Watching people get pulled into politics when they don't want to be has been omnipresent for the last decade and Silverman puts a story on the page that will resonate with most. I loved this.

Minnow tries to live the quiet, intellectual and apolitical life her single father laid out for her while not knowing of his past of Vietnam-era protests and the secret consequences of his actions. However, Minnow is a result of his affair with one of the community organizers who brought him into the protests, ends up having that same revolutionary spirit in her as well and when she lands a professorship in Paris, falls for a Frenchman caught up in the Yellow vest movement. The novel is told in dual POVs and time periods showing the parallel lives of both Minnow and her father and the similarities in the choices they end up making.

I thought the premise of this novel was really interesting, the parallel life concept worked great, and the last third had me really engaged, but the majority of the novel fell sort of flat for me. The story was just a bit too slow to keep as engaged as I would have thought given the subject matter and I think it was because I just couldn’t connect with these characters.

3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC to review

Two parallel narratives examine two individuals who, seemingly because of lust, become activists. In the contemporary tale set in 2018 France, Minerva “Minnow” Hunter has taken a teaching position at a university in Paris because the job “had presented itself at the moment in which her American life dissolved.” Minnow is quiet and still and these traits had become worse since “the Sewell incident,” an event at her previous job which led to her termination and which unspools slowly in the first third of the novel. In Paris, Minnow meets Charles Venier, an attractive fellow teacher, an aristocrat, who “exuded cool.” Minnow falls in love with the reckless and unpredictable Charles as he becomes engaged in the Yellow Vest revolution against income inequality. When Minnow sees the damage wrought by the rubber bullets that the police use improperly to quell the protesters, she uncharacteristically speaks out.

Minnow’s story is juxtaposed by that of Keen, a Harvard graduate student studying organic chemistry in 1968. Keen falls in love with Olya, a free spirit who lives in a dilapidated Victorian house with seven other students who are members of the countercultural movement. Keen first meets Olya when she protested Keen’s advisor who had purportedly been involved in research that may have resulted in the nuclear bombs used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When a recruiter from Dow Chemical arrives on campus, Keen rashly grabs a bullhorn and questions the recruiter about science and, specifically, the chemical composition of napalm. Keen becomes an accidental activist, earning the respect of Olya and her friends when Keen dubs the recruiter “a used care salesman for deadly weapons.”

It does not take much imagination to connect the dots between the parallel narratives. The twin stories of how Minnow and Keen both became mired in the societal upheavals of their times — Macron’s elitist policies in the case of Minnow and Viet Nam and the civil rights movement in the case of Keen — failed to maintain my interest despite exceptional writing and themes that resonant. Thank you Random House and Net Galley for this novel that explores social responsibility, personal sacrifice, and generational secrets.

Major thanks to NetGalley and Random House for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts:

Who are your friends? What do they stand for? What do the6. Noose to believe in?How do they believe in it? Is there thought in action or action thought? Which comes first? Who comes first?

Told in dual time framework, you realize where protest belongs when compared to the individual vs collectivism. And with very real characters, you get a better sense of who you are and where you stand, especially in turbulent times like now. What is performative? What does it mean to be in the mean streets? Has violence changed? Or is how we see violence changed?

Silverman has created a timely text that though is hard to get along with at first, you end up thinking of the characters outside of the narrative and you watch the news and you think, what the hell am I supposed to be doing? For whose sake? And what about my own sake? And for which others?

Not one to be missed.

This is a dual timeline novel that explores current day (2018) and 1968. In both timelines, Silverman explores what happens when seemingly apolitical individuals become involved in radical movements. Minnow (a fitting name) become the representative of a political scandal. She escapes to Paris where she meets a young teacher who is a member of the anti-Macron grassroots movement, again, placing her inadvertently close to politics. At the same time, we are transported to the late sixties where a graduate student named Keen is studying chemistry at Harvard and falls for Olya, an ardent protestor of the Vietnam War. Two different timelines dissect, explore and shine a light on what it means to be political and shines a light on people who think they can “sit this one out.” An interesting look at what it means to be both a national and global citizen during these fraught times. Thank you to Random House and to Netgalley for the advanced review copy.

Out April 9, 2024* There’s Going To Be Trouble by Jen Silverman (they/them) 4.25/5 ✨

If you are interested in the question of ‘How do you balance family expectations with your values and what you think is right or ethical?’ I think you will enjoy There’s Going To Be Trouble.

This will be a book that will stick with me and makes me want to learn more about actes of the gilets jaunes in France as I knew about them but I felt like I really didn’t know what had been happening.
I found Minnow to be interesting and believable, but didn’t really enjoy the dual pov with her Dad, at least until the last few chapters. While I didn’t enjoy Keen, the characters were incredibly well written and authentic.

There is quite a bit of French in this book, but because I read this as an ebook, I was able to use the translate function which made it easy enough. This was definitely a me problem though and should not have you be put off by it.

You definitely should read the content warnings as there is a lot of heavy themes. I’ve done my best to note them, but I’m sure I missed a few!

Thank you so much to Random House @atrandombooks for the advance readers copy! I really enjoyed this one.

Mildly weird, incredibly funny (at least to me...), fun read. Keen is... something else for sure. Minnow is my dearest.

I really enjoy stories that have dual timelines and I am a fan of a historical fiction on occasion and this was not a disappointment. There’s Going to Be Trouble has a gripping plot, and characters that draw you in. I definitely recommend!

This has dual timelines focusing on an intriguing topic, protests and relationships. Minnow is in 2018 and Keen in 1968. Both have similarities but are dealing with completely different areas. I found this to be incredibly interesting.

Great writing and fantastic characters. However, I can't say I loved the characters themselves. It's definitely a love-hate relationship there. I feel like this story is missing something, particularly with it ending the way it did. But, I can't help but recommend this as a wonderful piece of fiction.

Out April 9, 2024!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the advanced copy of There's Going to be Trouble by Jen Silverman!

In this dual-timeline novel, we follow Minnow as she navigates life abroad after being fired from her job in the southern U.S. and her father Keen 50 years prior as he meets her mother and gets caught between the scientific community and war.

I love, love, loved Minnow’s story and her relationship with Charles (reverse age-gap for the win), Luc, and her fellow professors. Looking back on what led her to France was so interesting and thoughtful. The events mirrored between 1968-9 and 2018-9 really sealed the deal on this book for me. I loved it!

The ONLY qualm I had was the ending of the book. I felt like it was too abrupt and did not wrap everything up and give the reader enough closure on the story. It would've been 5 stars if not for that.

Thank you for The ARC! Unfortunately, this was not the book for me. HOWEVER, this is a personal preference and has nothing at all to do with the writing or the story. I think that I cover requested this because hello that cover is 👩🏼‍🍳💋 but it was too much on the historical fiction side for my liking. I think this is perfect for people who love historical fiction and that it will be well liked by several readers!

I’ve been putting this off because the chapters are long but I just read for three hours straight so! Dual timelines of a father and daughter falling for activists and getting involved in protests that have serious consequences. Omg Even thinking about this I’m just like wow this is so smart. Very enjoyable to read very well written very good PARALLLELS, and shocking tbh. Also gorgeous cover. I really really really enjoyed this Like so much and I requested this because I liked We Play Ourselves and I liked this even better.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the ARC!

I’d say it took me a while to get into this book, but I’m not sure I ever did. The story jumps back and forth between 1968 and 2018 - looking at two times of political unrest and protests and how a father and his daughter have similar life-changing events within their respective movements.

The writing was undeniably strong, and I appreciated the insightful social commentary and the exploration of political activism and protest, though I’m not sure about the final takeaway. Both timelines held their own intrigue, complementing each other well and adding depth to the story.

However, considering one of the central themes revolved around how personal relationships shape our politics and actions, I found the interpersonal dynamics lacking. The romantic relationships, in particular, fell flat and failed to convince me.

This was a nice change for me. It took me longer than normal to get into this book. I don't read a lot of political leaning books so I am sure that is why. After about 100 pages I really began to love it.

Took me a while to get into, but ended up really enjoying this one. I don't read a lot of books with a focus on politics or activism so this was different for me, but a nice change!

An arresting novel about revolution that packs a punch like no other. I was a big fan of Jen Silverman’s previous novel, and I really love how she is able to blend two timelines/POVs into a sort of a jigsaw puzzle of a character study. It’s obvious that she has a lot of empathy for her characters, and writes them with care.

The story goes from calm to batshit insane at a moment’s notice, and I truly did enjoy the ride that it took me on.

Jen Silverman's There's Going to Be Trouble is a timely and thoughtful story about activism and its limits, as well as the inner lives of the people involved in such movements. A novel that links the past to the present, I found it a fascinating and engaging read all the way around, though I admit that I am immediately drawn to books that center on the inherent contradictions of political movements fighting for a better world.

I went back and forth between 3.5 and 4 and though I rounded up, I would say 3.5 is more accurate. The concept intrigued me--I enjoy dual timeline stories, especially when there is some historical aspect to them (which is typical with that type of book). This was barely historical fiction for me because the first, earlier time period occurred during my lifetime but I owe that to being old. The first timeline took place during protests in the late 1960s and the second more recent in Paris--which also intrigued me since I went to Paris last year and I loved knowing the places that were referenced and I also saw protests while I was there last April. The two timelines were about two seemingly apolitical people in love with individuals were were very political and heavily involved in radical protests. One of the seemingly apolitical characters seemed to be revealed later on to be more political than previously shown and I think was was something that was sprung upon the reader and when it was, I did not quite understand. The second character was shown to have been changed both during and after and I felt like this could have been explored a bit more. At some point, I caught on to the connection between the two timelines but I wonder if more could have been done with that too or if I just missed the clues.
It was a little slow in spots around the middle of the book.
All in all, a good read; I would was expecting just a little bit more.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing me with a copy of this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House for the copy of There's Going to Be Trouble by Jen Silverman. I loved the description of this book but just couldn't get engaged in the stories or the characters. This was not the book for me, but I think people who alive reading about political protests and effecting change will love it.

Yeesh, this one took me a long time to get into, and an even longer time to finish; as such, all my thoughts and opinions on it feel sapped of their strength and fervour, and I leave it behind feeling unsure whether I liked it, disliked it, or something else entirely.

So!

The writing was quality, and I loved the social commentary and focus on politics, protests, and activism.

This is the first "dual timelines" story that I've read in a long time where I felt that both timelines were individually intriguing, successfully informed each other, and were necessary to the story.

That said, given that one of the main themes of the book seemed to be how personal relationships inform our politics, values, and beliefs -- and, thus, the action we are compelled to take (or not take) on their behalf -- I was underwhelmed by the relationships and connections on display here, in particular the two "romantic" relationships, which felt flat and unconvincing.

Also, that ending was hella abrupt.