Slice the Water

by P.P. Wong

Born on the lush island nation of Mahana, Fred lives under the tyrannical rule of a book-burning king. Under the king’s rule, Mahanians are controlled by a military dictatorship and threatened with forced starvation, while people with disabilities are exiled. After Fred’s father suddenly disappears, Fred joins an underground movement of dissenters and becomes an unwitting global icon in the fight for Mahanian freedom. When he is recruited and relocated by an organization that appears sympathetic to Fred’s cause, he arrives in a seemingly peaceful foreign nation, where the impact of social media and technology creates a new, stranger struggle.

A dystopian thriller, a speculative fiction, and a coming-of-age story, Wong’s novel thrums with biting bursts of staccato-like prose — a fitting accompaniment to a fascinating exploration of contrasting political systems. As Fred unpeels layers of truth and sees beyond the optics of altruism and the illusion of choice, Slice the Water unpacks the myriad amplifying impacts of technology, addiction, and complacency.

Genres: Canada

Paperback

Published September 9, 2025

About the author

PP Wong is a novelist, screenwriter and editor.​​ Her debut novel, The Life of a Banana, was nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction and featured in numerous outlets, including The Guardian, The Independent, Corriere Della Sera, The Straits Times, Bangkok Post, Vanity Fair, BBC Radio 4 Women's Hour, Radio Television Hong Kong and BBC World.

PP completed an MFA at the University of British Columbia specializing in TV writing and received the celebrated Cordula and Gunter Paetzold Fellowship. She has a degree in Anthropology and Law from The London School of Economics. 

PP has roots in Canada, England and Singapore.

www.ppwongauthor.com

Reviews

[Goose Lane Editions]

“This novel is a knockout!
Wong has the preternatural gift of making the strange familiar and the familiar strange. The world of this novel is a refracted version of our own, with themes of suppression, addiction, celebrity, grief, and love made slightly more magical and slightly more monstrous, but always smart, witty, and relevant.”
—Annabel Lyon Giller Prize finalist and Women's Prize for Fiction longlist, Consent

“You may think you recognize the world of PP Wong's Slice the Water: The oppressive whims of a tyrant dictator; an under-resourced small country whose suffering is hidden from the world stage. But the novel is on every page surprising and keenly imagined in its world-building. The stakes are dire. You care deeply about the fate of this village. You're fearful in the face of the hopeful naivete of the teenage protagonist and his friends. A tough story that also manages to be a feast to read.”
—Nalo Hopkinson Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Award finalist, SFWA Damien Knight Grand Master, Brown Girl in the Ring

“A twisty adventure story with endearing, heart-melting characters. Slice the Water is also a biting Swiftian satire that critiques both book-burning despots and techno-progressive elites. PP Wong sweeps her readers up in a fictional universe that feels uniquely alive and wondrously imagined—one that brilliantly reveals our own world.”
—Kevin Chong Giller Prize finalist and juror, The Double Life of Benson Yu

[Enid Wray · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was with this - until I wasn’t… and admittedly I should have bailed on it… though I do admit that I sped-read Part 3, titled “Beyond.” I just kept thinking there must be something more that I’m missing and there will be a moment where reading this all becomes worthwhile. Nope. That moment never arrived.

Cut to the chase: This reads as juvenile; It is a hot mess that really doesn’t know what it wants to be…. Allegorical tale, cautionary warning, satire, critique of contemporary capitalism, who knows…; and, the writing is very uneven… all of the serious critiquing is piled on in the last third of the book.

Yes there is some interesting messaging… but most of that is told to me. The author doesn’t trust enough to just let me figure things out for myself.

This should have been a title that ticked all my boxes and made my cheeks hurt. It fell way short of the mark.

[Dan Wachal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Canada Reads 2026 Longlist Book!

Slice the Water gestures at big ideas about identity, migration, memory, and grief, but never gives those ideas a narrative strong enough to carry them. The themes feel scattered, and the plot never really coalesces into something moving or compelling. Fragmentation can be powerful; here it mostly feels like diffusion. Thoughtful in intent, but ultimately thin and forgettable.

Final Canada Reads 2026 Ranking!

1. Searching for Terry Punchout
2. Restaurant Kid
3. It's Different this Time
4. Julie Chan is Dead
5. The Hunger We Pass Down
6. Foe
7. Crossroads
8. The Cure for Drowning
9. Oxford Soju Club
10. Never Been Better
11. Everything is Fine Here
12. Slice the Water
13. A Minor Chorus
14. Celestina's House
15. Heated rivalry

[Jayson Campeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

On a certain level this dystopia read like the Six O'Clock news. I guess the intended warnings given by this type of text are to help us avoid the negative outcome of the path we are on. In our current world situation dystopia is coming critically close to reality and that is scary. I like how the society and it's inhabitants are depicted as well as the specialized words that almost needed their own decoder kit. I am not generally a fan of sci-fi dystopic novels but maybe I am just a late bloomer cause I loved this book. Sad to see it didn't get picked by any of the Canada Reads Champions.

[Anastasis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was drawn in from the first page, as PP Wong seduces me into this far away land that is unfamiliar and yet familiar at the same time as seen through the eyes of Fred a teen who gets thrown into circumstances that seem way over his head. I cheered for him, was devastated for him. To put it simply it is a David and Goliath story, but told in such a way that I dare your heart not to grow a few sizes larger after you read it.

[Kristin Shoemaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed P.P. Wong's first book and was thrilled to enjoy another very meaningful work of art. She avoids traditional literary convention and draws on her deep cross-cultural insights to weave a great story. A great reminder that there is no magic institutional fix on the right or left of our present political conundrum but there is hope.

[Lauren Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

"This was what they wanted. This dam funny feeling that left every part of my body light." (182)

I thought this book had a great amount of action and had a great plot. I did find it a bit slow at times. I enjoyed the ending.

This book was a quick read; a I read it in a day!

I would recommend this book to anyone into dramas.

[Kaylie Voutier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was different from other dystopian novels that I have read but was very good. I found it took a bit more concentration because of the language used and the descriptions of technology but it was interesting because it made me feel confused just like Fred.

[Lorna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as part of Canada Reads 2026. Upon reading the preview it was in my top 5, however when I read the book it dropped drastically. I never got a sense of closure from the ending, too many loose ends. Also if an author is going to make up a language a glossary would be appreciated.

[theliterateleprechaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐝𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔
=========================
Vancouver author

Still thinking about this one. It was such a different dystopian novel. I loved reading about Fred's world and liked the insertions of his language. Of the few longlisted novels I've read so far, I believe this one will be shortlisted.

[Janalynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

One from the Canada Reads longlist that I chose because it has dystopian elements. Liked it, didn't love it. What I did find interesting was how the author sort of created two separate worlds--one without technology versus one that had too much.