AUDIO BOOK: Sharon Osbourne EXTREME

"Fascinating, at the same time disturbing..."

EXTREME: My Autobiography
by Sharon Osbourne
Hachette Audio (October 2006)

AUDIO CD: 3 CDs READ BY THE AUTHOR

While I realize it may not be a universal sentiment, I love Sharon Osbourne. I have since she first appeared on reality TV (MTV), reigning over home, children, pets, and her aging, somewhat-befuddled, rock star husband, Ozzy on The Osbournes. She is a role model of a strong, smart, outspoken, funny, unconventional, feisty redhead -- all that, with a great haircut and a snappy English accent, too.

I jumped at the chance to review her autobiography when offered from the publisher. My friends at Hachette Book Group (formerly Warner Books) surprised me this time by sending the audio CD version of the book, read by Sharon Osbourne, which was perfect timing: My husband and I enjoyed listening on a long drive to Florida (my birthday weekend getaway!).

The audio version of EXTREME is entertaining, compelling and controversial; fascinating, at the same time, disturbing. This is a woman who has really come into her own, beyond the success and privilege of her husband's fame. She is a woman deserving of good fortune and peace in her life, after suffering and surviving years of abuse by her father and her husband. However, she is no angel, maybe not even a completely sympathetic victim: This is a woman, when she gets angry, who tends to seek revenge and lash out. She cheerfully admits to urinating in someone's drink on more than one occasion, and expressing her dissatisfaction, on numerous occasions, with human excrement.

She is unapologetic, but forgiving, of herself and those around her, including her father and her husband. Her story is fascinating, from her hard scrabble childhood in England, through the ups and downs (always to the extreme) as the daughter of a very controlling, powerful man in the music industry and later as the wife of an abusive, self-destructive rock legend. This is the story behind the stories played out on reality TV and in the tabloids.
The truth according to Sharon Osbourne.

I still love her, one Rebel Housewife to another.
(I certainly would not want to piss her off!!)