On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon

Written by Kaye Gibbons

Narrated by Polly Holliday

Like America in the mid-nineteenth century, Emma Garnet Tate is a woman at war with herself. Born to privilege on a James River plantation, she grows up increasingly aware that her family's prosperity is inextricably linked to the institution of slavery.

As she tells her story in 1900, she is still prey to her childhood, to the memories of a life that was made bearable in the main by the indomitable family servant Clarice. She secedes from the control of her overbearing father to marry Quincy Lowell, a member of the distinguished Boston family. Living in Raleigh on the eve of the Civil War, Emma Garnet and Quincy, with Clarice's constant help, create the ideal happy home.

When war destroys the rhythm of their days, Emma Garnet works alongside Quincy, an accomplished surgeon. As she assists him in the treatment of wounded soldiers, she comes to see the war as a "conflict perpetrated by rich men and fought by poor boys against hungry women and babies." After Appomattox, Emma Garnet sets out to take the exhausted Quincy home to Boston, where she begins the journey of her own reconstruction.

As in her five previous novels, Kaye Gibbons demonstrates her subtle mastery of detail and her unmistakable voice. Told in graceful cadences, On the Occasion of My Last Afternoonis a shimmering meditation on the divisions of the human heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Jun 1, 1998
• ISBN: 9780743543156

Kaye Gibbons

Kaye Gibbons was born in 1960 in Nash County, North Carolina, on Bend of the River Road. She attended North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studying American and English literature. At twenty-six years old, she wrote her first novel, Ellen Foster. She is also the author of A Virtuous Woman, Charms for the Easy Life, On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon, A Cure for Dreams, Sights Unseen, and Divining Women.

Reviews for On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon

[vashonjim · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loved the title, liked the book.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Gibbons grabs you at the first sentence: "I did not mean to kill the nigger!"Here she tells the tale of the daughter of a plantation owner from the Civil war to early 20th century.Gibbons captures the reader, who lets go ever so reluctantly at the end of each novel. Her writing is to be treasured. Read ALL you can of her!

[lkernagh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is my first foray into a Kaye Gibbons book. Gibbons portrayal of an elderly woman's musing about her life stuck all the right chords with me. The tone is muted, reflective in nature but there are no rose-coloured glasses at work here. The Tate family, under the rule of Emma's bigoted, self-made father is dysfunctional, so it comes as no surprise that Emma seeks escape in a marriage to a doctor from a well-to-do Boston family. Gibbons may have been a bit extreme in her portrayal of Emma's tyrannical father (a man Emma's sister tries to explain by saying "''You know he thinks he himself is the South,'') and her mother's quiet acquiescence to his raving demands, but even that effect is dulled down by the portrayal of the ravages the Civil War inflicted on everything and everyone in its path. Through it all, Clarice is the skilled navigator of choppy waters and it is her wisdom that shines through in this story: "We knew what she believed to be moral, and while at the top of her list was eliminating slavery, she did not interfere in its flourishing. Her mission was not to change history but to help both white and black prevail over the circumstances of living in that place, the South, in our time. She worked with the consequences dealt her by others, in the travails of her race. She was not merely dignified, and to label her such would be not an error of judgement but one of degree. No, she was dignity herself." As summarized by one reviewer, this novel is "above all, a story of how Southern women suffered and endured the deprivations of the home front during the Civil War. But it is so much more." A worthy read, IMO.

[meerka_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Pre-Civil War south a family is ruled by an arrogant and insensitive father, with a past that would destroy his family and their achievements. Very well written and a look at a side of the Civil War that I've never seen.

[cataylor_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A beautifully written account of a strong southern woman who, after being abused by her father in her childhood, learns compassion and healing for soldiers during the Civil War. The last line stays with me: "This has been such a glorious afternoon -- my heart would not weep if I did not live to see another."

[repb_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My first book finished in 2016 and my first 5-star rating. A wonderful account of life in the South in the time leading up to and through the horrible Civil War. Not a battle view look - but a look through a flawed family's eyes. Poignant and sad, and a little hard to follow at times, I admire the writing and will soon read more by this uber-talented writer.

[theeccentriclady · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I picked this book up 2nd hand. I have read Kaye's books before and I thought it sounded like an interesting story. After reading some of the reviews I was worried but I really did enjoy this book. I always enjoy reading about people who lived through difficulties but come out better for them and I think this is one of those type books. If you want everything to be sunshine and roses then do not read this book. The graphic descriptions of the civil war experience could also bother some but I felt it gave a good feeling of what life was like for those living near the fighting. If I learn something new or come to a better understanding of something then I feel the book was worth at least a 3. If I kept wanting to find time to read it gets a 4. I reserve 5's for books that I will never forget and this wasn't quite that inspiring but still worth my time.