TALKING POINTS

On style

• A Petit Mal offers readers of other genres a way into innovative creative nonfiction because of the universality of its subject matter and the appealing way it is presented. Indeed, its highly readable segmented format allows for the interruptions of modern life. 

• Ana compares the sectional structure of A Petit Mal to that of considered, effective social media posts, which provide capsular gratification and connection when they are able to share – instead of simply show off. She explains, “The experience of my son’s diagnosis and our search for a cure would be a blur, a fog of memory, if not for my efforts to atomize experience into words. My book, then, participates in the relevant discussion of how we understand, relate to, remember and share memory, experience and fact.”

• A Petit Mal’s adventurous use of language and image, placed at the service of deep philosophical and spiritual questioning, will appeal to those already interested in how craft relates to intellectual and artistic pursuits. A Petit Mal is a book for the student and the teacher, for the amateur and the professor, for the casual and the avid reader. It is a book for those who want to feel the wonder of why. 

On traditional vs. alternative medicine

•  The wide variety of voices in the text provides readers with fascinating, first-person views into the world of health and medicine. These, at times, contradicting voices, woven with religious, scientific and literary details, propel the narrative forward with the force of a satisfying thriller because what is being discussed is nothing short of a young boy’s health. The first-hand accounts of many alternative methods of treating epilepsy, particularly in children, which will be of interest to parents seeking to navigate the convoluted waters of seizure treatment and diagnosis. 

On epilepsy, its diagnosis and treatment

• The few books available on epilepsy are mostly medically oriented and read like manuals. A Petit Mal is not only unique in that it explores the emotional impact of epilepsy on a young family but does so in an uplifting, suspenseful and artistic way. The first-hand accounts of many alternative methods of treating epilepsy, particularly in children, will interest parents seeking to navigate the convoluted waters of seizure treatment and diagnosis. 

TIMELY TIE-INS

January

• New year, new you stories
• International Creativity Month
• Hunt for Happiness Week – 17th
• Motivation & Inspiration Day – 2
• I’m Not Going to Take it Anymore Day – 7

April

• International Day of Hope – April 5 

• Stress Awareness Month

May

• Mental Health Awareness Month
• Family Support Month
• Women’s Health Care Month

PRAISE

“Caballero’s A Petit Mal is a brilliant genre-defying work in which the poetic and the scientific merge and construct each other. Its ingenious use of language and imagery convey deep philosophical and spiritual questions”
-Richard Blanco, U.S. Presidential Inaugural Poet

“Caballero’s writing is so intense, multi-layered, and complex, I found myself holding my breath while reading A Petit Mal”
–Reyna Grande, author of The Distance Between Us and A Dream Called Home

“I can’t tell you what A Petit Mal is about exactly. Motherhood, illness, spirituality—yes. Suffering, healing, consciousness itself—certainly. But it’s also the gestalt these abouts form and the way these abouts are rendered that makes such an extraordinary book. I want to say, “If you love  Jenny Boully’s work and Eula Biss’s work and Brenda Miller’s work, you’ll love Ana Maria Caballero’s work ”—and you will!—but then I’d hasten to add, “You’ve never read anything quite like this before.” A Petit Mal is lyric essay-qua-memoir-qua-illness narrative-qua-poetic meditation-qua-new genre in the making. Above all, this is a rapturous, innovative, and wholly sui generis project.”
–Julie Marie Wade, author of Wishbone: A Memoir in Fractures and Just an ordinary Woman Breathing