The novel ironically would bring into question the role of the author and their purpose amongst society as they intended to record facts as merely facts that would not be construed by the masses. The family after all were a great source of information and the general public responded well to the publication of the text and more so when the confidentiality aspect of the novel was brought into question. The whole affair of the novel upon publication brought into question the role of the author and very much like Rushdie, Seierstad found her work being silenced after its publication. Seierstad has been reported as stating that after the completion of her novel The Bookseller of Kabul it was a:

“Penitential exercise, but a little because ethically this is not my story. It is Afghanistan’s story.