RPT-INTERVIEW-Obama reads Life of Pi to daughter

Mon Nov 9, 2009 8:39pm EST

(Repeats with no changes to text)

WASHINGTON Nov 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama may be in for a nasty surprise when he reaches the final pages of the best-selling book Life of Pi, which he said on Monday he was reading with his 11-year-old daughter Malia.

In an interview with Reuters, Obama called it a "wonderful book" that was enthralling his daughter.

"There are whole chapters that really have to do with Hinduism, Christianity. There is a lot of philosophical stuff in there, but for some reason she (Malia) is hanging in there," he said.

The prize-winning book by Yann Martel centers on the journey of Pi Patel, who is cast adrift in a lifeboat with a tiger, a hyena, a zebra and an orangutan after a ship carrying him and his family from India to Canada sinks.

There is a battle for survival and eventually it is just Pi and the tiger left in the small boat.

But the fantasy adventure is revealed to possibly have been a fabrication by the narrator in the last pages of the book, with the real story emerging of a horrific tale of cannibalism and murder.

(Editing by Paul Simao)

((For more stories on the interview see [nOBAMAVIEW]))

((ross.colvin@thomsonreuters.com; +1-202-898-8392; Reuters Messaging: ross.colvin.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: OBAMA/BOOK

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