Cleo

Starts off slow and casual, with a good cast of characters, but near the second half, it practically becomes misery porn. Jude's trauma is a primary plot point, and it leads to some interesting dynamics, and relationships that carry the narrative all the way towards the final page. However, many moments in the story are excessively sadistic and depressing for the sake of shock value. I'm a bit iffy on the death of Willem. It's a very sudden development, especially when things were starting to get more positive for Jude, and the entire cast. Admittedly, Willem and Jude getting together near the end of the story was rather wholesome, and worked to make you invested in their future together, just to take it away a few chapters later. In a way, I can appreciate the tragedy that pushes the story towards its climax, but when put in the bigger picture, it genuinely just adds onto the traumatic, depressing atmosphere, that is somewhat the appeal of the work, but also feels so unnecessary at some points. It hurts the story when it borders on unbelievably sadistic. Though, it adds a level of a dreading enevitability of Jude committing suicide, which he did at the end. The protagonist's conclusion does feel like tying a bow on a truly horrifying reality of mental illness, but at the same time, I don't see the point. Genuinely, there was not a message to justify all the pain. I'm sure you can get something out of the story, such as a self reflection on yourself. At least, that's the case for me. At some points it did affect me personally, considering Jude's character is frankly, a realistic depiction of how many people feel—his inability to escape this false perception that he doesn't deserve to be open about his issues. It's relatable, and works for what it is. I can't help but think it could have toned down the cruelty. I'm conflicted on whether keeping the death of Willem really benefits or breaks the story, since on one hand, it's the big push that sparks the Greek Tragedy of an ending, but on the other hand, no one said “A Little Life” couldn't have a happy ending, where Jude goes the therapy route, and begins to self improve, and overcome his trauma. Then again, what we got fits with the rest of the novel's tone. I can't say I didn't find an intrigue in the framework of the story, and at points, it surely tugged at my heart strings deeply, but in my mind, it just needed to dial back on the emotional trauma.

Damn, this was actually pretty good

At first, I was completely bored, but once the story started to progress, that's when it got pretty good. I'm honestly excited to read more of this series, as it posed plenty of questions, and introduced some interesting elements. Though, the fact that it's short somewhat brings it down as we don't have much time to grow attached or fully invested in the world, but it did help keep the mystery.

Love how descriptive it is, hate how boring the story and characters are.

Honestly, a really weird novel, even for science fiction. The first few chapters are fairly average, but has some intrigue to it for the most part on the first read. Of course, not fully knowing the details of Valentine's upbringing kept me theorizing on what could have potentially happened before the events of the novel in between the two missions to Mars, but other than that, it was a slow read up until halfway through the book where it truly begins to get really REALLY weird.
The cult concept was interesting, and in my opinion, could have been pretty gripping, especially since I enjoy those types of ideas in stories, but this is where one of the novel's biggest flaw begins to show. Even from the start, the characters didn't feel all that believable and fell into outdated stereotypes, but going into the second half, some of the characters actions feel so ridiculous. Needless to say, a lot of the characters actions and the way they're presented can genuinely come off as misogynistic and homophobic. It doesn't help that a large chunk of the story revolves around sexual unity, to an uncomfortable degree.
I know that's the point, yet I wouldn't actually mind if it was actually done to push a strong narrative instead of what I'd respectfully refer to as the author's wet dream. The guy literally has a self insert character that ends up writing this very novel at the end of the story. Admittedly, it had some cool ideas, but it was just executed so poorly that the entire thing feels like a joke. The protagonist even dies at the end in such an anti-climactic way. Oh yeah, there's also cannibalism. I'm obviously against that in real life, but in terms of the novel, I liked the concept and think it's one of the better plot points that comes back at the end when his followers eat Valentine, showing that they had fully integrated into his Martian culture.
Ultimately, I was more surprised and taken aback after finishing. I didn't even know what to think at first, but I did enjoy how weird and stupid it gets by the end. Humanity literally got powers from having sex with Valentine in their daily religious orgies, and killed off the Martians that decided to attack them at the end.
It's nonsensical to an extent, so at the very least, there's that to be entertained by. Still not sure how it won an award though. That gives me the impression of it being a pretentious piece of literature that was simply the first to do what it did. It just didn't age well with time.