Guardian Australia's Five Great Reads newsletter curates standout articles from the past week, offering a leisurely weekend digest. This edition covers Kylian Mbappé's World Cup brilliance, Gaza musicians rebuilding after war, Rachel Aviv's exploration of motherhood, a couple's ordeal with stalker neighbours, and a cruise with celebrity impersonators.
1. The Celebrity Impersonator Cruise
Mina Tavakoli reports from a cruise hosting 4,000 passengers at the Sunburst celebrity impersonator convention, featuring figures like Marilyn Monroe, Walter White, and Ozzy Osbourne. She notes that "tribute artist" differs from "lookalike" or "impersonator." One standout is Ozzy, a former corrections officer who, after being mistaken for the real Ozzy Osbourne, embraced the role as a "drug-free preacher man." He says, "You know what happens when I talk to kids as Ozzy? They finally listen." Tavakoli reflects: "Accept that there are few complete originals. Make do with your earthly gifts. Understand that to be close enough to greatness is, very often, more than enough."
2. Gaza's Conservatory Rebuilds on the Beach
Most instruments in Gaza's Edward Said conservatory were destroyed in bombings, but teachers have restarted classes in a makeshift tent on the beach. Coordinator Ahmed Abu Amsha, who lost a talented guitar student in a cafe bombing, says music has become "an important tool for psychological relief." Flute teacher Osama Jahjouh, whose instruments were destroyed when his home was hit, crafted his own flute from plastic tube: "It was difficult, as flute making requires precise measurements for tone holes and placement, but I managed to produce a playable instrument." Student Mohammad Khader, 17, learning the oud, says, "Whenever I feel stressed or upset, I turn to music because it calms my nerves." Yara Abu Amsha, 15, chose the violin: "Music means a lot to me. During the war I discovered that it has become a real refuge for us."
3. Rachel Aviv on Motherhood
Greta Rainbow interviews New Yorker staff writer Rachel Aviv, whose work spans psychology, medical ethics, and criminal justice. Aviv's investigation into Alice Munro's partner's molestation of Munro's daughter made global waves. Now, wary of oversimplistic portrayals, she is writing a book on the mother-daughter bond. Aviv says, "Perhaps more than any other, [that bond] seems to defy a fixed point of view." Rainbow notes that encountering Aviv's headshot is "like a signpost: you are about to read a piece of writing that could change how you choose to live."
4. Surviving Stalker Neighbours
Amanda Hutton and Richard Burton bought a dilapidated Welsh farmhouse, enchanted by its meadows and streams. But when a young couple, Francis and Cassie, bought adjacent land, odd behaviour escalated into threats, vandalism, and a "full-blown campaign of terror." Burton recalls a moment when "he hadn't been trying to scare us. He'd been trying to kill us." The extract from a new book is described as gripping but tense, evoking comparisons to Straw Dogs.
5. Kylian Mbappé: King of the World Cup
Aaron Timms argues that Kylian Mbappé is "the most thrilling and compelling figure" at this year's World Cup. On the field, his speed and violence come with "a kind of pickpocketing nonchalance." Off it, his "volcanic denunciation" of a Paraguayan senator's racist attack shows statesmanship. Timms writes, "If Michael Jordan lived by the rule that 'Republicans buy sneakers too,' Mbappé appears quite happy with a world in which acolytes of the far right go shoeless." Despite his principle and intellectualism, Mbappé doesn't take himself too seriously.
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