On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon
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On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon Audible Audiobook – Abridged

Kaye Gibbons (Author), Polly Holliday (Narrator), Simon & Schuster Audio (Publisher)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 61 ratings
See all formats and editions
Emma Garnet, the heroine of Kaye Gibbons's sixth novel, takes the reader on a Southern journey through place and time, from 1842 to 1900. We see her first as a plantation owner's daughter, pampered by servants yet self-taught in subjects not then in the woman's sphere. As a girl, she does not question the South's peculiar institution, but gradually she recognizes the brutality of slavery. Still, during the Civil War, she works tirelessly in a Southern military hospital, ministering to the wounded out of her fervent sense of loyalty to the South. Throughout the conflict Emma Garnet contains her own warring impulses: her love of the Old South and her hatred of the way it reduces people to chattel. After the war, Emma Garnet attempts to reconcile herself to its trail of death and

devastation by moving North, where, she believes, her answers lie. Her search takes twenty years, and only near the end of her life does she find peace. The miracle of her story is in her heart's transformation. Kaye Gibbons's novels have the compact detail of folk art, without any of the corn, James Wolcott wrote in The New Yorker. Her latest creation features the moving portrayal of a strong and proud heroine who digs beneath the quotidian surface of her life to uncover an extraordinary world.

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  1. Listening Length
    5 hours and 7 minutes
  2. Author
    Kaye Gibbons
  3. Narrator
    Polly Holliday
  4. Audible release date
    May 11, 2000
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster Audio
  7. ASIN
    B0000547H1
  8. Version
    Abridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 5 hours and 7 minutes
Author Kaye Gibbons
Narrator Polly Holliday
Audible.com Release Date May 11, 2000
Publisher Simon & Schuster Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Abridged
Language English
ASIN B0000547H1
Best Sellers Rank #234,351 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#8,585 in Literary Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
#14,402 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
#16,249 in Historical Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
61 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Peggy Vincent
5.0 out of 5 stars A plea for racial tolerance
Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2003
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On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon is Kaye Gibbon's first literary historical fiction entry. Set in the South, like all her books, this one takes place during the era of the Civil War. Near death, Emma Garnet Tate recounts her life, beginning with her childhood as a bright 12yo in 1842, on a Virginia plantation. Her foulmouthed and racially prejudiced father dominates his long-suffering wife and 6 children but has a literary and artistic side as well. This abusive and tyrannical man collects Old Masters' paintings. Clarise, the formidable black woman who truly runs the family (as the overseer of Samuel Tate's dark secret, she runs him, too), cares for everyone and leaves with Emma when she marries and moves away from `home.' The graphic portrayal of Emma and her surgeon husband's duties tending for the maimed and dying soldiers during the war is a heart-rending expression of the futility of war.
4 people found this helpful
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J. Green
3.0 out of 5 stars ... several of her books this one was not my favorite. I found it a little hard to follow
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2016
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I've read Kaye Gibbons before several of her books this one was not my favorite. I found it a little hard to follow.
One person found this helpful
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Moneypitt
4.0 out of 5 stars A fictional memoir set against the backdrop of the Civi War
Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2016
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I re-read this book as a part of a reading group challenge. My book journal noted that I had enjoyed it immensely, so I was anxious to see how I would feel many years later.

The book is still a fascinating story, one that keeps you reading. Kaye Gibbons is a lovely writer whose words paint visid scenes and bring characters to life in clear detail. Against the backdrop of the Civil War, we get to see the often twisted lives of one family.

On a second reading, many years and many, many books later, the story is not as fresh, nor as riveting. The dysfunctional family, the tragic occurrences, the convenient coincidences, and the sometimes cliched portrayal of the South and Southerners tend toward the predictable. With age and wisbom I have developed a cynicism that makes me ask too many piercing questions about characters, plot points, and historic accuracy to read without passing judgment and I found a few things a little hard to swallow.

This is why we re-read a book. To see how the story, the writing, and the characters change as we change.
7 people found this helpful
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C. J. Edwards
5.0 out of 5 stars I enjoyed this book because of Kaye Gibbon's writing ability
Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2015
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I enjoyed this book because of Kaye Gibbon's writing ability, imagery, and its historical aspect. I felt like there should have been a glossary though. I've lived in the south nearly all my life and was sent hunting for words through the beginning chapters. It did feel a little bit two dimensional to me compared to Kaye's other books, but I got the idea she was trying to convey the bigger picture here, and perhaps that meant we didn't get to know these characters as well as those in other books.
2 people found this helpful
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olga
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it
Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2021
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Great book, story is engrossing.
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abigail s kaufman
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2017
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What a wonderful book, I love Kaye Gibbons.
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Jennifer
2.0 out of 5 stars Two Dimensional
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2000
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I was lured into buying this book by an enticing review calling it "better than 'Gone With the Wind.'" I should have known that this comparison was hype, and indeed it was. Both the plot and the characters were extremely two-dimensional and predictable. The heroine and her sainted husband (not to mention her dastardly father) were just too much. It was difficult to feel any of the emotions the author obviously wanted to evoke because the whole thing seemed a bit too hackneyed. Want a great Civil War book? Get the real thing--GWTW. This is only a weak imitation.
6 people found this helpful
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scott hosimer
3.0 out of 5 stars It's O. K. Maybe just not "my thing ...
Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2015
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It's O.K. Maybe just not "my thing."
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Top reviews from other countries

Lulu
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 23, 2015
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Beautifully written. Worth keeping to re-read. I lost track of some of the sentences which were somewhat Dickensian, but I enjoyed being challenged to try again. So much more satisfying to be treated to elegant prose, than impoverished, lazy grunts that pass for communication these days.
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