Claire's Head

When Claire Barber learns that her older sister, Rachel, has vanished, she disrupts her life in Toronto to follow news of her sister to New York, Montreal, Amsterdam, Italy, Las Vegas and Mexico. Claire is worried that Rachel's severe and worsening migraines may have pushed her over the edge. Claire also suffers from migraines and her search for her sister becomes an emotional journey. This novel explores how we live with pain, how much we can bear and what we would be willing to give up to free ourselves from it. I really liked the character development and exploration of living with pain.

For all you migraine sufferers and non sufferers, this is a great book. Ms Bush is a relatively new Canadian writer and this is her 3rd book. She is best known for her previous book, The Rules of Engagement, which was a New York Times Notable Book, and named one of the best books of the year by the Toronto Globe and Mail.
Claire is one of 3 sisters who grow up in Toronto. Two of them , Claire and Rachel, suffer from migraines, as did their mother. Claire in Toronto and Rachel in New York struggle to live their lives, work, form relationships and survive despite a significant disability which can strike at any time and does so frequently. Rachel becomes increasingly desperate to fight the relentless monster in her head. Then she show more disappears and Claire sets out to find her. She follows a trail from Montreal to Europe to New York and beyond. Her job and her lover are put on hold as she seeks to find Rachel before it is too late.
The graphic descriptions of symptoms and onset will strike home with migraine sufferers as they did with me. There is however a very compelling description of human pain avoidance in the persons of Rachel and Claire, the desperate attempt to avoid anything and everything that seems to be a trigger to such terrible pain. You start with the basics, red wine, cheese, move to eliminate alcohol and tobacco, strong cologne, cleaning smells, bus exhaust, plastic and on and on until your life is one giant avoidance pattern. Still, it isn't good enough and more self sacrifice is necessary. How far can you go? This book explores some of those questions as both sisters struggle for understanding and relief. show less