Rating: 
Summary: On the occasion of my last afternoon
Review: This fiction work is more like a novelette than a fully developed novel. The work is a fictional memoir, and provides a look into life in the South, around the time of the civil war. The personal slant of the narrator is weighted toward obsession with her very difficult and often criminal father. While a powerful and malevolent parent may remain a central focus of a child's life, this book focused on that relationship to the exclusion of most others. I had little real feeling for any other relationship the memoirist had. Emma Garnett seemed uni-dimensional. Despite this, the book is filled with details on daily life of the Southern upper class. Most importantly,this book reminded me that under some circumstances, people who appear courageously moral may act immorally.
Rating: 
Summary: On the Occasion of my Last Afternoon
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Most beautifully written book I've read!
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: It's a good listen
Review: I had the chance to rent this book on audio tape. I agree that the characters are too good or too bad but listening to the southern cadence made this book very worth while. I found that I was trying to drive while listening and tearing.
Rating:
Summary: On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon - a womanly saga
Review: I loved this sprawling introspection of a long life well livedfrom daughter of a plantation through marriage to a New England doctorthrough the Civil War ending up in the early years of the 20th century. When I first attempted to read this little book, I had to put it down so shocked was I by its opening page. Then I remembered I really like Kaye Gibbons' works & trusted her craft. It was worth staying with - a lively, thoughtful historical read...
Rating: 
Summary: Two Dimensional
Review: 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.
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Summary: Strength, compassion, love and family
Review: Kay Gibbons' writing and Polly Holliday's narration are both superb. Gibbons use of metaphor and language gives one a real feeling of the over powering hate, fear and love felt by the members of this horrible and great extended family trapped in one of our nations most wrenching times. Those of us that remain unaware of history are doomed to repeat it. Polly Holliday's reading of the book was inspired and brought the book to life in a way that was masterful and heart wrenching. Her performance was wonderful. It brought a real feeling of the torn family and a torn country that is the setting of the book. As a student of history this historical fiction was well worth the investment to see how the strong women in our past have framed and supported the life we now have in this country.
Rating:
Summary: It snuck up on me
Review: This book crept up on me slowly, quietly. For the first half I wasn't sure if I was enjoying it or not. At the end, I realized I was just completely enchanted with this woman. The story is narrated by Emma Garnet Tate Lowell, at the end of her life (her last afternoon). It is told in 1900, looking back over her childhood with a tyrannical father whom she could never please, due to the fact that she actually had a brain (most unbecoming in a proper lady of that era). It goes on to her marriage to a man her father detests, and their life through the Civil War, living in the South. It is love story, war story, family story, all wrapped up. She is a woman who endures much with an amazing amount of dignity, who allows us to see the deep-felt emotions below the quiet exterior she must always maintain throughout her life. She is noble, and she is human. And if you're like me, you will adore her by the end of the book.
Rating:
Summary: Why I'll never write a book.
Review: Who can compare with Kaye Gibbons? This book was excellent as well it should be coming from one of the true great novelists of America. How sad for me. :)
Rating:
Summary: This book was wonderful and way too short
Review: Well well Kaye Gibbons has done it again. This is by far her most excellent tale. My chief complaint is it ended too soon. I sorely wanted the story to continue.
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