Syngué Sabour de Atiq Rahimi

Roman excellent, mais ne l’achetez pas chez Alapage!

Alapage delivers an incomplete novel – violates the artistic work of Mr. Rahimi and breaks the French and European consumer laws.

This is an excellent novel – as far as I and my wife have been able to read it. Alapage delivered an incomplete copy that ended in the middle of a sentence on page 144. The last 20 pages (or possibly 16, I’m not sure how many pages there should be) were missing from the book.

Alapage refuses to replace it with a complete book. They claim that I should have complained within two weeks from delivery. But there were no obvious signs of the book being defective until you actually read it. I bought five books from Alapage as X-mas presents for my wife, and it took some time until she discovered that this one was incomplete.

French and European consumer laws/directives clearly states that the vendor is obliged to replace a product that has any defect that “becomes apparent within two years as from delivery of the goods.”

So, Alapage is cheating me, breaking the law, and actually violating the artistic work of Mr. Rahimi, by delivering an incomplete book and then claiming it to be “réputé conforme à la commande”.

So, my advice is: buy this book, but certainly no from Alapage.

(Naturally I understand that it is not Alapage who has removed the missing pages, but that there has been an error in the binding of the book at the printer's, but it is still Alapage as a vendor who carries the responsibility. You can find more info about this case at http://www.proz.com/forum/off_topic/129445-warning_against_alapagecom.html)

Also, my apologies for writing in English rather than French, but however much I admire your beautiful language, it is only my third language; I can read it well, but don’t write it very well, particularly not when I’m rather upset.

Un petit éclaircissement : ce n'est pas autour des pierres noires qui se trouvent à la mecque que les pélerins musulmans tournent, mais ces autour de la Ka'ba où sont placées justement ces pierres. Ces pierres sont sacrées car elles proviennent du paradis (aljannah) et le fait de les toucher et les embrasser ne relève aucunement de l'idôlatrie ou d'une quelconque superstition. Tourner autour de la Ka'ba ou embrasser ces pièrres ou n' importe quelle autre pratique faite par les pelerins musulmans est une adoration d' Allah (Dieu). D' Ailleurs, en Islam, il n'y a pas lieu d'invoquer quiconque ou d'implorer quiconque à part Allah.