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In her first book, Nobody Nowhere, Donna Williams gave readers an incredible and unprecedented guided tour of the world of autism - a mysterious and little-understood condition. From her earliest years, Donna's world was dominated by disembodied patterns, sound, color, and movement. Cut off from her emotions and unable to make any true connections with other people, Donna lived largely in isolation, avoiding the incomprehensible actions of others yet yearning to be normal. After she endured show more twenty-five years of imprisonment, a diagnosis of autism enabled her to take the first steps toward freedom, to begin the arduous trek from her "world under glass" to the real world. Somebody Somewhere chronicles the four years since Donna's diagnosis and continues the journey she began in Nobody Nowhere. Certain that she can no longer survive by straddling two opposing worlds, Donna vows to abandon entirely the comforting isolation of her universe of one. The decision has brought both agonies and rewards. She describes her trial by fire as she abandons the two alternate identities she used to hide behind, Carol and Willie, and goes forth nakedly as Donna alone. She recounts her intensive sessions with her therapist, where she learns devastating truths behind her misconceptions of the real world. She overcomes the prejudice of teachers and classmates in her quest to obtain a degree in education and recounts her breakthrough working with autistic children. She comes to terms with the unwelcome - and for someone with autism, the particularly horrifying - demands of instant celebrity when her first book becomes an international bestseller. She describes the pain and joy of recognizing for the first time her own emotions. She learns to own her self and to love the person she discovers in the mirror. Most poignantly of all, she learns she can at last reach out to others for friendship and finds the pleasure of a "specialship" with a kindred soul. Once again, Donna Williams proves herself a gifted gatekeeper, that rare individual who can illuminate a shadow world that continues to be deeply misunderstood, who can shatter the myths of autism and rise above its greatest challenges. Donna's journey is far from over, but readers will cheer her tenacity, eloquence, and courage. Somebody Somewhere, lit by Donna Williams's fierce intelligence, sense of humor, and strong message of hope, will inspire and astonish as it informs. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
The follow-up to Nobody Nowhere, and again Donna Williams succeeds brilliantly in telling the world about autism from the inside. It's truly remarkable - impossible not to be moved by the searing story of her life and struggles to understand how to live in this strange world she finds herself in.
But she succeeds - both in living successfully, and in writing about in an highly accessible way. Amazing.
But she succeeds - both in living successfully, and in writing about in an highly accessible way. Amazing.
Quoting my review of her first book Nobody Nowhere:
Donna was severely abused as a child, which may have caused many of her brain problems, or which may have resulted from her brain problem's and her mother's inability to cope with those problems and related behaviors. Throughout the book (and in later books) she is hardly ever, if at all, properly cared for, and almost never even supervised. She never could read people or situations and had no idea of the horrible dangers she put herself in; it's amazing that she avoided those dangers at all sometimes, but sometimes she didn't, and ended up raped or in several long-term abusive boyfriend relationships.
Surely this woman has issues; her difficulties arising from autism were only show more compounded exponentially by the neglect and abuse she received from the world around her.
The story is so horrific at times that one begins to wonder.
One began to wonder a great deal during Somebody Somewhere. I read no further than this book and have no interest in the rest of the series. show less
Donna was severely abused as a child, which may have caused many of her brain problems, or which may have resulted from her brain problem's and her mother's inability to cope with those problems and related behaviors. Throughout the book (and in later books) she is hardly ever, if at all, properly cared for, and almost never even supervised. She never could read people or situations and had no idea of the horrible dangers she put herself in; it's amazing that she avoided those dangers at all sometimes, but sometimes she didn't, and ended up raped or in several long-term abusive boyfriend relationships.
Surely this woman has issues; her difficulties arising from autism were only show more compounded exponentially by the neglect and abuse she received from the world around her.
The story is so horrific at times that one begins to wonder.
One began to wonder a great deal during Somebody Somewhere. I read no further than this book and have no interest in the rest of the series. show less
Continuing Donna's account of her battle with autism. The sequel to Nobody Nowhere.
stupendo!!! di fronte ad un vissuto simile rimango senza parole e capacità di commento....Dio unicamente sa il perchè di questi vissuti e destini...
Grandissima Donna Williams!!!
Grandissima Donna Williams!!!
stupendo!!! di fronte ad un vissuto simile rimango senza parole e capacità di commento....Dio unicamente sa il perchè di questi vissuti e destini...
Grandissima Donna Williams!!!
Grandissima Donna Williams!!!
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Author Information
14+ Works 1,147 Members
Donna Williams was born in a working class suburb of Melbourne, Australia in 1963. Like many people born in the 1960s and earlier, she was diagnosed with autism quite late, at the age of twenty-five. This is Donna's sixth book in the field of autism-spectrum conditions, with her first two autobiographical works, Nobody Nowhere and Somebody show more Somewhere, becoming major international bestsellers and her two text books shaping much of what is happening in the field today. show less
Series
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1994
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 262
- Popularity
- 122,427
- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (3.95)
- Languages
- English, Norwegian (Bokmål)
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 15
- ASINs
- 3
