When Silko first published Storyteller, she did not anticipate the book having a wide audience. It has generally been well received and is often placed on college reading lists.[4] In an interview with Kim Barnes, Silko explained that “The book is written for people who are interested in that relationship between the spoken and the written.”[18]
Storyteller was reviewed by writer N. Scott Momoday in the New York Times after the books initial release in 1981. In his review he calls the book “a melange."[10] He notes there are “moments of considerable beauty and intensity, moments in which, according to the central tenet of storytelling, the language is celebrated.”[10] He also praises Silko for her sense of humor and keen eye for where “the profound and the mundane often run together in our daily lives.”[10] He closes noting the importance of the distinction of a storyteller and writes, “If [Silko] is not yet a storyteller, she promises to become one.”[10] When Storyteller was republished in 2012 under Penguin, the New York Times placed Storyteller on its Sunday Book Review Paperback Row.[19]
When first published in 1981, it made the Los Angeles Times “Notable" books list.[20] It was also made a "Noteworthy" paperback book by Alex Raksin in the Los Angeles Times in 1987.[21] When it was reissued in 1989 through Arcade Publishing, Storyteller made the "Fiction Best Sellers" list for Southern California in the LA Times.[22]
