Review of Andrew Robinson's "A Stitch in Time"
Having just finished watching the DS9 series for the very first time, I jumped immediately into Andrew Robinson's "A Stitch in Time." The review starts out with generalities but progresses into spoilers. I recommend the book highly.
“A Stitch in Time” by Andrew Robinson
When an actor writes a novel - without a ghost-writer, that is - it’s almost always the old story of the dancing bear. It’s not a question of whether he can do it well, it’s just amazing that he can do it at all. Well, not in this case. This bear’s Fred Astaire!
OK, I doubt this book will ever be up for a Pulitzer, but I was very impressed, and I’m not a pushover. Robinson has done a marvelous job. For anyone to write a book is impressive; it’s not an easy task.
Robinson writes with confidence. His style is unobtrusive and quiet. Never once was I forced outside myself while reading, made aware of awkward or choppy prose. His characters and their situations are believable and complex.
Garak’s story is told in three sections which alternate with each other. There is the story of his childhood which continues until his exile on DS9, about the point where the television series begins. The second story tells of his life on the station while awaiting the invasion of Cardassia, about the time of Tears of the Prophets. The third tells of his life on post-war Cardassia, and his involvement in the healing and re-building of his world.
The three timelines interweave smoothly. The story is told in first person, as a journal that becomes a letter sent to Garak’s friend on the station, Dr. Bashir. While I enjoyed this quite a lot, and loved getting more insight into the elusive and ambiguous character of Garak, there were some disappointments.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD! This book is highly recommended. Stop here and read the book, then continue.
The depiction of Garak’s time at the Institute borrowed rather heavily from the British boarding school dynamic. There was not enough that was intrinsically alien or different about the society, either at large or within the Institute. There are a few “alien” touches, particularly the metaphysical concepts of establishing one’s “place” and Garak’s learning how to expand or withdraw his “presence.” And I did love his use of a chameleon-like creature as a teacher. There were strong echoes of “Ender’s Game,” which I actually thought was very appropriate for Garak’s character.
Garak’s experience with trust and betrayal is well-handled if somewhat simplistic and predictable. As he moves into the Obsidian Order, I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get more details of his training there or his missions. His mission on Romulus was particularly disappointing. His involvement there was only as a gardener to grow the finicky orchards; his Romulan contact did the rest. I expected Garak to take much more of a nefarious role. In fact, all his missions lack the hoped-for darkness.
Interrogation takes place only using the brain-stimulating “enhancer.” While this may be an effective tool, it lacks dramatic punch. Let’s face it: We want the Garak character to have a distinct dark side. He has said, “You don’t know what I’m capable of, Doctor.” It would be nice to see more of a pay-off. The more dark his dark side, the greater contrast with his light side - the love of literature, the Bogart-like selfish hero qualities, and the wit.
Overall, Robinson, who I believe did not have any interest or background in science fiction, was not able to create a sufficiently alien society or race. Granted, the parameters were established in the series, but there was an opportunity here to go beyond that, which was not realized.
A few other disappointments.
I would have loved to get Garak’s take on his first meeting with Bashir and their growing relationship. Now, I realize that I was not going to get much slashiness here - this novel had to have Paramount’s blessing and Paramount does not want to go there - but still, to see the friendship form Garak’s POV would have been nice.
Now, Robinson does do a few subtle things here. Garak expresses his nicely-underplayed disappointment that the friendship with Bashir has cooled, and he has a great line about how a relationship will stall when there is nothing more to learn about each other, or when one is afraid to learn more. Nice bit of under-the-radar hint of slash. (And then there’s that famous line which hints at Garak’s bi-sexuality in the early days at the Institute, indicating his attraction to one of the boys. Nothing more than that, though.) And, in the early days of his exile, he finds working alone and in so much silence to be at first a challenge, then an opportunity for reflection. But he does bemoan the lack of enjoyable conversation. This sets up his future relationship with Bashir nicely.
Another aspect that I missed was more of the renowned Garak wit and spin. This Garak is much more straight-forward for a good part of the book, certainly in the post-war section. But I take this as character development. It’s realistic to see Garak be changed from this experience. However, the earlier sections could have used more of the “typical Garak” wit.
The metaphysical and philosophic concepts of the Hebitian “cult” was sketchy and did not really pay off enough.
Well, despite all the above, I thought this was an exceptionally well-done novel for a first novel, a novel based on a television series and a novel written by an actor. Without all those extenuating details, I would call this a solid, enjoyable read. Andrew Robinson should be proud of this. I haven’t read any ST novelizations since “Spock Must Die,” but I would have to guess that this is the cream of the crop.
I'd love to hear your impressions of this book. And let me know which others might be worthwhile!