Inspiring photos
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This book was so lovely that it inspired me to go to Greece. I loved the people, the culture, the food, and yes, the cats. While I was there (two trips to several islands, 10 days each time), I saw many stray cats. The ones I saw all appeared to be in good health, and very comfortable in the presence of humans. They were allowed to mingle with people in restaurants, shops, and hotels. I saw no one mistreating them. Some waiters would watch us to see if we were OK with cats who visited during our meals. When they saw that we were, they allowed them to stay, and we shared our food with them. The cats were obviously accustomed to this arrangement. They were not at all pushy, nor were they afraid. These were my experiences on Crete, Corfu and Paxos. I didn't happen to meet any cats while in Athens.
These pictures are portraits of the lives of cats living free in a uniquely charming environment. I really enjoy seeing them. But if this book also sparks up some controversy, that is not a bad thing. If there are cats being mistreated in Greece (or some portions of that country), that should be addressed and remedied. If cats really are rounded up and euthanized annually (as is claimed in one of these reviews), I would really like to know, and help that to change. But it clearly is not the whole picture.
There is beauty in the freedom and symbiosis cats can have intermingling with humans without being confined and controlled. I am glad that Hans Silvester has shared it with us.
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Let's stick to rating books!
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Amazon.com does a great job in giving us such a variety to choose from. The rating system is there to help us make up our minds on whether to buy something or not. It is not for writing our own expiriences and maybe giving out a wrong immpression about a whole country. As a Greek-American living in Greece, I can assure everybody that Greeks love their strays and take care of them by feeding them, providing water, and petting them. They do let them live free and as nature wanted them. Of course, there are exceptions here, as there are eveywhere. Please, it is just not correct or polite to make such a statement about another country in a place like this. Let's just enjoy rating our nice stuff we just bought from Amazon.com
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Animal lovers should be aware of the plight of these animals
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All of Han's Silvester's photography books of cats, dogs & kittens in the Greek Cyclades Islands are lovely examples of fine photography. As a fine art photographer myself, I respect Mr. Silvester's level of skill and artistry, and I find his other books very beautiful. However, when I first became aware of his books about the cats and dogs, I was thoroughly dismayed by his choice of subject matter and the way he has chosen to portray the lives of these creatures as idyllic and carefree. Having been to these Greek islands, I have learned firsthand that the large majority of these poor animals are ignored, injured, or mistreated by people there-anything but "respected." The photographer has omitted portraits of the true conditions for most of the stray dogs and cats in Greece-crippled, starving, dying of thirst, hurt or maimed, with the humans around them barely taking notice. The full horror of the story was revealed to me by locals on the islands. Each year, the cats & dogs are allowed to breed uncontrolled, because tourists are fond of seeing the cute animals around and on the beaches. At the end of each tourist season, as many of them as possible are rounded up and killed (I couldn't bear to learn how), until the following year when the ones that wurvived begin the cycle all over again. I found this same story on all the islands I visited, including Mykonos, and I was so appalled that I shortened my stay and left Greece altogether. The situation is a tragedy, and my feeling, as a photographer and animal lover, is that Mr. Silvester should not be misrepresenting the condition of the cats and dogs on these Greek islands, especially when it is for monetary gain. I hope animal lovers around the world will agree, and send a message to anyone who profits in any way from the suffering of these dogs and cats in the sun.
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Reduced to reviewing coffee table books
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My wife and I are the pets of two calico felines, Tessa and Trouble. Knowing that we're cat people, friends tend to give us gifts with that relationship in mind. I wish they or we would snap out of it, because some of the Stuff, while well meant, is way too cute or too tacky, or both. (Instead, Amazon gift certificates are always welcome - hint, hint!) However, one offering, CATS IN THE SUN, was well received, and is much appreciated. This is a coffee table tome with five pages of introductory text. Then, on each of the following 137, not a solitary word is printed, but rather a single, rich, 5.5 X 8.25-inch color photograph. The images were all taken by Hans Silvester on the sun drenched Greek islands of Mykonos, Milos and Naxos, where large populations of domestic cats run semi-wild. While the islands' inhabitants allow none indoors, the animals are tolerated, and sometimes actively cared for, with a detached affection. In return, the rodent populations are suppressed with a vengeance. Too many books and calendars featuring kitty pictures are cloyingly cute, usually because they tend to emphasize kittens. Refreshingly, this book is not. It features cats, both kittens and adults, in unstaged, natural situations. Cats on streets, steps, rooftops, harbor quays, walls, tree limbs, rocks, chairs, ledges and pathways. Cats sleeping, lounging, climbing, washing, eating, hunting, leaping, courting, fighting, carousing, watching, sitting, exploring, running and walking. Cats alone. Cats in pairs. Cats in groups. Rarely, cats with people or dogs. Short and long-haired cats, in all sizes, colorations and fur patterns. I think Silvester burned through a lot of film. Among all the glorious pigments, textures, patterns, sunbeams and shadows, I have two favorite images. One, a group of seven cats, all with tails raised and end-curled, walking along with a local codger who is carrying something edible in a plastic sack. (I know it's edible, because that's what our owners look like at six in the morning as I carry the can of TigerChow to the opener.) The other, a cat standing on its hind legs, inquisitively peering into the lower end of a roof's downspout. Then, there are those two curious photos, one of a man painting the base of a wall, the other of some sun-dappled steps, in which no cat is visible at all. Am I (not) seeing the local Cheshire Cat? I consider most coffee table books as useful as Christmas fruitcakes. (You know, the ones with those hateful little green bits.) However, if you like cats, then CATS IN THE SUN is worth savoring.
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Two sides to every story
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This is a lovely coffee table book, celebrating feline beauty in many forms, set in the incomparable beauty of Greece. Hans Silvester's photographs are captivating but only tell part of the story of Greece's cats. They are an integral part of Greece's landscape but their lives are not always beautiful. They are also tales of neglect, disease and cruelty. Anybody who photographs Greece's cats for profit should maybe consider donating some proceeds to their welfare. As much as I enjoyed looking at the photographs, I was uncomfortably aware of the other side of the story, having lived in the region for many years. The book was censorship - a bit like going to Ethiopia and only taking pictures of well-fed children.
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