Don't know why but I have been in full on nostalgia mode lately, everything reminds me of yesteryear and has that hazy film of softness like you see in flashbacks in movies. Maybe it's cause my nephews are all having birthdays and making their own memories, or maybe 'cause I get to see the whole clan next week (more on that awesomeness in a later post), or maybe it's Netflix and all the old school shows and movies I used to watch as a kid, or possibly it's because of books like this Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I survived Nellie Olsen and Learned to Love Being Hated. This is a memoir by Alison Arngrim who play Nellie Olsen on Little House on the Prairie. I picked this book up for many reasons, one being I love the books, to this day they still hold a place of honor on my all time favorites shelf. Two I grew up watching the TV show and forcing my siblings and most of my friends to reneact it (with certain amendments as I saw fit of course) on a very regular basis. Three, I have always adored the character of Nellie Olsen, I don't know if it is because I started reading so young, but I have always understood that a story is only as good as its conflict, and the main conflict in Little House tv series was Nellie.
Alison Arngrim has a fantastic tone to her writing. She covers a lot of ground in this book, everything from her parents origins all the way to the present day. She is the daughter of a formerly closeted gay stage actor and a glamorous character voice actress, who roles included the voice of Gumby...yep that creepy green claymation dude. Alison also has an older brother who was a brooding child actor who never really got it all together. Ms. Arngrim takes us through her young years, growing up and moving around constantly. Landing the role of Nellie Olsen on the TV series, her amazing friendship with Melissa Gilbert who played Laura Ingalls and all of the funny, frustrating, sad and silly stories of what it is like growing up on a television show. She talks about how playing a hated bratty villian forced her to come out of her shell and taught her how to deal with other people. The role gave her the freedom to not have to constantly portray the idea of a sweet tractable girl as so many others had to do during that time period. Alison seems to be able to find the humor in almost any situation and seems to recall the feelings of witnessing all kinds of events and scenarios as a child, comparing and contrasting how she felt then with the knowledge and understanding of a child, with what she knows now as an adult. She also does not shy away from hard issues. She tells us early on that she was horribly abused by her brother, and could not ever get anybody to believe her. This spurs her on in adult hood to try and promote the striking down of laws and loopholes that are written into most state legislation that actually use incest as a way to LESSEN the penelties given to a sex offender. Yep if the
molestation is done in the context of incest is was considered a lesser crime then if some child was molested by a stranger...seriously no words. This was on the books in California and was vehemently defended until 2005!!!!! This only changed when Ms. Arngrim was brave enough to go on national television and tell her story and essentially shame the legislators into changing the law. She also does a lot of work with various AIDS groups. She has lost dear friends to the disease and works on promoting knowledge, care and help for people suffering and the general public to become more informed. She is married to a fellow AIDS volunteer and at there wedding everybody wore tuxedos, bare feet and black toenail polish, how awesome is that. She embraces her most famous role as the bratty Nellie Olsen, allowing fans to talk, scream, yell, cry or whatever at her, all in the name of defending there heroine Laura Ingalls. Alison has turned all the bizzarness surrounding peoples reactions to her into a stand up comic show that does quit well. All in all she seems to be a trooper who knows how to take hard situations and turn them into a way to make life better for herself and others.
I really enjoyed reading this book, it went by pretty quickly the pacing is spot on. She spends about 2/3 of the book talking about her Little House years, which is what people want to hear about. There is a good mix of on set stories, personal information, facts, feelings, assumptions and a fair amount of well placed profanity. To me the mark of a well written memoir or biography is one where I would like to meet the person after I
have finished reading it. After this book I want to invite Alsion Arngrim over for a couple bottles of wine and a slumber party :-) This brought back some happy memories, and reminded me that no matter how good or bad the past was, the only good option is to move forward. I would recommend this book to anybody who has ever seen even one episode of Little House on the Prairie, needs a good laugh, wants a child actors insiders perspective on Hollywood, or is interested in activism...and doesn't mind a bit of swearing. I give this book 8 out of 10 horse and buggies.
What type of memoir/biographies do you like to read? Does learning about your favorite character as an actor make the character better or worse for you? How weird is it to read a book about a tv show about a book?
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