Reviewed by Valerie
TITLE: Between Enzo and the Universe
SERIES: Enzo and Peter #1
AUTHOR: Chase Connor
PUBLISHER: The Lion Fish Press
LENGTH: 335 pages
RELEASE DATE: January 14, 2020
BLURB:
If Enzo listed his problems, being single wouldn’t be anywhere near the top of the list. It might not even be in the top twenty list of problems that he faces on a daily basis.
His grandmother is dead. His parents are dead. His sister and brother are dead. He has no money. No friends. No job. He’s all alone in a country that will always seem strange. Soon, he might not even have a home.
And he’s so angry. At life. Himself. God. The universe. Everyone.
Except for the man he sees in the market. Something about the man with the red hair (who only speaks English) tells Enzo that the universe might not be completely against him for once.
‘Between Enzo & the Universe’ is a story about a boy who emigrates from France with his family to Canada in the hopes that a better life might be found. Enzo arrives in Canada as a boy with a happy, healthy family…and ends up a young man with no one left in the world. How does the universe apologize for that?
Enzo meets an American at the autumn festival and over the course of a night, they will share their dreams, their passions, and the events that made them the people they are. They will eat, laugh, talk…and come to realize that they both share a dream for the future.
REVIEW:
“Do you want to live? Or do you want to exist?”
Chase Connor writes beautiful, lyrical prose that conveys deep despondency and expresses strong yearning and hope. Between Enzo and the Universe is a sad but lovely book about two men, Enzo and Peter, who meet by chance; their few hours together will alter their lives forever. This is one book I couldn’t get out of my head for quite a while because its beauty far outshines its sadness.
It’s not simply sad; it hits you in the gut with the injustice of twenty-year-old Enzo having to cope with the inconceivable anguish of losing his entire family of five to illness over a period of six years, and being left alone in a foreign country with only soul crushing loneliness, poverty and the cruelty of strangers as his companions.
Enzo is nearly desperate enough to beg anyone for kindness:
“And in doing so, I would not be treated like a crazy person. That people would not back away in fear or agitation, but instead, realize that another human being needed someone – anyone – to let them know that they were not as alone as they felt. Desperately, I sought any indication in the faces of the people I passed that kindness might be within their capabilities.”
Enzo’s poverty is profound; through his eyes we feel what it’s like to be destitute, to have to choose between buying himself a cheap coat or quelling his hunger. He’s at a street market contemplating this dilemma when he meets Peter, a handsome American, who gives him his coat. Peter, who is almost twice Enzo’s age, is a self-described sullen and gloomy loner. But certainly not around Enzo, who makes him feel alive. As they explore Montreal at night, Enzo wrapped up warm in Peter’s coat and his hunger satiated, companionship becomes friendship, then attraction, and evolves into a promise and hope.
“Never once had I felt drawn to bring my body close to a stranger’s, to want to feel any part of them touch any part of me.”
Enzo is demisexual in that he isn’t attracted to anyone unless he forms a strong emotional connection with them first; he feels that with Peter. Peter is strongly attracted, too, but is understanding of Enzo’s needs and never pushes. It’s gratifying to see an alternative sexuality represented in the MM genre. Likewise, I appreciate that Mr. Connor incorporates two neurodiverse secondary characters into the book in a meaningful way pertinent to the plot, not just as token characters. In this case, Enzo’s brother and sister both have needs that require greater care and result in deep attachments with Enzo, making their passing all the more devastating.
Between Enzo and the Universe has a non-linear narrative with Enzo’s present day, first person perspective alternating with his looks back into the past. It’s a successful technique: I’ve never said a book is elegant before, but that’s what comes to mind.
Peter gives Enzo invaluable gifts, and I don’t mean just the much needed winter coat. He teaches him how to grieve, how to have hope, and how to honor his memories with happiness and use them to propel him forward. He implores Enzo to live, not just exist. He shows him how to live – gives him a reason to live – and how to look toward the future. But we don’t really know if Enzo is able to utilize the gifts and put them into action. There’s no happily ever after here, rather a happy for now ending, but only if we assume Enzo acts on the lessons Peter bestows upon him. I choose to believe he does and that his time with Peter monumentally changes the trajectory of his life.
Despite the lack of a fairy tale ending, I strongly recommend this powerful, existential story of love, desolation, kindness, and hope. Along with Mr. Connor’s A Surplus of Light, which I recently reviewed, Between Enzo and the Universe will go on my shelf of the best MM books I’ve read.
RATING: 
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[…] Warmth of Our Closest Star begins two years after Between Enzo and the Universe ended with Enzo visiting Peter in Minneapolis for the first time. They stayed in touch during the […]