[Digital ARC provided by NetGalley and Two Lines Fiction. Thank you! -- This is a late review developed and edited from my reading journal.]

Going off my notes alone, I feel the existential dread this book caused me, the fear of being alone -- truly alone, abandoned, isolated -- that this book evoked in me when I read it. This book isn't for everyone. I'll admit that up front. It's not "in your face" scary, but more a thing of creeping dread that takes place over four episodic chapters. It's also a short book, so you won't get mired long enough in the setting for any kind of terror to truly set in. But the dread stuck with me, at least during my reading. Some probably won't like the non-straightforward nature of this story, the vagueness of its premise, but for me, it was worth the read.

I actually put this book down about a year ago, but recently I felt a sudden urge to give it another chance and pick it up again. I have to say, it didn't quite live up to my expectations, but I do appreciate its commendable qualities. The metaphoric nature of the book really grabs readers' attention. However, if I'm being honest, it doesn't perfectly match my personal preferences.

The terrors in Ono’s world seem unfamiliar and strange. Until they don’t. Like an image that slowly resolves into focus, the occasional appearance of people in unexpected places becomes a full blown refugee crisis like the ones that rock the contemporary world. The narrator is paralyzed by the tide of displaced people, “continuous and thick”, rushing past his remote home. He cannot help them; he cannot even speak to them in a language they can understand.

No single disaster drives these refugees. Violence. Climate change. Other people’s greed. At the Edge of the Woods puts these realities of the contemporary world on full display and presents them as what they are—horrors. It reads like a horror novel or a supernatural thriller because it plunges the reader into her own helplessness in the face of the mass suffering of other people.

Read the full review at https://asianreviewofbooks.com/content/at-the-edge-of-the-woods-by-matsugu-ono/

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.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

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.

An allegorical tale that doesn't miss! I have been diving into translated Japanese fiction a lot this year, and this one takes the cake as one of the best. I felt like I was compelled to keep reading and couldn't stop for anything, which means it's good that this book is so short. I really enjoyed it from start to finish.