At the Edge of the Woods

Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant meets Pew by Catherine Lacey in Ono’s latest, a short, atmospheric novel about parenthood, paranoia, societal collapse, and the power of imaginary creatures. At the Edge of the Woods is the third book from Masatsugu Ono from Two Lines Press. A perennial bookseller favorite, Ono represents the “post-Murakami” generation of writers: those who emerged after Murakami’s international success. As such, this novel will appeal to readers of Murakami, as well as contemporary Japanese writers such as Mieko Kawakami (Breasts and Eggs; Heaven) and Sayaka Murata (Convenince Store Woman, Earthlings). Known for his delicacy with intense subjects, Ono’s power derives from his ability to state plainly, without purple prose or traditional writerly zeal, the complicated nature of things: our relationship to history, each other, and the planet. At the Edge of the Woods, however more fantastical, preserves this essential skill of the writer. The result is an elusive, challenging work that hums with dread and possibility, punctuated by stunning scene after stunning scene.