Too Cool

by Duff Brenna

Duff Brenna is an American original, whose two previous novels have won honors and The Book of Mamie won the prestigious Associated Writing Programs Award, and The Holy Book of the Beard was hailed by The New York Times Book Review as "engrossing and uproarious . . . nearly impossible to put down."

With Too Cool, Duff Brenna has written a tale with the feel of a classic. Set against the unforgiving landscape of blizzard-swept Colorado, Too Cool begins with the adrenaline rush of a high-speed car chase. Elbert Earl Evans, known as Triple E, sixteen years old, has busted out of reform school and taken off with his girlfriend, Jeanne Windriver, in a stolen Oldsmobile. Pursued by police, Triple E and Jeanne escape by turning off onto a backroads road, where the car eventually stalls, trapping the two youngsters miles from civilization in a deadly snow storm. In a situation of growing desperation Triple E is forced to confront the violence in his nature and the acts that have brought him to the brink of destruction--from his violent street skirmishes to the scars suffered in a reform school that was supposed to rehabilitate him, but trapped him in a struggle between two influential teachers whose own dreams of glory came ahead of his development.

Duff Brenna sensitively portrays the troubled Triple E as a boy grown too fast into manhood, struggling to control his explosive impulses, and discovering a vein of tenderness in his deep love for Jeanne. Gripping, disturbing, undeniably powerful, Too Cool is a near-flawless novel.

Genres: Fiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published July 13, 1998

About the author

DUFF BRENNA is the author of nine books, including The Book of Mamie, which won the AWP Award for Best Novel; The Holy Book of the Beard, named “an underground classic” by The New York Times; Too Cool, a New York Times Noteworthy Book; The Altar of the Body, given the Editors Prize Favorite Book of the Year Award, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and also received a San Diego Writers Association Award for Best Novel 2002. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts award, Milwaukee Magazine’s Best Short Story of the Year Award, and a Pushcart Prize Honorable Mention. His book Minnesota Memoirs was awarded Best Short Story Collection at the 2013 Next Generation Indie Awards in New York City. His memoir, Murdering the Mom, was a Finalist for Best Non-Fiction at the same Independent Publishers Awards.His work has been translated into six languages.

Reviews

[Duff Brenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Finely modulated both in style and moral tone . . . provokes a hard-won sort of compassion at the end. What especially characterizes Too Cool is the honed intelligence of a skilled writer who has brilliantly evoked the airtight impenetrable inner logic of youth determined at all cost to find its own way.” —New York Times

“In Too Cool, Duff Brenna displays a spectacular talent for crafting complex, believable characters.” —Wall Street Journal

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of Triple T is vivid, fast-moving and masterfully written. I admired Brenna's style and his deft handling of time shifts. Brilliant!

[Stijn]

Schoolopdracht - 3e middelbaar.

[Raquel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting fast reader

[Tara Burke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Different, Enjoyable, Nice Ending, Easy-read.. looking for something simple but moving; go for "Too Cool" I thoroughly enjoyed it