I know that a lot of people dislike this novella—for “how dare Stephen King write this lesbian couple like this?” reasons, but different flavors of them—but I kind of loved it? My heart was warmed? It seems like a natural expression of Uncle Steve’s faith in the inherent goodness of people and his dismay at the Trumpian political landscape, and it’s got solid King writing in a concise little package. And I liked his narration of the audiobook. It had me sniffling on my morning commute and hoping I didn’t cry my mascara off before work. A solid 4.5 rounded up for me.

The bonus story also made me cry, and I also loved it. To other dog lovers who will need to hear this going in: Don’t worry, she doesn’t die.

And just… If you think that it’s off the wall to posit that a straight guy and long-term townie might have more social capital in a conservative small town than his lesbian newcomer neighbors, and think that it’s awful that he might leverage that to be helpful, I don’t know what to say. Signed, a lesbian from a conservative small town.