“The Eighteen Years that Didn’t Change Anything” by Enrico Tesla

The Eighteen Years that Didn’t Change Anything

Enrico Tesla
Young Prometheus Publications (2022)
ISBN: 978-1739708412
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (08/2022)

Mr. K’s memoir covers the eighteen-year-period from 1999 to 2017. The story opens with Mr. K. reminiscing as a young man in Bologna while he is working at a bar. Life events helped him to decide to make a fresh start and move to England in 2004. Working his way up, he is able to settle into a comfortable career that enables him to buy his own apartment. In 2014, he meets a beautiful Russian engineer who he refers to as Ms. S. Ms. S is a divorced single mom, who shakes Mr. K’s world up a bit, because he finds her to be exactly what he’s looking for in a partner. Ms. S, on the other hand, soon makes him aware that she is looking for a partner who has a large social circle, intelligence, wealth, and success. Her idea of success goes far beyond what he has managed to accomplish, and while their relationship has positive attributes, she frequently makes him feel inadequate and insecure. He even has to worry that she is interested in his unattractive, older boss. When they ultimately break up, Mr. K. is anguished and traumatized. This drives him further into his introspections.

“The Eighteen Years that Didn’t Change Anything,” is gritty and honest. Mr. K is very open about fully analyzing his experiences in life. He delves deeply to see why society tends to behave in a certain manner. Whether he was in Italy or England, he applies both scientific and sociological observations to the events that were taking place in his life. He applies the theory of evolution and natural selection to point out why the opposite sex makes the choices that they do in partners. He evaluates where he fits in to being selected and why it was not going to work with the woman that he wanted.

For me personally, I find the idea of looking back and reflecting on why a relationship did not work, from his perspectives, to be fascinating. I think readers will also find this to be very interesting, whether they are going through the trauma of a breakup, or even musing as to why they were not picked to be someone’s mate. Rejection hurts! Nevertheless, it might be helpful to not take it so personally if we can look at it through the eyes of how our society operates.

Of course, that will require some soul searching. Will readers want to make changes to raise their status in natural selection? Alternatively, will they accept lowering their standards to at least have a change to be picked by someone? Mr. K continued to work on improving himself and raising his position, but in the end, nothing had changed yet with his social situation.

“The Eighteen Years that Didn’t Change anything,” is an interesting story that will leave readers with a lot to consider.