SOURCE: “A Medley of Good and Evil,” in Washington Post Book World, Vol. 27, No. 45, November 9, 1997, p. 8.

In the following review, Ward discusses the moral issues raised by The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, calling the novel “a turning point” in Murakami's career.

Haruki Murakami's English-language fans have read enough of his work by now—most notably the novels A Wild Sheep Chase, Dance, Dance, Dance and the era-defining Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World—to be able to recognize The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle as something of a turning point. It is not just that this is Murakami's most ambitious attempt yet to stuff all of modern Japan into a single fictional edifice; it marks a genuine change of tone, a kind of mid-life deepening of purpose. His trademark weirdness remains, but where he used to be slick he is suddenly, surprisingly, serious.

It takes a while to figure...