Gretchen Sackmeier

Gretchen Sackmeier is the title of a work by the Austrian children's book author Christine Nöstlinger .

action

The main character is Margarethe Maria Sackmeier, called Gretchen, who was fourteen years old at the beginning of the plot, a chubby girl from Vienna . Since her entire family - the mother Elisabeth, the father Egon, the siblings Hänschen and Mädi as well as the grandmother in Zwettl - are fat, the neighbors mockingly call them "the sacks" in the house. Gretchen is a good student, but as a fat girl she hates physical education and avoids it whenever possible. In her spare time, Gretchen secretly reads dime novels about the fate of princes.

The peaceful family life gets a crack when Gretchen's mother, until then a housewife, decides to lose weight and change her life. (Not because her husband would not please her, but because of the influence of her emancipated old schoolmate Marie-Luise.) She starts a diet, takes a job as a domestic helper and plans to become a social worker (initially without telling her family about it ). Gretchen agrees with her mother's plans, but her father and brother Hänschen do not.

Gretchen falls in love with a classmate, the heartthrob Florian. At the same time, she meets the run-down but friendly Hinzel, in whom she is also interested.

Finally, Gretchen's mother moves out of home. One evening, when she wants to talk to Gretchen's father - Gretchen's grandma now lives with the family to run the household - the rotting Hinzel bursts into the house to pick up Gretchen. His appearance triggers a heated argument between the parents, at the end of which the father slaps the mother in the face. Gretchen and her mother move in with her friend Marie-Luise.

Hänschen claims to a classmate that his mother went to Africa. When the latter doesn't believe him, there is a wild fight in which Gretchen interferes. The next day she and Hänschen have to answer to the school principal. The parents appear in harmony at school and successfully protect their children. The end of the novel is open - the parents are friendly again, but do not finally reconcile.

Sequels

Continuation volumes are Gretchen has Hänschen-Kummer and Gretchen, my girl .