Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

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Matthew Beard

Naoki Higashida

David Mitchell

KA Yoshida

Robin Brooks

Allegra McIlroy

Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight by Naoki Higashida: Episode 5

Episode 5

Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight by Naoki Higashida

BBC Radio 4 - Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight by Naoki Higashida, Episode 5

Novelist David Mitchell introduces this compelling book by a teenager with severe autism.

Naoki Higashida reveals a unique insight into his world as a young adult with severe autism.  Read by Matthew Beard.

Naoki reveals how, as a child, he used to dream of a version of himself without autism. 

In his imagination, if he could be as others were, all would be well in his world. Now, though he still yearns to pass as an 'ordinary' person, to walk through the world without being noticed and watched all the time, he has come to see that dream as a childhood illusion, and his autism as part of his true self. 

While as a child he often wanted to vanish, now, as a young adult, Naoki feels happiest at the centre of his family. Even if he can't express his pleasure externally, these are his moments of greatest joy and belonging. 

Written by Naoki Higashida.

Translated by David Mitchell and KA Yoshida. 

Read by Matthew Beard, and introduced by David Mitchell.

Abridged by Robin Brooks.

Producer: Allegra McIlroy

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2017.

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David Mitchell, award-winning author of Cloud Atlas, translates and introduces this compelling new book by a Japanese teenager with severe autism. Read by Matthew Beard.

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