Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated by Alison Arngrim
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
It’s unlikely that anyone involved with “Little House on the Prairie” could give as entertaining, candid and ballsy behind-the-scenes glimpse of life on the prairie — and beyond — as Alison Arngrim, aka Nellie Oleson. From growing up with wildly eccentric parents to playing one of entertainment’s most notorious bitches and from traumatic childhood abuse to losing one of her closest friends to AIDS, Argrim found that the only way to survive was with a tough skin and wicked sense of humor. Therefore, her portrait of Hollywood is both unflinching and surprisingly affectionate. No, life on “Little House” wasn’t as squeaky-clean as you might imagine, but Arngrim holds fond memories of her seven seasons on the show. Her insight into production will be fascinating to anyone who watched the program with any regularity, especially when she dishes about the strong personalities of her fellow cast-mates and their off-screen antics while managing to be both honest and respectful.
Still, it’s in her chapters about life before and after “Little House” that you really get a sense of what makes Arngrim tick. This is a woman who has been through a lot — and done even more — in her 40-something years. Actress, comedian, activist, stand-up comic…Arngrim wears many hats, and each of them gets its time in the spotlight in this book. Fortunately for us she now wears the hat of an author, as her style is easy-to-read and completely relatable. There are many lessons to be learned in this book, and for me the biggest is that if you want to get through life with your humor, self-respect and sanity intact, you’ve gotta get in touch with your inner bitch.
She was brilliant on the show, no? And from all accounts, Alison Arngrim is an incredibly generous, witty and kind person in real life, which makes her performance on “Little House” all the more incredible.
I remember Nellie Olsen as being the rich girl in town but she was Little House on the Praire’s wicked witch. Her acting was so good that she’s probably a witch in real life!