"A flock of birds whirred into flight, and Night shivered. Bird-pecked fruit with rotting wounds lay scattered atop the leaves blanketing the yard. The leaves shifted, tramped by unseen feet. Somewhere, an abandoned bird left behind was frantically beating a broken wing. Even knowing that its wing would only be further lacerated, the injury made worse, the bird could not stop clinging to the knife-edged air."

In an unnamed foreign country, a family of three is settling into a house at the edge of the woods. But something is off. Strange sounds come from beyond the tree line. The locals have tales of thieving imps who steal children. The postman speaks of violence through constantly shifting shark teeth. An old woman wanders naked and disoriented from the forest. The Dark is a living, breathing presence. And amidst it all is the ongoing story of a pregnant woman traveling to her family home in hopes of avoiding another miscarriage and the father who is left behind to take care of their young son.

The book is split into four sections, each functioning as a separate tale of sorts but that also adding more insight into the story and dynamics of the main family. And while each tale has its own small rise and fall of conflict and resolution, there are clear overarching themes, such as the alienation and isolation of the father and son or the emotional tension between childhood innocence and real world trauma. There are also levels of metaphor, allegory, and hidden meaning layered in through the text so it's a bit hard to explain without spoilers.

I found the book overall to be a nice balance of thought-provoking and unsettling, if a bit hard to understand at times (the writing sometimes morphs into stream of consciousness and symbolism and I'd get a little lost). The father's fears of parenthood were very well done, and I really enjoyed all of the unnerving and complicated scenes involving him and his son. There are some intense moments of brutality and also just lots of strangeness embedded throughout, where characters say and do things that just seem a little off without explanation. It all adds up to create a book that is insightful, disquieting, and occasionally undone by it's own goals. ( )

At the Edge of the Woods. The title describes the border where reality and fantasy meet in this short novel.

A father and son are living in a home at the edge of a forest where, maybe, all is not as it seems. The mother, who’s pregnant, has gone to her home to avoid possible complications as she had a miscarriage previously. This bare bones summary doesn’t really describe this novel, however. The father may or not be hearing things emanating from the woods. He may or may not be seeing things. It’s unclear if their isolation in the home is causing his mind to disintegrate, and he even admits that his relationship with his small son is changing. Their TV only seems to be showing scenes of devastation from natural disasters. The mother’s journey home is also filled with odd and bizarre events.

Told in a nonlinear fashion, and quite poetically, this fascinating book is not for the casual reader. It demands patience to detail, and the book really don’t resolve itself in a conventional sense. From the descriptive blurb I read, I wasn’t expecting a literary book at all, but nonetheless, I really did enjoy this fascinating read.

My thanks to Two Lines Press and Netgalley for providing an ARC of this novel. ( )

Surrealism intends to disrupt our experience of the rational world, to inflect our perception and consciousness with with dreams, nightmare, and myth. In this slim volume, Ono relentlessly pushes extraordinary prose that assaults our senses, our perceptions, our humanity. This is a beautifully written series of experiences -- it's difficult to call it a novel -- where often it is impossible to tell what is going on. Is it post-apocalyptic brought on by climate change and near social collapse? Perhaps. Has the wife left or died? Perhaps. Will she return? Who knows. Is the son alive or a ghost? I believe he's alive, but with a altered perception of reality and an empathy for the dispossessed. Is the father so possessed by loss that he perceives the woods much as a child might, as dark and anthropomorphic and haunting? Most likely. But at what level of loss -- his wife? his past? his son? ( )

If you are looking for a nice relaxing book, with a plot that develops from a to b and on to a satisfying conclusion then, boy oh boy, this is definitely not the book for you. Masatsugo Ono's wonderfully unsettling and eerie novel, expertly translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter, is full of the unexplained - sounds, visions, events - but written in beautifully crafted prose that just gets under your skin.

With nods to the horror genre, but with devastating modern commentary on the world's refugee crisis, this is a timely and important work. We are all, somehow, living at the edge of the woods as troubling and horrific events are played out just beyond our sight and somehow beyond our understanding. Here there is no happy ending, so neat resolution, just a father and son in a house surrounded by strange noises. The final scene leaves everything up to the reader's imagination, a brave and skilful decision by the author to leave everything unexplained. A very strong 4, almost 4.5 stars. Definitely a book that deserves to be read. ( )