One Evening in the Life of Jim Garraty

This is a Leonberger blog, but I also post about other topics including book reviews for books that I love and want to promote. With this post I would like to promote Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen: A Jim Garraty Story (The Reunion Duology) by Alex Diaz-Granados.

Below is an overview of the two formats of Comings and Goings

  • Paperback –  Independently published (July 1, 2025), ASIN : B0FFBJG5KQ, ISBN-13 : 979-8289407344, 51 pages, Item Weight : 4.6 ounces, dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.13 x 9 inches, it cost $9.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle – Publisher : ADG Books via Kindle Direct Publishing (June 22, 2025), ASIN : B0FF5FLL87, 53 pages. It is currently $2.99 on Amazon.com but free with Kindle unlimited. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Title and name of author written slanted across the front cover. In the background there is furniture in a small room.
Front cover of Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen by Alex Diaz-Granados. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback version of the book.

Amazon’s Description of Comings and Goings by Alex Diaz-Granados

Boston, 1984. A party Jim Garraty never wanted to attend. A girl who didn’t look away. A night stitched together by mixtapes, quiet courage, and the ache of choosing to stay.

Jim isn’t chasing romance—he’s just trying to outrun the noise. But when Kelly Moore enters the room with her drink, her Rachmaninoff references, and her uncanny ability to see without pressing, everything shifts. Over cassette tapes and Heineken beer, conversations deepen, touch becomes language, and for the first time, intimacy feels less like performance and more like breath.

Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen is a quietly luminous companion to the Reunion Duology, capturing one night’s transformation from awkward beginnings to the kind of closeness that rewrites your inner dialogue. It’s about music, memory, and the rare kindness of someone meeting you where you are—with patience, humor, and unexpected grace.

This isn’t a story about first love.

It’s a story about the first time you didn’t have to explain yourself.

This is my Amazon five-star Amazon review of Comings and Goings

From Awkward Misery to Adventure

I think this novelette is best read as a companion to the author’s larger masterpiece Reunion: Coda. Alternatively, it serves as an introduction to the author’s writing style and storytelling prowess. The author has an exceptional skill in crafting and delivering compelling narratives that engage audiences, and this short novelette could be one of the many chapters in the life of the protagonist Jim Garraty, a man who will become a celebrated professor at Columbia University.

In this book Jim Garraty is a first year student at Harvard and he is attending a party where he does not know anyone except for a fellow student who is quite busy elsewhere and leaving him on his own. He feels lonely, awkward and out of place until a girl, Kelly Moore, takes interest in him and his miserable night turns into quite an adventure. What stands out about this book is the realistic description of emotions, inner thoughts, and the realistic dialogue. It serves as a prelude to what to expect from his other books. I highly recommend this short novelette.

An overview of the book, a photo of the author and an introduction to the author.
Back cover of Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen by Alex Diaz-Granados. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the Kindle version of the book.

About the Author of Comings and Goings

Alex Diaz-Granados (born 1963) has spent decades weaving words into stories, critiques, and screenplays, always with an eye for nuance and emotional depth. His journey began in the early 1980s as a staff writer and Entertainment Editor for his high school newspaper, later serving as Diversions Editor for Miami-Dade Community College’s South Campus student publication.

Fueled by a passion for cinema, he has been sharing his thoughts on film—raving about masterpieces and ranting about misfires—since 2003, contributing reviews to platforms like Amazon, Ciao, and Epinions.

Beyond criticism, Alex has collaborated with actor-director Juan Carlos Hernandez on several screenplays, including A Simple Ad, Clown 345, Ronnie and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bliss, and Sunny in the Village of the Crickets, all of which can be seen on YouTube. His writing extends to blogging, with general-interest articles once featured on Yahoo! Voices (formerly Associated Content).

As an author, Alex is best known for the Reunion Duology—the novella Reunion: A Story and its sequel Reunion: Coda. These works explore themes of nostalgia, regret, and the enduring bonds of friendship, set against the atmospheric backdrop of Miami and New York City. With cinematic storytelling and emotionally authentic characters, his work resonates with readers seeking a blend of memory and new beginnings.

Click here to visit the author’s website

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Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.

35 thoughts on “One Evening in the Life of Jim Garraty”

  6. Thanks, Thomas, for the kind words about Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen. I’m happy that this glimpse at college-age Jim Garraty’s life resonated with you. Honestly, I’m surprised (in a good way) that I wrote this story not long after finishing Reunion: Coda; it wasn’t planned, really…it just insinuated itself in my subconscious and whispered insistently until I wrote it in a three-day span of time.

    Tell me, though…are there any particular scenes or quotes that grabbed your attention?

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  12. Pingback: The Music That Hurt Less: A Response to Thomas Wikman’s Review of ‘Comings and Goings’ – A Certain Point of View, Too

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