naate

by Sheela Word

Hari has never met a dog he doesn't like...until Coquette moves in. Coquette is 1) a pug, 2) old, 3) mean, and 4) Hari's personal responsibility. As if dealing with his Bollywood-obsessed little sister, Bonnie, and her insane zombie doll, Walking Wanda, were not enough, Hari is now forced to play the role of Recreation Director and Sanitation Assistant to one of the worst dogs on the planet.

Worse yet, Dan, the uber-cool dude next door, has the perfect dog. Hari really likes Dan, but Dan is obviously hiding something.

Why are grown-ups (and dogs) so hard to understand? Hari better figure out stuff fast, or he'll lose Dan and get stuck with Coquette...forever.

100 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 27, 2012

About the author

Sheela Word is a research psychologist who lives in the Pacific Northwest and strives to build fictional worlds that are psychologically real.

Works include the romantic YA novel "Second," the short-story collection “Nine Princesses: Tales of Love and Romance,” the comic middle-grade novel “Naate (Connections),” the picture book “Hari Loved Dorothy," and the literary novel "All You Need." As a half-Indian and the adoptive mother of two Indian children, Ms. Word has a particular interest in multicultural relationships. She also enjoys exploring historical time periods.

She loves her readers.

Reviews

[Cherokee Randolph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Naate (connections)

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an objective review.

I enjoyed the book immensely. It’s a pretty simple story about an adoptive mother (Lisa), her son (Hari --who is about ten), her daughter (Bonnie --five or six I think) and a young male neighbor (Dan--adult) who befriends the boy. The story is told almost entirely from within the minds of the two young children, just a little bit in conversation from the two adults.

The death of a friend and neighbor puts Lisa in the reluctant position of having to adopt his dog. More than anything else in the world, Hari wants a dog. Not that dog! The dog is named ‘Coquette’. Whether ‘Coquette’ is a joke or merely a hope that never came true is not clear, but surely no name ever suited its possessor less. Coquette is middle-aged, fat, doesn’t smell very good, growls and snarls, and is no more happy about the adoption than Hari is.

Dan has a dog who is just about the kind of dog that Hari dreamed about. Dan’s dog is named ‘Shelly’. Shelly is a pretty, long-legged dog with long fur who prances along on the leash, likes to play with frisbees and is even part wolf. Dan and Hari take up the habit of walking the dogs together. Dan is a very nice guy who offers to walk Coquette and lets Hari take Shelly’s leash. Hari spends a good deal of his mental energy trying to find a way to make Coquette more like Shelly, or to arrange for Coquette to produce a litter of puppies—anything to have a dog more to his liking. Coquette just endures.

Now, why did I like this story so much? I think it is mainly because it strikes absolutely no false notes. All the characters are not only attractive characters, but they are completely believable in every word they utter, every thought that is described. The book created the illusion I enjoy, of actually being able to know another person in a way that one cannot know a stranger. In this case, it was not only an interesting experience, but a more pleasant one than in many good books, because the characters were very normal, essentially happy people, and I believed them. It was a very convincing description of the growth of a loving relationship between a very young boy and an old, fat dog. It was very deftly written. It made me feel good.

Readers looking to identify with a great deal of adventure or romance, a lot of action, or an ‘attitude’ that they find attractive, are unlikely to find what they want in this book. I believe a great many people who read with other objects in mind are likely to enjoy it as much as I did.

[Enrico Antiporda · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first impression of this book is one of disjointed storytelling. The opening scene unceremoniously throws the reader in the middle of the action. Single mother Lisa and her adopted children, Hari (age 10) and Bonnie (ages 3), both from an orphanage in India, are backing out of their driveway when they see their neighbor, Carl collapsed on the pavement after having suffered a fatal heart attack. The scene is told in third person, present tense, omniscient point of view so detached from the characters I had trouble following it. As Lisa tries to maintain order in the car, an extremely confusing dialogue between Bonnie and Hari ensues as they excitedly discuss the 'mergency' situation in a nonsensical childlike manner. This is followed by an aftermath chapter with Cindy (Carl's daughter) giving away Carl's personal belongings, including his ornery dog, Coquette, which eventually ends up adopted by Lisa's family. This scene is delivered in the same childlike and confusing dialogue. At this point, I am gritting my teeth because I couldn't get grounded into the story. But I continued reading—I owed it to the author to give it an honest nonreciprocal review. Boy, am I glad I did, because as I turned the pages and got into the characters, the story illuminated itself. It simply got better and better. And lo and behold, as if I was given a gift of subtitles, I began to understand and hugely enjoy the same childlike dialogue that bothered me so much in the beginning, especially Bonnie's vernacular whose thoughts and expressions are so endearing and believably three-year old one can't help but laugh and smile.

The love-hate, big brother-little sister relationship between Bonnie and Hari, tinge with sibling rivalry is precious and relatable. In Hari's eyes, Bonnie is the needy, snoopy, and annoying little sister, who is always in his way. At every opportunity, he tries to escape from her, devising devious ways to do so. In Bonnie's eyes, Hari is the mean and selfish older brother who makes it a point to exclude her in everything he does. This makes her mad, prompting her to be a thorn in his side even more. Both are very aware of their East Indian heritage and often wonder about their biological mother, a curiosity their progressive-thinking mother, Lisa, encourages. The entry of ornery dog, Coquette, into their lives serves as a prop for making Hari's life both miserable and full. He hates the dog but is stuck taking care of it. Dan, the cool new neighbor who moved into the Carl's house and works at a skateboard shop (and teaches ballroom dancing on the side) adds another dimension to the story. Predictably, he becomes Hari's big brother who teaches him lessons in life. Lisa's character is sympathetic and epitomizes the progressive Seattle mom. However, she needs to be fleshed out more, for she can be an absorbing character adding complexity to the narrative. Why is she a single mother? What made her adopt East Indian children? What was her take on them?

In summary, I enjoyed this book immensely. It is an easy, pleasurable read both children and adults will enjoy. Is it perfect? No, but then, few books are. One thing I can say for certain: it is definitely entertaining, with simple lessons in life sprinkled in the narrative. A strong four stars from this reader. Definitely worth a click on the download button.

[Tom Xavier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sheela Word’s novel, naate, is the story mainly of an ordinary kid, Hari, his younger sister, Bonnie, their mother, Lisa, and the family’s newly acquired dog, Coquette. Before getting into my review of this simple but charming novel for middle-grade readers, let me say that I positively recommend it to anyone who likes reading literature, who likes stories that are not formulaic, and who appreciates artistic effort.

The novel opens with the death of a standoffish neighbor named Carl, who dies of a heart attack. With the neighbor’s death, Hari’s family inherits Carl’s dog, Coquette. As it turns out, Coquette is even more standoffish than Carl. In fact, Coquette is downright grumpy and unfriendly. Coquette’s ornery nature is a great disappointment to Hari who would love to have a cool dog who loves him back. Early in the novel, into Carl’s empty house comes a new neighbor, a young man named Dan who does have a cool dog. This makes Hari even more eager for a cool dog of his own.

Naate is a Hindi word meaning connections, and as it turns out, Hari and his sister, Bonnie, are both orphans from India adopted by their U.S. mother, Lisa. The chapters of the novel are not presented in typical numbered sequence but, rather, the author has aptly chosen to designate them by using common Hindi words that capture the general theme of each chapter.

The novel mainly revolves around Hari and his changing world. Hari is ten years old and he is just beginning to struggle with adult concepts. Thanks to a great deal of heroic effort by his mother, Hari is aware of his Indian heritage though it remains a distant, nebulous thing and he doesn’t yet feel a maturer pull to connect to his cultural origins. When Hari meets his new neighbor, Dan, the young man becomes partly a father figure and partly a confiding friend, at times doling out fatherly advice for Hari's benefit but, at other times, doling out confidences as if Hari were a peer, chatting about such mature matters as an earlier, broken relationship, his guilt over leading his brother into drugs, and his own struggles with chemical dependency. These conversations make Hari uncomfortable but Hari likes Dan and he likes having an adult male in his life enough to overlook these discomfiting conversations.

The strength of the novel is in its simplicity. The author focuses the story on some ordinary, normal aspects of the lives of the two young protagonists: their first experience with death, Hari’s disappointment that his first dog is grumpy and unaffectionate, the loyalty and love for the dog that develops despite Coquette’s grumpy nature, Hari’s first struggles to understand some newly encountered, adult concepts, and overarching everything, his awareness that he has a past from which he is emotionally, geographically, and culturally disconnected.

Strangely, the weakness of the novel also comes from its simplicity. Hari’s mother, Lisa, is a shadowy figure and, while we know she is well-meaning and caring, we don’t get much of a sense of who she is. Also, there is this funny contrast in the novel between Lisa, who is struggling to give her adopted children a real sense of their Indian origins, and Dan, the ex-addict who studies yoga and, in one conversation, gives Hari a U.S.-stereotyped and rather imprecise definition of the Sanskrit word, guru. Dan even makes a trip to northern India to study meditation and yoga despite the fact that Hari has not returned to his native country since his adoption. All of this could be great material to explore the often painful disjunction felt by kids adopted from their native countries or arriving in the United States as refugees or born as first-generation kids, but these themes are barely touched.

Ultimately, naate is a bit disappointing in this regard. It could be so much more than a nice, charming story and one gets the sense the author has the capacity to address these deeper matters. On the technical side, the author’s writing is solid. The prose is over-simplistic and a bit strained at the start of the novel but it improves as the author gets her voice. The plot pacing and character development are good. While the kids’ frequent thoughts, presented by the author as their actual thoughts in italics, are unrealistic at times, the dialogue between characters generally rings true and, in places, it is cute and charming. At the end of the story, Hari gains some meaningful insights about mothers and dogs, though he never quite gains much of an understanding of his relationship with the odd-guy neighbor, Dan.

These are not criticisms of the novel. Naate is enough of a serious work that it merits serious critiquing. I believe it is a self-published novel, meaning it lacks professional editing. If I were to give any advice to the author, I’d say to keep working on the novel. Much could be done to make the story even stronger. On the other hand, for those of you who appreciate sincere artistic effort and who are able to understand the challenges of self-publishing, I give this novel three solid stars and I would sincerely recommend that you add it to your “to-read” lists.

[Stephen Clynes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carl dies of a heart attack and his daughter Cindy has to find a home for his 9 year old Pug called Coquette. Cindy pleads with his neighbour Lisa, to take on Coquette as she does not want a vet to put the Pug down. Hari, Lisa's 10 year old son thinks having a dog is great, so Lisa, Hari and his 4 year old sister Bonnie welcome Coquette the Pug into their home.

This Amazon Kindle eBook is about how people make connections, hence the title. There are many connections that we all make in our lives. Some connections are really close, like mother and son. Some connections are really long distance, like memories of other countries on the other side of the world. But there are connections between everything and when those connections grow, a love develops.

Sheela wrote this 284 KB eBook in 2012 and it is intended for children. The lead character is Hari and the story is really about growing up and all the connections that bind us together. This is a sweet little tale about a boy and the new family pet. When you first take on a Pug, they can be a big challenge as Hari soon realises. The connections Sheela writes about are basic parenting soft skills. The parts about living with a Pug are brilliant. Pugs are great little dogs with a behaviour and character of their own. Sheela's observations of Pug traits are spot on as I have a Pug myself.

This book is easy reading and will appeal to all ages. I would feel very comfortable reading it to our grandchildren. How much it will appeal to children is open to debate. There is only so much you can write about a boy who gets a dog and walks her around the block. Although Sheela paints a pretty picture about family life and growing up, that is very different to telling a story that captivates the readers imagination. naate (connections) is a good storyboard to invite discussion with children but as a stand alone story it is weak. There is a happy ending to this tale which leaves a lovely, warm feeling. This book is an okay read and I vote it 3 stars.