Afterlife of political violence unfolds
Jen Silverman explores the long afterlife of the anti-war movement of the late 1960s in a brilliant, beautifully written new novel, “There’s Going to Be Trouble.” Silverman constructs an intricate, clever plot that braids together two separate stories connected by the main characters.
One takes place in 1968 when Keen, an apolitical grad student at Harvard, gets drawn into the takeover of a campus building because of his desperate love for Olya, one of the organizers. When the demonstration goes awry, he must live with the disastrous results for the rest of his life as a chemistry professor. His one consolation is the daughter Olya bore him before going on the run. Everyone calls her Minnow, though she will embody the fierceness of her namesake Minerva, the Roman goddess of war.
The second storyline unfolds in 2018 during the yellow-vest protests in France, where Minnow, now a 38-year-old teacher, has fled after being engulfed in a scandal in the U.S. whipped up by the religious right for helping an underage girl at her school obtain an abortion. In Paris, she gets caught up with a group of activists who, like their counterparts a half-century earlier, are willing to go to virtually any length to challenge what they see as the inequities of French society.
Once again, love plays a decisive role. Minnow becomes enamored with Charles, the 23-year-old scion of a powerful French family. She has serious qualms about the 15-year age difference, but she can’t keep her hands off him — and the feeling is mutual. Meanwhile, another brazen action is being planned that will have deadly consequences.
Though the novel is a little slow to get off the
ground, eventually it gathers unstoppable force as it moves toward a dramatic denouement that offers no easy conclusions. The questions Silverman poses about the ends and means of political violence are as relevant today as they were in the ’60s. — Ann Levin, Associated Press
Abigail Dean’s 2021 debut “Girl A”was a
gripping, devastating treatment of trauma. Dean’s new “Day One” also revolves around a tragedy and its aftermath. Its layered narrative is made up of chopping-and-changing timelines. And its damaged characters are on personal journeys of recovery and reckoning.
One morning in the town of Stonesmere, a lone gunman interrupts the performance of a primary-school play and opens fire. The atrocity fractures families and shatters lives. But it also divides opinion.
Trent, a former resident, disputes the reported version of events, not least the eyewitness account given to the press by Marty, daughter of a teacher killed that day. Marty claims she was there and saw the shooter carry out his sickening act. Trent detects “inconsistencies” and goes on a mission to discover
what really happened.
It soon becomes evident that Marty has something to hide. But Trent goes too far in his pursuit, letting obsession turn into delusion by joining forces with a group of conspiracy theorists. At an inquest, Marty has a chance to set the record straight. Will the truth finally emerge? And at what cost?
“Day One” is not a study of violence but rather an examination of its repercussions. The two lead characters are captivating creations. Marty is grief-stricken but also guilt-ridden, and Dean masterfully charts her struggle to stay sane as she is plagued by “truthers” and her own dark secret.
Equally enthralling is Trent’s descent into fanaticism, from running a website called the Stonesmere Exposer to crashing funerals, trying to dig up graves and succeeding in wrecking reputations.
Dean cranks up the intrigue by incrementally detonating shocking revelations. She also keeps her reader involved by rotating character perspectives. By the time we get to the conclusion, it has long been clear that this is a finely wrought work from a gifted storyteller.