In What Isn't There, Jocelyn Lieu has crafted her own interpretations, almost parables, as a result of the catastrophe inside my imagination that followed 9/11. Her shrapnel of narratives explore the unforeseen consequences of that warm September day, when an act of unprecedented violence collided with her day-to-day life as a mother and a writer. Although Lieu did not loose a family member or friend in the twin towers, What Isn't There achieves the rare feat of articulating the communal grief that was felt in the wake of 9/11--not only in New York City--but throughout the country and world. By telling her experience--the story of a woman who lived near the land now called ground zero--Lieu rescues that day from symbolism, and restores the event back in the realm of lived experience where it belongs.

Lieu's narrative achieves the rare feat of articulating the communal grief that was felt in the wake of 9/11. By telling her experience--how an act of unprecedented violence collided with her day-to-day life--she restores the event back in the realm of lived experience.