At the edge of the woods

More of a deeply unsettling tone poem than structured narrative, this novel, translated from the Japanese by Juliet Winters Carpenter, evokes a bizarre countryside where an unnamed man lives with his toddler son. Coughs and laughter emanate from the trees; here, a tree stump flourishes with poison; there, the shapeshifting, fanged mailman blames imps for the missing post; further into the forest, lines of trudging refugees escape an unknown conflict.