Ocracoke Odyssey: A Naturalist's Reflections on Her Home by the Sea [Paperback]

Pat Garber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1999

When Pat Garber first arrived at Ocracoke on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in 1984, she was seeking refuge from a painful divorce. She settled into a primitive cottage by the sound and began to renew her spirit. A year and a half later, she left to take a teaching job in Arizona. After five years, she returned to Ocracoke to stay. She conducted environmental kayak trips into the marshes and became a wildlife rehabilitator and a National Park Service volunteer.

In 1995, to great popular and critical acclaim, Garber published her book Ocracoke Wild: A Naturalist's Year on an Outer Banks Island. Soon afterward, she bought the primitive cottage where she lived when she first arrived on the island. After rehabilitating the home she called Marsh Haven, Pat soon realized that she did not have to seek out the wildlife of Ocracoke. It came to her. In this lyrical sequel to Ocracoke Wild, she writes of the natural wonders of Ocracoke and the threats that face them.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A native of Richmond, Pat Garber is an environmental anthropologist and a columnist for the Island Breeze of Hatteras-Ocracoke.

Product Details

• Paperback: 170 pages
• Publisher: John F. Blair Publisher; First Edition edition (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1878086707
• ISBN-13: 978-1878086709
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,670,267 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, August 25, 2000

By 

J. Lewis "Information Junkie" (AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ocracoke Odyssey: A Naturalist's Reflections on Her Home by the Sea (Paperback)

I'm not much of a "nature" reader, but I really enjoyed these Ocracoke books. The descriptions of wildlife are clear cut and organized in fascinating anecdotes. Ocracoke is truly a magical place; you can feel it's gentle pulse the minute you set foot in this island. I especially loved Ms. Garber's accounts of being a woman alone on this island...her realization that she is on a journey of spirit. Wonderful!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wild about the wild, January 4, 2008

By 

Don R. Lago (Flagstaff, Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ocracoke Odyssey: A Naturalist's Reflections on Her Home by the Sea (Paperback)

Every place as special as Ocracoke should have a writer like Pat Garber to bring it to life.

Pat Garber has spent years getting to know Ocracoke, its beaches, marshes, seas, seashells, seasons, storms, and wildlife, and in this book and its companion book, Ocracoke Wild, she tells Ocracoke's story with knowledge and with heart. Each chapter stars a different character, maybe a dolphin, a pelican, a turtle, a bear, a storm, a comet. Garber tells their stories through accurate natural history, through personal encounters, and through a deep sense of wonder. She loves the beauty in nature, but she also feels the pain of an injured bird and the terrible power of a hurricane. She sees great dramas in the smallest things. She sees with the eyes of a poet. She quietly teaches the value of a life immersed in nature.

She encourages us to wander and to wonder and to find ourselves in a seashell or a flower: "It is slowing down, allowing not only the feet but the mind as well to wander where they will; to turn down new paths with no specific destinations in mind. It is a way of opening the soils of our minds so that new thoughts, new ideas, new dreams can take seed and flower; not the ones we deliberately plant, but those that may float in on a wisp of seaform or a moonbeam."