Conversation so far:
What is the main point of the article?
The processing of collective trauma soon became an important theme in Murakami's writing, which had previously been more personal in nature.
What was the trauma?
Murakami returned to Japan in the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake and the Aum Shinrikyo gas attack.
He came to terms with these events with his first work of non-fiction.
What was his first non-fiction book?
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1995) is a novel that fuses the realistic and fantastic, and contains elements of physical violence.
It.
When did he return to Japan?
in the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake and the Aum Shinrikyo gas attack.

Question: Was The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle a popular book?
Self-contained rewrite: Was The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle a popular book?