Too Cool

by Duff Brenna

Book Overview

Duff Brenna is an American original, whose two previous novels have won honors and acclaim:The Book of Mamiewon the prestigious Associated Writing Programs Award, andThe Holy Book of the Beardwas... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0991328116
• ISBN13: 9780991328116
• Release Date: March 2014
• Publisher: Serving House Books
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

i loved this book

this book was so awesome. the ending was so unexpected, in fact it made me cry. i wanted it to end differently, but besides that it was so magnificent, i'm doing my report on it.

The Best Book Ever... It's Great!

"Too Cool" was an awesome book, I couldn't put it down. The author combined great writing with a great plot. The book is especially good for the high school aged young adult. The book is very realistic for feelings most kids will have towards their parents, authorative figure, and the opposite sex. Triple E will discover that life's not as easy as he thought it would be when he runs away from home. If you're looking for a great book, and an entertaining story, I would defintely recommend "Too Cool."

VERY ENTERTAINING AND SUCH A PAGE-TURNER

Duff Brenna is amazing. The way he drew Triple E, the main character, is very impressive. Yes, this book is about a delinquent and one would think that it's the typical, superficial, and banal, and violent story of a crazy-ass failure. But it's not. Duff Brenna dove in the main character's head and really stated what was in there, which were quite reasonable reasons enough for all the destruction and pain caused by the main character. A product of smartmouth parents and a violently abusive father who thought his son, Triple E, a failure the day he failed to slaughter the cow. Since then, Triple E decided that his father's opinion of him is unchangeable that he kept such kind of rude, abominable attitude and habits: carjacking, holdups, firing guns in a friend's-enemy's backyard, etc. This is a book that anyone will enjoy. It's fast-paced and the dialogue often received laughters from me. It's a hilarious book and also touching especially chapter 14: religious readers will love that chapter. Pick this book up. Read it. It's an easy read but very worthwile and a true peice of literature. Once one finishes this book, surely one would seek previous books of the identical author: Duff Brenna, "...an American treasure (The Bloomsbury Review)."

fast-moving novel with original language & surprising twists

Brenna creates a fascinating world in Too Cool. I love how the title refracts different meanings as the novel progresses. The snow landscape that Triple E and his girlfriend get stuck in is, as I saw it, fascinatingly built on Kafka's labyrinths--as he pushed through the maze of the physical snow, his mind flashed back to the maze of his past and shot forward to his ever-uncertain future. This may be just me, but since the novel is set in Colorado, I was reminded of Neal Cassady, the man mythicized by Jack Kerouac and other beat writers. Like Cassady, Triple E is a car thief. Did Brenna base Triple E in part on Cassady? I don't know, but unlike Kerouac's romantic portrayal of Cassady, Brenna gives the reader exciting as well as tragic sides to the car thief/street tough way of life. Also, I thought it was brilliant how Brenna wove in commentary on a messed up education and belligerant & incompetent adults, as that contributes to the formation of young people's minds--all without being didactic, pedantic or getting distracted from the craft of the novel. In this way, is Brenna working on ideas that J.D. Salinger developed in Catcher in the Rye? Is there a bit of Holden Caulfield in Triple E? The tension he built throughout the novel, mounting with life and death circumstances, was excellent, and Too Cool's conclusion was surprising. One other thing--Brenna is a master of coining phrases. Every sentence is a fresh explosion of language.

Way Cool

Stuck in the Colorado sticks, Triple E and his girlfriend, the ethereal Jeanne Windriver, are a couple of dumb kids in a really bad spot. They just don't know how bad. You'll be drawn into their dilemma as if swallowed by a vicious storm. The portraits of these characters are finely drawn and their short, rough lives are illuminated with fierce love. I knew a Triple E long ago, but we lost touch. It was great to find out what happened to him.