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On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon Audible Audiobook – Abridged

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 62 ratings

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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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 #317,647 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#11,169 in Literary Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
#20,508 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
#21,985 in Historical Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
62 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book engaging and enjoyable to read. They describe the story as engrossing, realistic, and meaningful. The narrative style is described as vivid and brings characters to life.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

6 customers mention "Readability"6 positive0 negative

Customers enjoyed the book. They found it interesting with a good plot and enjoyable to read about the Civil War.

"...The book is still a fascinating story, one that keeps you reading...." Read more

"Great book, story is engrossing." Read more

"What a wonderful book, I love Kaye Gibbons." Read more

"The book was difficult to follow at times but quite enjoyable as I enjoy reading about the Civil War, The second half of the book..." Read more

6 customers mention "Story quality"6 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the story's quality. They find the plot engaging, with a realistic account of one woman's life during the Civil War. The topics are good, though not groundbreaking.

"I loved this story. If you enjoy historical fiction, you will treasure this book. Highly recommend." Read more

"...The book is still a fascinating story, one that keeps you reading...." Read more

"Great book, story is engrossing." Read more

"I enjoyed this book because it was interesting to read, had a good plot, and a great meaning...." Read more

3 customers mention "Narrative style"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the vivid writing style that brings characters to life. They appreciate the author's imagery and historical aspects.

"...Kaye Gibbons is a lovely writer whose words paint visid scenes and bring characters to life in clear detail...." Read more

"I enjoyed this book because of Kaye Gibbon's writing ability, imagery, and its historical aspect...." Read more

"...This book is one thoughtful and courageous woman's account of her life on a Southern Plantation with an overbearing father and the presence of slaves..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2024
    I loved this story. If you enjoy historical fiction, you will treasure this book. Highly recommend.
  • Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2016
    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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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2003
    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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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2016
    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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  • Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2021
    Great book, story is engrossing.
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2015
    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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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2016
    To say the plot is "predictable" is not a good reflection of this book, but we all know how the Civil War turns out, and we know about the atrocities that occurred during that time. There were no "twists" or "surprises" there. This book is one thoughtful and courageous woman's account of her life on a Southern Plantation with an overbearing father and the presence of slaves, and her later work during the war caring for a family and a hospital full of desperately wounded men. She is courageous, but she is not perfect. We see her humanity, her questioning, her mistakes, and her dependency on her beloved husband and servant.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2017
    What a wonderful book, I love Kaye Gibbons.

Top reviews from other countries

  • Lulu
    5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 23, 2015
    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.