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.