Mrs. Sartoris
Ms. Sartoris is the title of a novel by Elke Schmitter published in 2000 .
General
Elke Schmitter published her first novel with Mrs. Sartoris. It deals with the life of a woman of our time who is disappointed twice in her life by men she loves.
construction
The book is consistently written from the "first-person perspective". It has two levels of action. The first describes the life of Ms. Sartoris, the second begins with a car accident and hit-and-run. The connection between the two elements only becomes clear towards the end.
action
In time flashbacks, which make up the main part of the story, the protagonist recalls her youth, the first great love with tragic, bitter disappointment and the later period of suffering that lasts for decades until she finally dares to love again.
One learns how she meets the son of a landowner Philip Rhienäcker and begins to love him. The relationship is short-lived and ends with the summer. Philip becomes engaged to a daughter from a wealthy family in order to save the indebted property. Margarethe collapses completely, appears apathetic and is admitted to a mental hospital: "The blue sky was not happy ... I didn't feel anything."
In order to take away Philip's pleasure from marrying before her, she takes revenge on herself and very quickly takes seriously the man, a phlegmatic, petty-bourgeois savings bank employee: "He had no more wishes. But he didn't die of that, he lived with that." They have a daughter, Daniela, with whom Margarethe can develop no more than a mechanically caring relationship: "She didn't like to let me touch her." Over time, Daniela gets bigger and Ernst bigger ...
The impression arises that the only person Margarethe really loves in this family is Ernst's mother Irmi, who holds the family together with her carefree, caring manner.
Finally, when she was just over forty, Margarethe met Michael, who was the city's cultural representative. They begin an affair, and in Margarethe Sartoris the emotions begin to stir again: "Ecstasies of our hearts and bodies." It blossoms and the thought grows of leaving everything behind with Michael and starting a new life with him somewhere far away.
In this last part of the story, a different storyline is increasingly mixed, which initially leaves one completely in the dark. You start to think about how these allusions to the protagonist fit into the main plot. A tension builds up as to who and what could be meant here.
Ultimately, the time, space and people of these two strands intertwine into one. The ending clears up and still leaves something open. The person run over is Daniela's much older lover, who uses her like an animal. Margarethe tries to protect her daughter from a life like her own by doing this. The consequences for Margarethe remain in the dark, however.
review
The book received a largely positive response from the critics and the sales figures raised the book to the rank of a bestseller. The only major point of criticism is that Ms. Sartoris' decisions do not appear entirely conclusive from the outside.