Claire's Head by Catherine Bush

I’m back into the “borrowed from co-workers” books. I promised myself that I wouldn’t do that but then, I also promised myself that I wouldn’t buy anymore until I read more from those that live on the “To be read” shelf…. The fluidity of promises around here is quite drenching. We will have to work on that.

But there is a story behind Claire’s Head and not just the one between the front and back cover. You see, this book was listed on a book club website. They pair up authors that are willing to come to book club meetings and book clubs that are willing to read the author’s book. (We could have used that when reading A Complicated Kindness.) We never choose Catherine’s book but then, I think some of us were afraid that we wouldn’t like it and then have to pretend to say nice things to the author’s face. It is so much easier to pan the author’s choices when they are not in the room.

I don’t think it would have been difficult coming up with nice things to say about this book. Not to mention, getting into our migraine stories would be a barrel of fun as well. You see, the main character, Claire, suffers from migraines. She has since she was a child and shares this affliction with one of her sisters, Rachel. When her sister goes missing, Claire travels the world, following a string of clues, to hopefully uncover what happened to her.

The majority of the story takes place in Toronto and Claire, who works as a mapmaker for the city, throws in a lot of the street names that even only infrequent visitors to the city would recognize. This allows for an interesting contrast as Claire describes how, under the strain of a migraine, the different parts of her body are affected. The mystery as to what happened to Rachel propels this story along and makes you wonder, under the most desperate of situations, what would you give up to make the pain go away?

Anyone who has ever suffered from a migraine can sympathize with what Claire and Rachel live with. Believe you me, I've made some strong promises to make it all go away. Or if you are lucky enough to have never experienced such pain, it should be quite the educational experience. Believe me, they can be quite strange and everyone’s is very different.

My rating: :-) :-) :-)