feet under

Good Earth Lighting, Inc. G9524CLR-I 24-Foot Rope Lighting, Clear
$20.99
The Good Earth Lighting, Inc. G9524CLR-I 24-Foot Rope Lighting, (Clear) are great rope lights. I used them to light the underside of some shelves. The Amazon price was super. I'll buy more soon.

Six Feet Under - 13 T-Shirt - X-Large
$17.95
From Six Feet Under comes this black t-shirt featuring detailed artwork from 13 on both the front and the back.

Under the Feet of Jesus
$14.00
The world desperately needs a novel which chronicles the struggles and hardships facing the Mexican immigrant community. Viramontes, in her first novel, seems to be making a stab at The Grapes of Wrath for the Chicano community. However, this book is a miserable failure.

The characters are all flat and stereotypical, and while I think that this might be somewhat intentional, Viramontes presents these archetypes without a hint of irony or criticism, which makes the relationships and character development seem overly simplistic. This is particularly true of the teenaged romance between Estrella and Alejo, which reads like it could have been pulled straight out of the Twilight Saga, or any other breathless teenage romance novel.

Viramontes also has a habit of beating the reader over the head with her metaphors and themes. So for example, the main character is Estrella, which means Star. If that's not blatant enough for the primarily English-speaking audience, Estrella actually goes by the name Star among her friends. This was apparently still not obvious enough a metaphor for Viramontes, so she inserts no fewer than five scenes where Estrella/Star stares up into the night sky, thinking about how similar she is to one of those stars. And just in case we missed it, Estrella's mother gives her a lengthy sermon on how she is starlike. And this is one of the book's subtle moments.

The form itself is laden with too many metaphors and similes -- in fact, the simile is such a dominant mode of description that it seems everything in the book is simply "like" something else, and never actually itself, which might be fine if she wasn't also attempting to deal in archetypal language. As it is, Viramontes seems unable to decide if her characters are overdetermined or underdetermined in their nature. Most of the similes are also unfortunate taken on their own; Viramontes seems to be trying to create a unique discourse but ends up simply nonsensical.

All in all, this book wasn't worth the read. Rather than being a significant contribution to the field of Chicano Lit, it undermines the political efforts of the last 40 years. If you want a more complex vision of Chicano politics and identity, I recommend the novels of Dagoberto Gilb.

Colorado Golden Buffaloes NCAA Comfy Feet Scuff Slippers (Men's Size Under 5 1/5) (Small)
$23.50
Who can resist!? Our slippers are a great gift for kids, students, Mom, Dad, Grandparents, and/or alumni. As a warm comfortable house slipper, with a thick foam sole and padded upper, or as a decorative piece for your home or office. This 100% polyester slipper is machine washable. Done in school colors and embroidered on top with approved University name or logo.