On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon

I recommend this book without hesitation. It was an absolute treat. The characters are rich and full of life and the dialogue is remarkable. One critic wrote that there's simply not a bad sentence in the book and I wholeheartedly agree. I will be ordering more of Ms. Gibbons' books right away.

I am not articulate enough to do justice to "On the Occasion of my Last Afternoon" but I highly recommend it. I am a big fan of "Gone with the Wind" and at first avoided purchasing "On the Occasion of my Last Afternoon" because I thought it would be a lacking duplication. How wrong I was! Gibbons writes with such grace. I felt I was living along side the characters and more than ever appreciate the devastating loss the South suffered both during and after the Civil War (and I'm a Yankee). My favorite line is that the doctor (and his wife) say "all people are my kind". If only, we all believed that today! The main character had a life of joy and pain but it is a lesson in perservance and making the most of what life gives you. Yes, the book is sad, but I would probably describe it more "bittersweet" than sad.

I absolutely loved this book -- I think that Kaye Gibbons is an amazing writer, and this book was one that I was so sad to finish! I loved everything about it, and wish that she would write more! All of her books are excellent, but there is something about this one -- sometimes I just take it off my bookshelf and browse through it remembering how much I enjoyed reading it! I highly highly recommend this book!

This, Gibbon's latest work, is not her best, or perhaps a better way of saying it would be, her most literary, but it shows a side of this Southern author that was hiding in most of her earlier works. I've read the book several times, and though I am a male, I am a Southerner, and the book gives my shivers every time. It is the most beautifully tragic book I have ever read. (Shakespeare wrote plays, not books.) Emma Garnet Tate Lowell is, like most of Gibbons' main characters, strong, insightful, but none of the others have endured as much hardship as she has. The prose is, as usual, pitch-perfect, and though the characters are not greatly subtle in a post-modern way (to which we have perhaps become *too* accustomed), they are classic morality studies in themselves. This one blows GONE WITH THE WIND out of the water for Southern Romances. Kaye Gibbons is a consumate storyteller, and ON THE OCCASION OF MY LAST AFTERNOON is a stunning book.

I have been a fan of Kaye Gibbons' writing since Ellen Foster. This may be her best. Totally different from her other novels, this book is the story of a woman's life from the 1840's to 1900, which of course spans the Civil War. The book made me think of that war in a new way, especially through Emma's and her family's experience, which is the story of all the families who lived during that time.I liked the fact that I encountered a lot of new words and phrases, some of which I haven't found the meaning of yet. Like gold chargers, pumpton tart, asafoedita bags. Other phrases delighted me; stepping children, first footer come to mind. Beyond that, I liked the way Emma, her mother and Clarice adapted to their circumstances, horrific as they sometimes were. Although the men in the story are the kind you will remember, it's the women who triumph.