FICTION

LOUIS & LOUISE

By Julie Cohen

Orion Books/ Paperback/ 366 pages/ $29.99/ Books Kinokuniya

4 stars

On Sept 8, 1978, a doctor in a small American town announces the gender of a red-haired baby Lou, marking the moment when one life diverges into disparate parallel timelines - one where Lou is a boy, the other where she is a girl.

Both have the same parents, best friends, talents and tics. But they leave home at 18 for different reasons and return 12 years later over requests from different people.

The reader sees how a different chromosome charts how each Lou grows up and sets him or her on his or her own path into mid-life.

This premise sets the stage for American novelist Julie Cohen's latest work - a breezy but thought-provoking read about the powerful role gender has on identity.

Cohen gets readers shifting between perspectives, such as those of Louis' and Louise's, where events unfurl the same either way.

In lesser hands, the gender trope would have been gimmicky.

But Cohen deftly rotates through the different points of view, being so matter-of-fact that it takes a while for the insidiousness of the biases to sink in. For example, Louise's report card reflects that she chatters too much; Louis is "doing well in spite of distractions".

Louise wears contact lenses from a young age to not hide her "pretty eyes" upon her beauty queen mother's urging; Louis wears glasses well until college.

Cohen goes beyond gender to look at whether social class, sexuality and relationships shape one's sense of self. Spoiler alert: They do. But the extent to which these factors affect how the life of Louis or Louise turns out is never fully spelt out.

Consider the adult Louis, who is living his childhood dream as a modestly successful writer. How much of that happened because he inherited a large sum of money as the heir to a storied paper mill?

Or Louise - would she have been a single mum if she had a better relationship with her mother?

While these are heavy themes, Cohen keeps the reader engaged by making the characters feel real. Their flaws and quirks are relatable - Lou's best friend Allie can stomach multiple re-runs of the 1940s Casablanca movie, while their father tends not to probe, leaving them free to do what they want but also isolated.

It is through the Lous' relationships that the reader comes to see how love, no matter what gender, is the main driving force in life.

If you like this, read: 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster (Faber & Faber, $27.82, Books Kinokuniya), about four identical Archibald Isaac Fergusons who will lead four parallel and entirely different lives, where fortunes, athletic skills and relationships diverge.