"[8] Becca Rothfeld of The Washington Post defended the book from pro-Israel critics, but still described it as "disjointed, heavy-handed and frequently clichéd", pointing to sentences such as "The only way I ultimately survived was through stories" and "You wonder if human depravity has any bottom at all, and if it does not, what hope is there for any of us?

"[9] Perry Bacon Jr., also of The Washington Post, was more positive, saying that "the writing in this book is lyrical, the reporting richly detailed, and almost every page offers a new and important insight or articulates an idea you had in your head but hadn't fully put together".

[10] Likewise, Hassan Ali Kanu of The American Prospect was complimentary towards the book's lyrical qualities, writing that he found its treatments of the question of minority writers politicizing their works, and of colorism, black nationalism and social inequality in post-colonial African society compelling.

[11] In Haaretz, the journalist and documentarian Noam Sheizaf wrote that while The Message was not the "ultimate book" about Israel's occupation of the West Bank, it nevertheless offered a "critical perspective" for liberal Israeli readers.

[12] The Message featured as one of the 28 best books of Fall 2024 selected by Oprah Daily, where the reviewer noted: "In each location, Coates negotiates the double-edged sword of language: the mythmaking that builds these oppressive systems and the witness bearing that promises to undo them.

Through his travels and reflections, Coates shows that we each have the power to honor our past and to fight for a just future — whether by sharing stories of resilience from Senegal, standing up to censorship in South Carolina, or bearing witness to struggles in the West Bank.

[19] Rothfeld accused both Dokoupil and The Free Press's Coleman Hughes, who wrote that Coates had a "desire to smear Israel", of "perform[ing] an activity that barely even resembles reading.