple Grandin
Naoki Higashida was only thirteen when he wrote The Reason I Jump, a revelatory account of autism from the inside by a nonverbal Japanese child, which became an international success. Now, in Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8, he shares his thoughts and experiences as a young man living each day with severe autism. In short, powerful chapters, Higashida explores school memories, family relationships, the exhilaration of travel, and the difficulties of speech. He also allows readers to experience profound moments we take for granted, like the thought-steps necessary for him to register that it’s raining outside. Acutely aware of how strange his behavior can appear to others, he aims throughout to foster a better understanding of autism and to encourage society to see people with disabilities as people, not as problems.
With an introduction by the bestselling novelist David Mitchell, Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8 also includes a dreamlike short story Higashida wrote especially for the U.S. edition. Both moving and of practical use, this book opens a window into the mind of an inspiring young man who meets every challenge with tenacity and good humor. However often he falls down, he always gets back up.
Praise for Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8
“[Naoki Higashida’s] success as a writer now transcends his diagnosis. . . . His relative isolation—with words as his primary connection to the outside world—has allowed him to fully develop the powers of observation that are necessary for good writing, and he has developed rich, deep perspectives on ideas that many take for granted. . . . The diversity of Higashida’s writing, in both subject and style, fits together like a jigsaw puzzle of life put in place with humor and thoughtfulness.”—The Japan Times
“Profound insights about what the struggle of living with autism is really like . . . Once again, the invitation to step inside Higashida’s mind is irresistible.”—London Evening Standard
“Naoki Higashida’s lyrical and heartfelt account of his condition is a gift to anyone involved with the same challenges. . . . Higashida shows a delicate regard for the difficulties his condition creates . . . and is adept at explaining his experiences in language that makes sense to neurotypicals.”—The Guardian

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 11, 2017

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781101923191
      • File size: 109354 KB
      • Duration: 03:47:49

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 22, 2017
      An outwardly wordless consciousness blossoms into expressive prose in this vibrant, if uneven, self-portrait. Higashida is a nonverbal, severely autistic 24-year-old Japanese man who cannot hold a conversation but has learned to write by pointing at and voicing letters on an alphabetic grid and by using a computer. (The author’s 2007 memoir, The Reason I Jump, was an international bestseller.) This latest collection of his writings features short essays, interviews, poems, and a lyrical, dreamlike short story. He includes somewhat generic thoughts on topics ranging from war to God, but he focuses largely on his life as an autistic person. It’s a life of obsessive routines, rituals, and literalism: the slightest change in plans throws him into a state of extreme agitation, activities must start and stop at prescheduled times, searching out Hello Kitty souvenirs calms his anxiety in unfamiliar train stations, having his photo taken causes him to fixate on the trivial differences between individual cameras. In Mitchell and Yoshida’s deft translation, Higashida conveys this isolating mind-set and his yearnings for connection and self-expression, in direct, evocative prose—his compulsive, restless motion, he writes, is “instinctual, like a wild animal running over a wide plain”—that provides readers with a window into a previously unknowable world. Photos. Agent: Douglas Stewart, Sterling Lord.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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