Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated, Author Alison Arngrim

Pink with Pleasure
Book Review
Jan Faris

Love the color pink and at times it can be a hazard; as all things pink can become overwhelming in ones life. My feet could not carry me fast enough to the display on the counter. The color had pulled me in hook, line and sinker once again. With my busy schedule, am not one to take the time to read often as it can be hard to fit in, but this one is a quick read with only 297 pages and it easily fit into my busy life.

From the first word to the last, I was totally immersed in Alison Arngrim’s world of candid honesty about a life which was far different than one would expect. Arngrim had me rolling with laughter one minute and crying the next! She kept me glued to the pages, waiting to find out what was going to happen next.

Confessions of a Prairie Bitch is a must read for an inside look into the world of Alison Arngrim and her alter ego, Nellie Oleson, in the struggle to overcome what would seem to most as insurmountable circumstances in her personal life and for being forever known as nasty Nellie.

With sprinkles of humor, fast wit and real life trauma (both hers and on set), Arngrim has learned to embrace the character she played and incorporate Nellie into her personal life beautifully. Her soul shines through and Arngrim states in the book…. “I owe it all to the bitch on the prairie.”

Were there Disappointments?

Arngrim alludes to the fact for seven years of working on the set with Melissa Sue Anderson all was not well at Little House on the Prarie. She does not divulge what the issues may have been between her and Anderson nor of Anderson’s differences with others on the set.

Arngrim was warned on the first day on the set by Melissa Gilbert (she played Laura) to beware of Anderson. Arngrim touches on a few possible reasons, but never really goes full-throttle into it like she does with the rest of her life

It left me wondering… was there was more to the story? Or, should Anderson have been the one playing Nellie?

What was Learned about Arngrim?  Despite:

Years of sexual rape by her brother

Learning her father was gay

Parents who seemed to turn a blind eye to just about everything going on around them

A mother who provided the voice of Casper the Ghost

We learn in Confessions of a Prairie Bitch how she turned any anger she may have had outward and with time the anger developed into an ability to help others, which allows her to keep her head held high. She stays true to herself and has learned to play the role of bitch with dignity.

Plus, through it all, she managed to snag a lifelong friend in Melissa Gilbert who authored Prairie Trail.

[Click Here to Read the Review of Prairie Trail by Melissa Gilbert]

Tagged Alison Arngrin, book review, boomer style magazine, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, Jan Faris, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Mary from Little House on the Prairie, Melissa Gilbert, Melissa Sue Anderson, Nellie Oleson, surviving incest