Olivetti by Allie Millington

In this uniquely crafted story, a typewriter, a boy and his best friend join up to find his missing mother. The story is told in the alternating voices of Olivetti, a typewriter and twelve-year-old Ernest Brindle, whose mother has suddenly gone missing.

The story begins with the introduction of Olivetti, a typewriter who has lived with the Brindle family for years. Twelve-year-old Ernest Brindle lives with his mother, Beatrice, his father Felix, his older brother Ezra, older sister Adalyn and his younger brother, Arlo. Ezra loves working out, Arlo has his frogs Chives and Pickles, and Ernest carries around a dictionary. They live in the ground floor apartment in a building called Valley View in San Francisco. 

Olivetti came to the Brindles years ago in a cardboard box and sat on Beatrice's desk until her husband,  Felix purchased a laptop for her. Three of the Brindle children had learned to spell using Olivetti rather than pen and paper. Olivetti knew three of the Brindles by their fingers and their touch. But he didn't know Ernest because he spent his time on  the roof with his red dictionary. With the arrival of the laptop, they often fought over it rather than the typewriter. 

One evening, while the Brindles were all out doing their own thing, Olivetti sees Beatrice answer her phone and rush out of the apartment. The next day she wakes early, crying. As she paces the apartment, Beatrice notices Olivetti and packs him into his carrying case. She packs her typewritten stories, memories and thoughts which she has named Tapestries into a garbage bag and throws them out. At the Heartland Pawn Shop, a visibly upset Beatrice sells Olivetti for one hundred twenty-six dollars.  

Later in the morning, the rest of the Brindle family start their day with Ernest retreating, as usual to the roof with his dictionary. When it's time to leave for school, Arlo gets Ernest from the rooftop. Inside  they hear their father, Adalyn and Ezra arguing about who will take Ernest to a new doctor, Dr. Branson, after school. Ernest hasn't spoken to his mother in seven days, after his last appointment with a different therapist. His father notes that someone has to take Ernest because Beatrice has left unusually early and has also forgotten her phone. That day while Ernest is in the middle of his presentation in Mrs. Fawn's class on the history of the dictionary, he is interrupted by Mr. Robles, the school principal. At the office, Ernest learns from his father that his mother has gone missing.

At home, Ernest and his family are in shock as they struggle to deal the Beatrice's disappearance. They spend a day putting up missing person posters. When Ernest puts up a poster outside the Heartland Pawn Shop, a girl from the shop tells him Beatrice was in the previous morning and sold them a typewriter. She tells Ernest the woman seemed very upset and sold the typewriter for a specific price. The Brindles meet with Mr. Corrie, the pawn shop owner and his daughter Quinn. It soon becomes apparent to the police that Beatrice left of her own accord.

The Brindles are upset and angry that their mother would simply leave after the "Everything That Happened".  Ernest's father tells them they must simply wait to hear from her and must carry on with their lives. But Ernest is wracked with guilt, believing that their mother may have left because of him and his refusal to deal with the "Everything That Happened" event. This leads him back to the pawn shop and his mother's typewriter. But Olivetti is no ordinary typewriter. With the help of Olivetti and his new friend, Quinn, Ernest works to solve the mystery of his mother's disappearance and in doing so finds acceptance, forgiveness and healing.

Discussion

Olivetti is a quirky, touching story about a boy struggling to cope with his mother's illness - referred to as the "Everything That Happened". Readers will not initially know why Ernest won't talk to his mother, what the "Everything That Happened" is, nor why his mother left. But as Ernest, Olivetti and Quinn work together, the backstory is revealed.

Most important to this is Olivetti, a typewriter that can communicate. Young readers who likely have never used a typewriter, will not know that Olivetti was a brand of typewriters first made in Turin, Italy in 1911. Olivetti typewriters were produced until 1994 when personal computers began to take over the market. The author uses the literary device of personification, assigning to the typewriter emotions and thoughts. It's a quaint and interesting plot device that makes this novel stand out. 

As the opening narrator, Olivetti states that Beatrice Brindle used him to record all her memories, poems and thoughts through the years on pages she called her Tapestries. He reveals that typewriters keep every word given to them and are "...a protector of memories inside... Decades' worth of words."  Olivetti also reveals that typewriters speak, using their keys to spell words into the air. This language can only be understood by other typewriters. In the pawn shop, Olivetti meets Remi, a 1947 Remington Deluxe Model 5, who is old and no longer works well. They strike up a friendship and Olivetti learns that Remi hasn't been used in years and is decline.

Olivetti also reveals that there is a typewriter code, "...to never let what has been typed into us back out. Communication with humans is strictly forbidden." Olivetti knows that breaking this code is unheard of  but when he learns that Beatrice has vanished,  he is determined to help the Brindles find her. To do that means breaking the typewriter code and "talking" to twelve-year-old Ernest Brindle. 

Ernest struggled with his mother's cancer diagnosis years ago. In his attempt to understand what was happening he turned to reading the Oxford Dictionary and eventually, on his ninth birthday requested the Physician's Desk Reference. He withdrew, often retreating to the rooftop of their apartment building to be alone. He's been to numerous therapists to help him with "Everything That Happened" without much success. The "Everything That Happened" was what Ernest was trying to forget. He also is not keen to make friends or meet new people because "Once you meet people, you might get close to them. And once you get close to them, you might lose them for good."  In this way, Ernest can avoid being hurt. He also just wants to forget, to pretend that none of it has happened.

However, it is Ernest who is determined not to sit back and wait for his mother to contact them, as his father has suggested. He feels intense guilt over her leaving, wondering if he's responsible. "What if that reason was me? The question lodged in m throat. The longer it stayed there, blocking my air, the more it seemed like the only thing that made sense. Mom spent the last few months worried about me. Taking me to therapists. Making me try new things. But maybe she got tired of trying. Maybe she got tired of me." It is Ernest who sets in motion the events that lead to his family finding Beatrice. In retrieving Olivetti, he uncovers the unusual typewriter's ability to communicate and finds a new friend in the pawn shop owner's daughter, Quinn.

The quest to find Ernest's mother draws him and Quinn into a friendship. Like Ernest, Quinn also believes she is responsible, in this case, for her parent's divorce. Over time, she has come to realize it wasn't her fault. "I know what it feels like to lose someone and not know now to get them back." With Quinn's help, Ernest begins to piece together what has happened to his mother in the days leading up to her leaving. When Ernest learns that his mother left not because of him but because her cancer has returned, he is devastated and angry. If he was to blame, it could be fixed, but with cancer, the outcome is not so certain. In his pain, he strikes out at Quinn. He doesn't want a friend, even though he realizes that Quinn is a true friend when he reads her notes in the pages of his mother's Tapestries. Her diligence tells him that she really cares about finding his mother.

Olivetti is a metaphor for Beatrice's experience in cancer treatment when he is dismantled by the artist Callum Kino. He is taken to Callum's studio warehouse and is placed "...on a long, narrow table surrounded on all sides by sharp, shining tools..." that will be used to take him apart. As this is happening, Olivetti wonders, "...Was this how Beatrice felt, when she had to lie on an operating table?" As Olivetti is examined by Callum, he wonders "Was this how Beatrice felt, during one of her many scans? An object under a microscope?" Even Ernest sees Olivetti's experience as a metaphor for his mother's cancer experience. When he sees Olivetti in Callum's studio as "...a heap of ruins" he realizes how alone and afraid the typewriter must have been, like his mother when she learned of the return of her cancer.

When Ernest loses Olivetti and rushes to the studio to retrieve him, he realizes how much he loves the typewriter and his mother. The loss of Olivetti reminds him of how much he misses and loves her and makes Ernest realize "Everything I was trying not to feel, everything I wanted to ignore..."  Olivetti has forced Ernest to confront both the reality of his mother's illness and his feelings. He has also forced the entire Brindle family to do the same. Beatrice felt she had to face the return of her cancer alone, while Ernest couldn't talk about cancer because that would make it real. Felix busied himself with work to try to forget. The entire Brindle family come to realize they have each other to draw strength from. They are not alone. And that's the main message of this novel: in our struggles and suffering we are not alone. There are always people who want to help.

In the end, Millington provides a satisfying and heartwarming conclusion to her story. Cancer is often a terrifying diagnosis, especially when it involves a parent of young children who do not have the maturity to understand the illness and process their feelings. Life suddenly changes in ways that cannot be predicted. In some ways, Olivetti is a very timely novel, given the cancer diagnosis of the Princess of Wales, who has very young children and her very public acknowledgement. Millington has taken a sensitive topic and treated with with sensitivity while infusing a touch of magical realism.

Book Details:

Olivetti by Allie Millington
New York: Feiwel and Friends     2024
249 pp.