Olivetti

Ernest is a 12-year-old boy in seventh grade who lives with his family in a San Francisco apartment. Ernest has no friends among his peers; as the novel opens, he is dreading a classroom presentation and clearly dislikes being the center of attention. Ernest loves reading the dictionary and memorizing definitions. His favorite place to read is the roof, which has a neglected community garden that attracts no other tenants but Ernest, “just the way [he] like[s] it” (15). For the last several years, Ernest has been gradually withdrawing from his close-knit family. His mother, Beatrice, takes him to therapy appointments, but Ernest does not volunteer any thoughts or feelings to the therapist. Just before the novel opens, Ernest told his mother that he did not want to talk to any doctors, nor did he want to talk to her. This harsh statement initiated a week of silence between them, and when Beatrice disappears, Ernest’s guilt prompts him to embark upon a solo search for her.

Ernest’s escapism and isolationist attitude stem from the deep-seated fear and sadness that he experienced throughout the three years of his mother’s cancer treatments—a fact that is not revealed until the middle of the