A review by azure_dawn
Professor Unrat by Heinrich Mann

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I don’t what were Mann’s intentions when he wrote the novel. My suspision is that he intended for Unrat to be a VERY unlikable character, a disgusting one even, along with Rosa. And maybe that’s how the story was percieved at the time, but now… Now it reads as 60% a romance story and 40% as a subversion, a deconstruction of “love redeems” trope. For the first part of the novel I genuenly loved Unrat’s progressing realtionship with Rosa. If it was a normal romance story, he would have been changed by his love towards that woman and he would have become an actually good person. But Mann subverts that. Unrat does not change. He stays the same bad person, and that lack of change is what leads to his downfall. A great, a very intersting subversion! 

Although, i think the second half, or at least the last 25% of the book are pretty bad. The story switches from showing us events to just narrating about Unrat and Rosa’s life as they terrorize the town. There’s barely any dialouge!!! 
I think the story could have been MUCH stronger, if that ending portion were written better. 
And, a contriversial opinion, I would’ve loved for at least a HINT of Unrat’s arc. Just put it on the last page, how he regrets his choices and doubts his way of life, as he is being arrested! 
That would’ve been so much better!!

Well, despite all that, this is a pretty good story.