15. The Reason I Jump

Book: The Reason I Jump

Author: Naoki Higashida

Number of pages: 149

What I’m watching: TV: Bones, Community, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Movies: Battle Royale 2, The Man Who Knew Too Little, Sabrina, The Aristocrats

What I’m playing: Dead Rising 2, Little Big Planet, Beyond: Two Souls, Bulletstorm, Dark Souls

 

 

            I heard about The Reason I Jump from The Daily Show. It’s about autism by a young teenager from Japan who has autism. For a long time now I’ve been learning about the disorder. I forget how I first heard about autism. Probably Rain Man. The autism spectrum came up a number of times in high school and college psychology courses. When I was a teenager myself, I read Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, a fictional novel written from the perspective of a boy with autism. Haddon had experience working with autistic people which helped inform his writing. To keep it brief, Curious Incident is my favorite book of all-time and I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone. I found it immensely moving, both funny and sad and, to my understanding, an insightful depiction of a person’s experience with autism. Now, The Reason I Jump provides a real-life personal account from a young person with autism, a rare case because difficulty communicating is a big part of autism.

            David Mitchell¹ introduces the text. Turns out the main audience the book is geared toward is parents caring for an autistic child. That explains why I found this book in the “Children with Special Needs” section at Barnes & Noble. I don’t have any kids, but the number of children with autism seems to be rising.² So I figure, whether or not it affects my immediate family, I’m better off better understanding autism.

            Communication is very limited for people with autism, so Naoki describes learning a special technique his mom created to help him write. It was difficult for him, but he writes that “what kept me hammering away at it was the thought that to live my life as a human being, nothing is more important than being able to express myself” (7). Already, I find Naoki’s account incredible.

            The general format of the book is a Q&A. Naoki answers questions about different aspects of autism, often asking why he does certain things or how he feels about certain other things. Interspersed throughout are short stories written by Naoki because he’s also a creative writer, which I think is pretty cool. The first batch of questions concerns communication and talking, like “Why do you ask the same questions over and over?” and “Do you find childish language easier to understand?” When Naoki answers the question “Do you prefer to be on your own?” I think he hits on a very essential part of autism:

     I can’t believe that anyone born as a human being really wants to be left all on their own, not really. No, for people with autism, what we’re anxious about is that we’re causing trouble for the rest of you, or even getting on your nerves. This is why it’s hard for us to stay around other people. This is why we often end up being left on our own.

     The truth is, we’d love to be with other people. But things never, ever go right, we end up getting used to being alone, without even noticing this is happening. Whenever I overhear someone remark how much I prefer being on my own, it makes me feel desperately lonely. (27)

Autistic people want to join in and communicate, but the stress and the struggle make it hard. Autism is not the same as introversion. They may want to talk to others, but they can’t.

            Next are questions about emotions and behavior. Naoki discusses his memory and attention. Throughout his answers, Naoki repeatedly brings up that he is aware that his autism places stress on his family and how bad that makes him feel. That’s tough.

            The Reason I Jump ends with a longer short story by Naoki about a boy who dies and goes to Heaven. At first it reminded me of The Twilight Zone, but then it was more like What Dreams May Come.³ So the kid’s in Heaven, except he can’t enjoy it because he knows how much his parents are suffering in their grief, especially his mother. So he decides to be reborn as their next kid, which means sacrificing his identity to give his parents some happiness. It’s a touching good story.

            All in all, The Reason I Jump wasn’t the mind-opening experience I expected. I was already fairly familiar with autism, but for someone first learning about the disorder, this book would be incredibly helpful. Still, Naoki Higashida’s book is a wholly worthwhile contribution to the literature of understanding autism.

 

Verdict (Is the book staying or going?): Staying.

 

Notes

1. I wanted to see Cloud Atlas when it came out, but I never got around to it.

2. Now more than 1 in 100 children in the US.

3. Both of which I love.

Works Cited

Higashida, Naoki. The Reason I Jump. Trans. KA Yoshida and David Mitchell.

            New York: Random House, 2013. Print.