Minnow is a quiet, abiding teacher in her small American community until she chooses to help a young student in a difficult situation. Once exposed, she’s vilified to the point of being forced to move to Paris. Her father, Keen, is devastated; he's tried so hard to raise her to fit in and go with the flow.
Once in Paris, Minnow discovers a new type of attitude in people her age. They’re protesting the government in louder and more elaborate ways. Minnow falls in love with Charles and supports him and his beliefs with all her heart. Little does she know that she’s mirroring the life of her father, a person she thinks she knows everything about.
Moving from past to present, we meet Minnow’s parents when they fall in love in college. Olya is everything Keen is not, and he loves her for it. But she, like present day Charles, has rebellion in her soul. As we watch Keen’s and Minnow’s mirrored lives scream forward to what can’t be a peaceful future, the parallels prove that blood, unwittingly, is thicker than water. Told from a neutral viewpoint, this story held my attention to the very last foreboding paragraph with vivid characters and plot.
Thanks so much to Random House Publishing Group- Random House for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is April 9, 2024.

I loved Jen Silverman's first novel We Play Ourselves and I've enjoyed Silverman's plays in the past (most recently, Highway Patrol at Goodman Theatre) so I was excited to receive an ARC of their second novel! Silverman writes lovely prose, and this was nicely paced, but I wasn't that taken with the story. The novel has dual timelines: In 2018, Silverman introduces us to Minerva "Minnow" Hunter, who's newly arrived in Paris to teach at a university after leaving a job at a prep school back in the United States following a scandalous incident. Once in Paris, she's drawn to Charles, a much younger assistant professor at the university and also a radical. In 1968, we meet Keen, a graduate student in organic chemistry at Harvard University who becomes enamored with Olya, a Russian immigrant and outspoken protestor. Minnow and Keen are interconnected, and it wasn't hard to figure out how. There's Going to Be Trouble was relatively well-paced, though towards the end I found myself skimming some passages. Silverman has a nice flair for social commentary in some particular turns of phrase. But while the book sets up the premise that often times protest and social action doesn't lead to change, I also thought it leaned morally in favor of the protestors...despite the fact that their attempts might not be so productive. Thus, the morality of the novel felt a little neat and tidy. I also didn't really care much for the characters; I admired Minnow for the way in which she helped a student at the prep school, but she's also a frustrating and aimless character who's oddly dependent on her father. Overall, I was not nearly as taken with There's Going to Be Trouble as with We Play Ourselves so I still wholeheartedly recommend the latter to readers!

In this dual timeline story, two nonpolitical individuals find themselves drawn to radicals. In 2018, Minnow, in an effort to help a young student, unwittingly becomes the face in a political nightmare. She flees to a new teaching position in Paris where she becomes involved with another, much younger, teacher, one who is involved with the Gilets Jeune (yellow vest) grassroots movement against Macron’s government. Meanwhile, in 1968, Keen is a graduate student in chemistry at Harvard. He falls in love with Olya, a young agitator who spends her days protesting the Vietnam War.
I found both stories to be absorbing and all the characters fully fleshed out. Silverman uses dialog between the various characters to raise interesting points. It wasn’t that I agreed with the idea of violence, but on the flip side it’s obvious talk doesn't always lead to results. I appreciated that the present day political situation was one I wasn’t well aware of. The story is a reminder that not everyone’s motives are purely political when they get involved with radical movements. And that we can never foresee the impact of our decisions and actions. And while it made sense that the younger characters weren’t mature enough to have these realizations, I did fault Minnow for being so obtuse.
Silverman does a good job of painting a scene, especially the protests, and putting you smack dab in the middle of them.
I found the ending to be somewhat dissatisfying and abrupt, but at the same time, a tidy ending wouldn’t work for this book.
My thanks to Netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.

3.5 rounded up. I'm a fan of her first book, so was excited to get the arc for this one. There were definitely some themes that carried over from We Play Ourselves, which I didn't mind. My biggest note is that the bulk of this book felt like setup. I felt like i was getting to know the two different characters in the different time periods, but the meatier plot didn't unfold until 2/3 of the way in. Regarding the two main characters, I also wish it was called out earlier what was so obvious about their connection. It felt like it was trying to be a misdirect, but fell a bit flat. Once I got to that last third it really came alive, though, and I found myself engaged in the story and their respective plights.

I loved this dual-narrative historical novel about what it is to be a person during at time of riots and social change, comparing the lives of a father and a daughter. The scenes were beautifully written, and even the scenes without riots felt like they held an tense violence, a possibility of upset. I'll be thinking about this novel for a long time, and about the ways that bystanders become part of history, and history becomes inextricably linked with those who couldn't choose to be bystanders.

Thanks NetGalley and and Random House for the ARC.

French men just hit differently, they're automatically sexy and alluring. I can see why the main character gets sucked into his family and their political commentary.

This book takes place in two different eras - Vietnam and the protests in France in 2018 against Macron - the yellow vest protests.

I chose this book for the cover and went in blind, and I'm glad I did. I did skim some areas of the book that dragged on for me, but I did enjoy the main character and how you really don't like her in the long run.

This book was overall enjoyable. I think the relationships were very well written and I enjoyed the parallels between the storylines. Jen Silvermans novel "We Play Ourselves" is one of my all time favorite books and although this didn't quite live up to it I will continue to read everything they write!

Described as “An exhilarating novel of star-crossed romances and radical politics, with writing so evocative I swear I could smell the tear gas.” and told in dual timelines.

Minnow is a literature professor who has lived a quiet normal life raise by her single dad. One day she finds herself helping a student when said student comes to her with no other place to turn. What happens next takes her life out of control, protests, death treats, all semblance of privacy stops, and so she flees to Paris to start fresh. Things don't go as planned and she gets herself involved with a fellow professor Charles who is deep into activism, and protest against a powerful government. Minnow's life begins to mirror her father's, from over 40 years ago in the midst of the Vietnam War.


This book is very far out of my comfort zone, but I really enjoyed it. It had a few aspects that I really love, a dual timeline, politics, and romance that came together in a very interesting way. The themes explored, were very thought provoking, and so well navigated. The power of speaking up and protesting. How quickly the intention of doing good and keeping things peaceful, can spiral into something you can't undo. How love leads you in directions you didn't expect. The way the author had both timelines mirror the other but still have each story be so compelling yet tie into the other was magical. So many poignet ideas were presented through conversations between characters that have really left me thinking. The characters were all so flawed but so dynamic, even the secondary characters. The ending was left very open which is why it was not a full 5 star book for me. But over all this was a very powerful and beautiful book.

this was a pretty solid fictional dissertation on the personal being political! i liked it! would recommend to others.

Jen is a talented writer and generally speaking, I enjoyed this book a lot – just perhaps not as much as her last one, We Play Ourselves. Here, in dueling timelines, Minnow and Keen find their idealism tested by the cruel, compromising reality of their respective times, and wrestle with the degree each are willing to toe (or condone their peers for stepping over) the boundaries of acceptable behavior (morally, criminally, etc.) in service of revolutionary progressive change.

It's a heady book of social commentary and ideas, and quite melancholy. There's a sense of exhaustion that the same fights keep needing to be fought. Or that integrity is punished or naive. I think Jen should be commended for her ambition in telling this story. It's just maybe not as... fun (?) as her debut novel. And our world is in sort of a sad state! Hard to enthusiastically embrace the reality of incremental change when revolutionary change feels fantastically achievable. Guess that's what this book is about ultimately.

Sophisticated and moving. I didn’t want it to end.
Many thanks to Random House and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I went into this novel without any context but I loved the title. It delivered on that promise… but it took a while for me to feel invested in any of it. I didn’t care about the characters until far too late in the book, and the end (which was the best part) was far too rushed.

This was a good look at the motivations behind social protests and political influence on major issues in modern and recent history. It also included beautiful writing. But alas, this book was not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early arc!

I think my concluding feelings in relation to this book is a mix of "not for me" and craft issues
The first half is pretty slow, and I almost DNF'ed it multiple times. Thankfully the second half is better, with a POV from a more interesting character (imo). None of the characters in this are particularly likable to be honest, which doesn't make for a bad book, but that combined with bad pacing? It makes it difficult for me to stay engaged with a text.

I don't know why I decided to read this book, but it was not something I cared for.

The story takes place with mostly protest situations such as the war in Vietnam. I lived those protest days trying to go to college and I don't remember them as days that I'd care to relive. I read to be entertained and did not find this entertaining, as it was not meant to be, I'm sure.

It seems there are 2 stories happening involving different people and it is tied together at the end, though I never thought I'd read all that way. After I picked it up to read it, I put it down and read 2 full other books before I was able to finish this. It just wasn't something that I was interested in and so it felt too long.

Thank you NetGalley for an advance reader copy. Honest opinions expressed here are my own and are freely given.

For me, this book is a 2.75 out of 5. It is a multilinear story, switching back and forth between 1969 & 2018, following the story of a daughter (2018) and her father as a young man (1969). It is about political turbulence, allowing the hard feelings to be felt, being honest with oneself, and finding meaning in the bigger picture. Silverman has a wonderful understanding of life's core truth’s, and is able to eloquently put them into words. The bones of this story are so good, however, I think the execution was extremely lacking. The first 50% of this book was incredibly forgettable and quite frankly, wasteful. All of the main characters weren’t loathsome, but not exactly likable either. The second half of the book I felt things picked up. I was able to become more attached to the story, and I felt a plot really start to develop. However, just as quickly as it had picked up, it slowed down. The book ended incredibly abruptly and left MANY loose ends. I’m typically all for an abrupt ending, as that is so often how our real stories tend to end, however, I can’t help but feel certain details and plot ideas were introduced just to keep the reader entertained. There was SO MUCH good material in this novel, and I feel like the author did a disservice to this wonderful story by watering it down so heavily. There are so many things I’d like to have read more about- Charles’ father’s and how he knew about Luc, and consequently, was Luc’s story truthful? The relationship between Minnow and her father, Minnow’s own feelings after the riot, and how she felt about speaking with her mother. There was a lot given, however, a lot that felt unnecessary, especially because the story was left with so many loose ends irrelevant to the story itself.

Overall, the book felt a bit unorganized. Creative idea, unfortunate execution. It wasn’t grueling to finish, but I’m not particularly inclined to read anything else by this author.

Minnow (short for Minerva) is a 38-year-old teacher who left for France after helping a student get an abortion and the ensuing scandal. There she falls in with a hot, 23-year-old gilet-jaune who has serious issues with his aristocratic father. In parallel to Minnow's story, we learn the backstory of her father, Christopher, a reserved and somewhat controlling man whose judgment had been Minnow's north star-- until her scandal.

A thoughtful but also fast-paced novel about idealism, political violence, and the difficulties of living a life of integrity. It's a sad book, IMO. Very visual, I liked being thrown into the French protests.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this advance reader copy, in exchange for an honest review. There’s Going to be Trouble is a story told in dual timelines, with main characters Minnow and Keen both finding themselves involved in political demonstrations, unexpected romances, and learning important lessons about life and themselves as a result.

Generally speaking, I enjoyed this book! It took a bit of time for me to get into it but, I think that was just due to my own interests and tastes rather than the book itself. I did appreciate the social commentary shared by the author and the characters were what really made the book for me! The dual timelines and the parallels between the characters, despite the different political climates, also worked really well in my opinion and propelled the story forward.

Overall, I would recommend this book to contemporary fiction fans and those who enjoy political storylines!

thank you to netgalley and random house for the ARC!

really liked this, and i’m inclined to check out the author’s other works now! really intelligent dialogue and scene-crafting + the romance element is balanced well with the primary themes and um, tell me why i started squealing like i was reading a romcom! french men just hit different idk

the political ideas at play here, and notions of how to respond to them on an individual and global level, are so so relevant and rarely put into fiction, at least in such an accessible manner. definitely a book that we young people need to read! i personally, am moved

my main critique is that i needed this to be twice as long. which, i know, i know, undermines the theme of history still being written, but i want to know what happened to everyone !!

”’Love is easier than respect. And it means less.’” is a crazy line btw, in response to your father saying “i love you.” like actual bars

Thank you for sharing this title!

I am going to be completely honest-- I chose this for the cover and for the title. I had zero idea at all what the story was going to be about.

Essentially it is two timelines, 2018 Paris during a period of civil unrest (honestly, I was never fully clear on what they are protesting) and 1968 Harvard during a period of student demonstrations. Both protagonists, Minnow in Paris and Keen at Harvard, find themselves in the unlikely center of these demonstrations, pulled in by an unlikely romance which challenges how they view the world and causes them to learn about themselves.

Overall I was intrigued and enjoyed this~ I liked the Harvard storyline more, but I liked Minnow's backstory more. Some parts were slow in each storyline. Good social commentary about collective action vs. the state except its all white people (ostensibly) so I wonder how the author could have addressed that more?

Some of the commentary felt very relevant to today!

Thank you Netgalley for the e-arc! I am a person who knows extremely little about the Vietnam War and contemporary French politics so it's always fun when a book teaches you a little bit of something (while of course taking historical fiction with a grain of salt). I found the characters and the relationships engaging, though I think my interest in each 'timeline' switched several times while reading, but that's actually probably a good thing. I think a lot about 'revolution' and activism and the best ways to go about that, as I'm sure many people do, and this book explored those things in interesting ways without becoming pessimistic. The flow of information in the novel was really effective and I stayed invested the whole way through. I guess the book just lacked that je ne sais quoi, but overall I really enjoyed.