Sharon Osbourne Extreme: My Autobiography    by Sharon Osbourne & Penelope Dening Order:  USA  Can Springboard Press, 2006 (2006) Hardcover, CD Read an Excerpt     Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth When starting Sharon Osbourne's autobiography, I looked at the beautiful woman on the cover and thought, with that lovely smile, that this would be a book about an average woman who happened to be in the music business and was married to rocker Ozzy Osbourne. I settled back, thinking this would be an interesting history of that woman's life. Wrong! This is a woman who speaks two languages – English and obscene. History, yes. Interesting, yes. Shocking? Oh, you bet. Sharon Osbourne was jinxed from the day of her birth, saddled with a father who was – in her own words – a cheat, a liar, a con artist, a thug with an uncontrollable temper. Her mother was a shrinking violet who contended with her husband's flagrant promiscuity by ignoring it. Sharon married Ozzy Osbourne and plunged into a life of knowing her husband was sleeping around with anything that breathed. Out of thirty-five years of marriage, Ozzy has been sober the last two! He claims she saved his life. She claims he saved hers, even though one night he almost succeeded in strangling her. Drugs played a big role in their marriage. The thread running through this autobiography is the music business with all its ups and downs. I am not familiar with the names of all the bands that Sharon or her father managed, but I could understand the machinations that were necessary to keep their names before the public. It's a tough, hard life and requires one who lives it to be tough and hard. Sharon manages to be both. If she hadn't been, her world would have swallowed her long ago. She's a survivor who simply won't give up. She just moves on when her world turns upside down. She battled colon cancer as she battled the rest of her life. Sharon Osbourne has come out on top. A woman with the courage of her convictions. Not afraid to turn her back on everything she knew and start over. Instead of railing at the injustices of her life, she faces them head on. She tells her story with no apologies, stating it like it is. Takes more courage than I have. Her lifestyle is definitely not mine. But I have to admire the stamina, loyalty, and determination she exhibits. Ozzy is a very lucky man. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more NonFiction books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews