Claire's Head

by Catherine Bush

By the acclaimed author of The Rules of Engagement and Minus Time , Claire’s Head is a compulsive, psychologically charged new novel about a migraine sufferer and her search for her missing sister.

On a quiet June morning, Toronto cartographer Claire Barber receives a phone call telling her that her sister Rachel, a freelance medical journalist living in New York, seems to have vanished. Last heard from while on assignment in Montreal, Rachel cancelled a trip to visit her six-year-old daughter, who lives with Claire’s middle sister, in Toronto. Among the many fears that haunt Claire as she begins to track Rachel’s whereabouts is that Rachel’s worsening migraines have pushed her beyond her limits.

As Claire disrupts her orderly life to follow news of Rachel to Montreal, to Amsterdam, to Italy, and, ultimately, to Las Vegas and Mexico in the company of Rachel’s ex-lover, Brad, she enters a world of neurologists and New Age healers. Struggling with her own headaches, Claire embarks on what becomes an emotional journey, one that brings to the fore her parents’ sudden death eight years earlier. It also reveals the heightening tensions in her relationship with her partner, Stefan, portraying along the way long-held secrets from the past as well as the uniquely complex and irreplaceable bond between sisters. What Claire comes to discover will set her life on a new course.

Taking place over one summer, but delving back into the past, Claire’s Head provides both a layered, engrossing story and a meditation on how we live with pain and what we will give up to be free of it, written with all the insight, intelligence, and storytelling artistry for which Catherine Bush’s fiction has come to be known. With this, her third novel, she has once again proved herself to be one of Canadian fiction’s most striking and original voices.


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Novels, Literary Fiction

328 pages, Paperback

First published September 14, 2004

About the author

Catherine Bush loves islands and northern landscapes. She is the author of five novels, including Blaze Island, the Canada Reads long-listed Accusation (2013), the Trillium Award short-listed Claire’s Head (2004), and the national bestselling The Rules of Engagement (2000), also a New York Times Notable Book and a Globe & Mail Best Book of the Year. She lives in Toronto and an old schoolhouse in Eastern Ontario and has spoken internationally about addressing the climate crisis in fiction. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Guelph and Coordinator of the Guelph Creative Writing MFA, based in Toronto. Her nonfiction has appeared in publications including the Globe and Mail, The New York Times Magazine, the literary magazine Brick, Canadian Notes and Queries and the anthology, The Heart Does Break (2009).

Reviews

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew that headaches could be so interesting? Claire's Head is about migraines, or more accureately, the pain of migraines, and how they shape the lives and characters of Claire and her sister Rachel. There's not much in the way of plot, which wasn't a big problem for me, but might be for others. Bascially, Claire goes in search of Rachel after she finds that no one has heard from her in a few months. While she's seaching, we get an introduction to fascinating anecdotes about migraines, everything from possible cures (the waltzing cure, the drill-a-hole-in-your-head cure) to famous migraine sufferers. Did you know that Thomas Jefferson suffered from migraines?

I sense that Bush is a writer who enjoys research. She always gives her characters interesting jobs - in this case, Claire is a cartographer, her sister Allison is a zookeeper, and other characters work as massage therapists, scientific reseachers and movie gaffes. This is a story rich in details. I felt smarter after finishing it.

[Jo-Ann Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found myself racing through this book looking for the point of it, something that would make a conclusion, provide a lesson. The bottom line, as they say in business, is that there was no bottom line. Pain is just very awful and migraine pain the very baddest kind of pain.

[Michele · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

okay i did finish this a while ago but i had to read it for my english class. although i skimmed through it pretty fast and only read the first and last chunk of it i’d say it was prettty good.

[Rachel Elta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Canadian author, a mystery involving a family dealing with chronic pain. Loves it definitely kept me on my toes

[blobs mcslime · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

[hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was beautiful. As a migraine sufferer myself, reading about this woman’s experience-seeking relief from her pain was fascinating and made me feel heard and represented. Our primary character, Claire, follows her missing sister around the world as she seeks pain-relief from chronic migraines. The hard-cover and soft-cover versions of this book are slightly different–(I read the soft-cover). I would recommend this book to anybody who suffers from chronic pain or anybody who wants to learn more about the daily-experience of pain-sufferers.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

A FINALIST FOR THE TRILLIUM BOOK AWARD AND A GLOBE AND MAIL NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR.

As a migraine sufferer of 32 years myself, I found this story very interesting and unique.

From cover:

"On a quiet June day, Toronto cartographer Claire Barber learns her sister Rachel has vanished from New York. As Claire disrupts her orderly life to follow news of her sister to Montreal, to Amsterdam, to Italy, and, ultimately to Las Vegas and Mexico, she is haunted by fears that Rachel's worsening migraines may have finally pushed her beyond her limits. Struggling with her own headaches, Claire embarks on what becomes an emotional journey, one that brings to the fore long-held secrets from the past, the difficult memory of her parents' sudden death years earlier, and the unique, irreplaceable bond that exists between sisters. What Claire discovers will set her life on a new course. Engrossing, psychologically charged, Clair's Head explores how we live with pain - how much we can bear and what we're willing to do to free ourselves from it."

[Samantha Spence · Rating 2 out of 5]

The novel “Claire’s Head” written by Catherine Bush is novel to help you understand everyone struggles in their own way and everyone is different, predominantly migraines as you learn so much about the pain they cause and potential cures. I believe that this novel is very valuable to read and you should considering giving it a try. Although I enjoyed the book I thought it was hard to get into because the first 100 pages seemed very repetitive. The same thing happened twice and you had to read it twice and it got boring and made me wonder if the book would move on from their at all. Although, as I kept reading and was glad I did it got more and more into the disappearance of her sister and kinda took a turn, a good turn.
This book is one I believe everyone should read, it helps you develop empathy for others, and allows you to see why others are they way they are. It shows valuable life lessons and is enjoyable along the way. And allows you to understand others pain (migraines) and how people deal with their own types of pain.

[Theryn Fleming · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought Claire's Head because I really enjoyed Rules of Engagement. CH is primarily an exploration of pain and how we live with it. Claire and her oldest sister Rachel suffer from migraines. Middle sister Allison does not. (Is it a cliche that the middle kid is the prosaic one? Is it meant to be?) The sisters lost their parents in a freak accident some years earlier, so there is also an element of grief involved.

I didn't find CH quite as compelling a story as RoE. The mystery is pretty straightforward. But of course, a twisty plot is not the point here, and as an exploration of what it's like living with chronic pain, particularly pain in one's head—which is different from other pain, because you can't distance yourself from it—it's superb.

[Terri Tinkel · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have ever suffered with migraines on a regular basis and had trouble finding anything that helped with the pain, you will understand the basic theme of this book. Out of 3 sisters, two of them have severe migraines. One has disappeared and the other two are worried about her. She has left with no clues. The other sister who suffers from the headaches decides to search for her and she follows leads from Montreal to Amsterdam to Las Vegas to Mexico. After reading about half the book, the reader will probably develop a headache of their own. However, when the reader thinks about the pain that the migraine brings; it does make you wonder what you would do to get rid of that pain. What would you give up? Where would you go? Who could you turn to?

[Karen Lowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise, wonderful writing but not a very engaging plot. The migraine aspects were realistic and well articulate without being repetitive. I felt less connected to Claire than I think I should have been. By that, I mean, her quest had utmost importance to Claire but everyone else almost dismissed it or treated it as trivial - 'that's just the way Rachel is' attitude (with the exception of Brad). It was touching that Claire persevered in it and I believe she learned something during it about her own life and dealing with her own migraines. I'm not sure the ending worked for me - it left me thinking about what came next for Claire, but I didn't find the book terribly satisfying overall.

[Brravehart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved and identified with the book. The writing was excellent, especially because it Catherine had the ability to really experience what it is like to have chronic pain, even if you haven't had that as a personal experience. She was excellent in really unpacking all the dynamics of what it feels like to battle chronic pain. I also appreciated her thought processes on how we mentally, emotionally and even spiritually attempt to get through each day living with an inner demon that ultimately she had no ability to control.
I would recommend this book to EVERYONE!!!

[J. E. Hewitt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't finish this one - I found it too bogged with detail that I didn't care about. A woman goes missing - she's been troubled, depressed, struggling with debilitating migraines - and her sister has to piece together what happened in the few days up to her disappearance in order to track her down. It didn't move quickly enough for me, or the characters were not interesting, or both.

[Ellis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly disappointing book by a really good writer. Bush has the ability to make you care for her characters and carry you along, which is the reason I kept reading despite the copious regurgitation of research she'd obviously done on migraines. While some of this was informative, it was also overdone. However, perhaps I'd not have thought so, had the book actually gone anywhere but in circles.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was outstanding at conveying the experience of migraine and how pain can rule your life. I felt tremendous relief that someone had articulated this for me. However, the plot holds almost no interest. Had I not had this personal connection, I would have given this book a 2 star rating.

[Caleigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book, and for the first two-thirds I did enjoy it, but after Claire started chasing across the country with Brad it just felt rushed and almost uncomfortable. The ending was very abrupt, leaving too much unanswered.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part, I enjoyed this novel but I found the main character frustrating and the ending too abrupt. I appreciated the attempt to carve a story out of the subject matter - migraines - but I'm not sure it worked.

[Teddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Woman with cronic migraines sets out searching for her missing sister, whom also suffers from cronic migraines. Good descriptions of reocurring pain and how it can effect everyday life.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I certainly had a much better understanding of migraine headaches after reading this

[Dianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, especially if one is unfortunate to suffer from migraine headaches.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this. Story of woman migraine sufferer looking for her missing sister. Original.

[Carrie Turney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the only readers that would be interested in this book are those that suffer from migraine headaches.

[Amie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as Minus Time, but it was interesting.

I would read another book by this authour.

[Nikki Byrne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring! These characters did little for me. But I stuck with it to see what happened and was totally left hanging. If you're on the fence, don't bother.