Summary

Olivia dies at the beginning of Chapter 8, but even as Geppetto mourns her, he fears the ill-face’s return. He begins to see the ill-face everywhere, even though it often turns out to be just pieces of wood.

Facing the loneliness without Olivia, Geppetto begins a new story. He rejoices whenever the sea beast swallows porcelain, and he uses these pieces to build himself a figurine that he names Otto. He fantasizes that “I have put you back properly at last. You have been decimated, poor Otto, but now, piece by piece, you are more and more yourself again” (113). Geppetto imagines an elaborate backstory about Otto, including his family and his gigantic, human brother Massimo. In Geppetto’s fantasy, Otto was kept away from Mimo out of fear that Mimo would break him. For most of his life, Otto is kept safe on a...