I feel Murakami's earlier work was more natural and didn't try too hard. Not all was great, but his best work for me is Wild Sheep Chase. After The Wind Up Bird, he is mostly repeating himself. I don't see much depth in his works, at least in terms of "depth" how I would define it. Murakami is about alot of ideas who are not always connected or go anywhere. It's fun for a while, but gets repetative.