Title:  On the Road
Fandom:  Books by Gordon Korman: the MacDonald Hall series a.k.a. Bruno & Boots
Pairing:  Bruno/Boots, some Bruno/OMC and Bruno/surprise, Commando/Doug
Categories:  post-series, angst, drama
Length:  Long [20,000 words]
Warnings:  n/a - wait; explicit politics


Author on LJ:  rageprufrock 
Website:  Glitterati

Review:  "Bruno ran out of underwear in Missouri."  Bruno is a campaign manager for the 2004 Presidential campaign of Senator Fairchild.  He's been on the trail for longer than he can remember, and he hasn't spoken to Boots in months.

This story is an unusual mix of Gordon Korman books; the Bruno & Boots "MacDonald Hall series" universe coexists with the universe of "The Twinkie Squad".  That's not a terrible stretch - both series are nominally in "the real world", and it's only the antics of the characters that make it seem otherwise.  The characters that appear in this story are all grown up (considering that the books are from the 80s, that was a nice touch) and working to achieve their goals.  Well, their political goals - Bruno and Commando are both estranged from their best friends/lovers, and so romance is on hold until they can get their heads together again.  Bruno's loss of Boots has made him cynical, bitter and sometimes depressive, but his character's fundamental optimism is still there... and the story's ending gives him back his heart's desire.

If you're a political junkie, you'll definitely like this story.  The frantic pace of the campaign and the weariness and gradual descent into sleep-deprived madness of the campaigners are right on point.  Even if you aren't a fan of U.S.-style elections, the story serves up a delicious portion of angst, topped off with broken-heartedness, and thankfully softened by the eventual reconciliation of our heroes.  Poor Bruno and Boots... neither man is capable of communicating with the other until the very end, and while it's all from Bruno's POV, the reader can see that both men have been in pain for a long time.  [Another reader compared the story to the then-strained relationship between the U.S. and Canada, embodied by Bruno and Boots respectively, and they were completely right - and not just because of the setting or the character's nationalities.  Hooray for a well-used metaphor!]

On the Road