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    Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated
    Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated
    Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated
    Audiobook9 hours

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

    Written by Alison Arngrim

    Narrated by Alison Arngrim

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Confessions of a Prairie Bitch is Alison Arngrim's comic memoir of growing up as one of television's most memorable characters-the devious Nellie Oleson on the hit television show Little House on the Prairie. With behind-the-scenes stories from the set, as well as tales from her bohemian upbringing in West Hollywood and her headline-making advocacy work on behalf of HIV awareness and abused children, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch is a must for fans of everything Little House: the classic television series and its many stars like Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert; Gilbert's bestselling memoir Prairie Tale; and, of course, the beloved series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder that started it all.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateNov 7, 2017
    ISBN9781541482210
    Author

    Alison Arngrim

    Alison Arngrim starred as Nellie Oleson for seven years on the TV series Little House on the Prairie. She also guest-starred on The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and the NBC movie of the week I Married Wyatt Earp. She has appeared in numerous films and plays, and her stand up comedy show, "Confessions of a Prairie Bitch," has become a worldwide phenomenon. Arngrim also volunteers for nonprofit organizations such as AIDS Project Los Angeles and the National Association to Protect Children. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband.

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    Reviews for Confessions of a Prairie Bitch

    4.5/5

    327 ratings50 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I enjoyed this book, I had no expectations what it was going to be other than stories behind LHOTP. Alison Arngrim talks about her past, she traveled a very difficult highway for such a young person. She is a very smart person and did not let her past define who she is and who she is going to be. Her frank approach to life and it’s situations is very pragmatic and inspirational, if I may say also entertaining (not the bad things she went thru) but how she figured it out in her young head. Her sense of humor, wit and irony make this book go way to fast and this reader was sad that it was over. Thank you Alison for talking about your past it gave me strength to address things that happened to me in my childhood. I did not feel alone after reading your book, thank you for your courage. Please write another book. Thank you for all your work with organizations and charities.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Delightful book. Good sense of humor. She is now my favorite Little House character. She overcame so much!
    • 5/5
      This was the best audiobook I've ever listened to. Alison is a genius and her delivery on this book is mesmerizing!!!
    • 5/5
      Full of heart and humor! I love getting to know Alison.
    • 3/5
      For the type of book it is, Arngrim's is one of the better ones. She has a fairly interesting story to tell, and she is not afraid to open up. I read Melissa Gilbert's and Melissa Sue Anderson's memoir around the same time as this one, and Arngrim's is by far the best. The title is great, but I don't think she really follows through with it: this book is more a memoir of the show and Arngrim's personal struggles...in the end, both peter out.
    • 5/5
      Reason for Reading: I'm a big fan of LHOTP. I read Melissa Gilbert's memoir and was anxious to find out more and very excited when I saw Alison had a book out.Alison Arngrim's narrative is a pleasure to read. Just by reading the title we get a glimpse of what kind of attitude we can expect to find inside the covers. Arngrim is also a stand-up comedienne and with that knowledge it explains the easy going narrative style full of humour that made this book such a fun read.Alison starts by telling of her childhood, brought up in an unconventional family, and of her s*xual abuse by her older brother. The meat of the book, though, concerns her life growing up on the Prairie and she provides fans with what was so sadly lacking in Melissa Gilbert's book. We get a behind the scenes look at the filming and the actors. Alison is funny and no holds barred without being catty or dishing dirt. Yes, she tells what people were really like, if they were generally not liked she says so. She has many funny and sometimes just strange anecdotes to relate about the seven years she played Nellie Oleson. I really appreciated her tone. She talked about every major character on the show, all the children, and the adults that Nellie would typically have scenes with. So unfortunately Mr. Edwards, one of my favourites, was only mentioned briefly in passing. I was thrilled that Alison spoke of Jonathan Gilbert frequently and so fondly since Melissa had reduced him to a few sentences in the middle of her book. Melissa Sue Anderson gets the short end of the stick as worst personality on the show. Mary was always my favourite and I was startled that Melissa mentioned her in passing only three times in her book. Alison refers to her many more times and while never being mean or nasty does relate many instances which let us know why she was not fond of her and she outs Gilbert's opinions of her as well. I would love Melissa Sue's view of this but apparently her book doesn't address any of this and is getting bad reviews so I'm not sure if I'll read it or not, at this point. The Little House cast were Arngrim's family and when she left the show she felt a real sense of loss without them in her day-to-day life. She and Melissa Gilbert became great friends on the show and remain so to this day.The memoir then ends up with Alison's life after the Prairie. Going on to her activism for AIDS, her two marriages (the second which has been successful) and her determined and relentless campaign on changing the laws on incest which at the time gave those perpetrators a loophole of not having to do any prison time. This involved her having to go public with her abuse on the Larry King show in 2004.A very satisfying read. I always have a nonfiction book on the go and usually read a chapter, perhaps two, at night before settling in to read my current novel. But Confessions was written in such an easy, fun, narrative style that I couldn't put it down after two chapters and read it as quickly as a novel. A great insider's peek behind the scenes of the filming and especially the personalities who made up The Little House on the Prairie.
    • 4/5
      She is a great Story telling. It also has a fun time line to follow.
    • 5/5
      Takes a little while to get into, but deffinitely worth reading if you enjoy Little House!
    • 1/5
      She is not humorous in any way. But was cool to hear the goings on of Little House.
    • 3/5
      I see that others were wildly entertained by this biography, but for me it was extremely hit and miss, and easily put down and forgotten. The young woman who played arch-villain Nellie Oleson in the long-running TV series Little House on the Prairie seems to have been a level-headed kid who grew into a sensible woman, which is saying something given the drug culture that seems to be part of being a young star in Hollywood. It is also surprising how much common sense she seems to have had, given her parents' incredibly lax supervision of her life and work. However, I didn't have fun with the book, and I only skimmed the last couple of chapters as I wanted to be done with it. A shame; I was hoping to like it more.
    • 5/5
      I love memoirs, but I never would have believed this would be so entertaining and uplifting. Although there are some upsetting details of sexual abuse, the author’s incredible strength and humor is incredibly powerful. I was laughing out loud throughout this book. Highly recommend.
    • 5/5
      One of best narrations ever. I fully enjoyed this listen!
    • 5/5
      Before I start, just a tip - do yourself a favor and listen to the audiobook narrated by Alison! It adds so much to the story.

      Alison tells her entire life story from her parent's history, through her life at home which is terrible to say the least, through her time at Little House and after. She continues telling the story of her friendship with her Little House husband and his subsequent death. She also discusses Michael Landon's death and the impact it had on her.

      There are so many behind the scenes stories that any Little House on the Prairie fan will be in love. I found myself knowing exactly what episodes were being discussed and laughed when little tidbits of information were shared. I knew this book was going to be good but I was unprepared for how emotional and revealing it is.
    • 4/5
      Well this is way more entertaining than I would have thought possible from a memoir by an actress who played a second tier character on a TV show in the '70s. Arngrim has a dark, caustic wit which she applies liberally to herself, her family and her castmates. She shares dark secrets and set gossip but leavens it all with a positive tone and outlook. Sure, Melissa Sue Anderson becomes the butt of a running joke and her brother is deservedly castigated, but Arngrim never crosses over into the realm of sheer cruelty practiced by the character she is famous for playing.

      Best LOL revelation of the book: the reason Jonathan Gilbert only read the pages of the Little House scripts with his lines.
    • 3/5
      Enjoyed it!
    • 4/5
      Arngrim doesn't hold back when she recounts her years on 'Little House' and everything in-between. With behind the scenes photos and tidbits, you don't need to be a fan of 'Little House' to enjoy the book.
      '
    • 5/5
      If you ever watched Little House on the Prairie, you know Nellie Oleson. I never hated her like many friends did (oh how they hated her with a burning passion!) but I could see why she was hated. To me she just seemed sad - it was obvious Laura had the hearts of the village, and the full support of her family, so Nellie wasn't really a worry to her, just an annoyance.

      Alison's life before, during and after Little House is quite astonishing. I'm just amazed by the lack of parental behavior by so many parents in the Hollywood / acting / theater world - but I guess they're everywhere, we just don't read about them as their children don't get to ack on Little House on the Prairie! :) Alison writes candidly about so many subjects, and tells all the stuff I like to hear - details on the logistics of a day on the set, why things happened, who made what decisions, what people were really like - even the people she doesn't like, she gives second and third chances to and tries to find the good in them. She's honest about herself and her actions, and her revelations about herself are fascinating to witness.

      I read this book all in one sitting, staying up until 4am. I truly did not see the hours passing - started it as a little something to read before sleeping, and next thing I knew, the birds were chirping their moning song. Oops. But what a recommendation, eh?
    • 4/5
      I'm quite embarrassed to have read and enjoyed this memoir, but I'm not sure why. It's a terrific, clear-eyed account by a non-addicted Hollywood-bred kid who made good in the end.
    • 4/5
      Wildly entertaining. I would love to have a beer with this woman.
    • 3/5
      Alison Arngrim played Nellie Oleson on TV's Little House on the Prairie. In this memoir, she recounts her early family life, life on the set and how the two intertwined. The lessons her character taught her about life have served her well.
    • 5/5
      Really a top-notch biography for someone who hasn't had a published book. She is a storyteller and unafraid to expose the dark parts of her history, because not to do so would create a jumbled piece of prose. There were a few errors: she paints her brother as being much, much older than her (a teenager when she was 6 when in later chapters she would say that he was only 6 years older than her) and she remembers episodes in different order but those are minor. I would have enjoyed this biography even if I had never heard of Nellie Oleson.

      Reading this and Melissa Anderson's book back-to-back was really illuminating. Melissa's doesn't come close. They may as well have been working on different TV shows. With Alison you get the picture that she accepted the fact that her role as Nellie Oleson may have held her back from other jobs and decided to make it the best thing that happened to her in her life. And as a fan, isn't that what you want to hear? So much nicer than those actors who mumble about being typecast and disappear in a black cloud of despair.

      Also important in Alison's book is the work she did for the AIDS movement and in changing the law in California to afford more protection for children who were sexually abused by family members. She is truly someone to emulate.
    • 4/5
      Alison Arngrim played Nellie, the mean classmate of Laura's on Little House on the Prairie. She was born to Canadian parents, both in the industry. Her father was gay and her older brother sexually abused her. When she was 11, she got the part of Nellie and her life changed. This was really good. Alison talked about her life before and after Little House, and also had plenty of stories about the show and the people behind the scenes. It turns out she and Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura, were great friends. Alison later did some stand-up comedy, so she brings humour into her book, as well. I really enjoyed this. Now I might have to check out bios of some of the other Little House actors, as well.
    • 4/5
      I thought this was a really quick read. It stops short of truly enjoyable because frankly Alison Arngrim's life was no picnic. I enjoyed all the gossip about Little House on the Prarie. It is very conversational in tone and she is a person who has a really big personality so as I read her version of how things were on the set I always was wondering whether much of it was amped up for dramatic effect or not. In anycase - she has a very interesting story to tell and as a long time fan of Little House - I whizzed through it.Recommended to fans of the show.
    • 4/5
      Someone was talking about this book on Twitter the other day and I suddenly remembered I actually had a copy on my Nook. My mom had read it and said she thought I'd enjoy it a while back but I never got around to reading it until now.

      When I was a kid I was a big fan of Little House but honestly would have never read this on my own if Mom hadn't suggested it. I'm glad I did - it's well written, quite funny in parts, touching in others and sad as well. Alison Arngrim had a rough childhood and she talks about it quite frankly here. She also talks about her years as Nellie Oleson and what it was like to grow up on television.

      I read this in a few hours, it's an easy, interesting and enjoyable read. If you're a fan of Little House on the Prairie I'd recommend it. :)
    • 4/5
      Growing up, I wasn't a huge fan of "Little House", even though I was exactly in the aimed-for demographic. I thought Michael Landon was a bit smarmy (and beardless, worse yet!) and the show took waaay too many liberties with the books. (I was a picky purist, even then.) I stopped watching even sporadically when Mary got married. Let's face it, Mary's life was over when she lost her sight--even Laura said towards the end of her life that their parents never got over the tragedy--and she spent the rest of her days tatting lace and beading vases in the front parlor. I think Landon could have given his audience a bit of hard-nosed frontier reality--but he chose not to do so. Ahem. Well, since this is not supposed to be a critique of Michael Landon's choices as a producer and director but rather of Alison Arngrim's autobiography--let's just say I was in the "loved Nellie" camp. She was the only thing that made the show bearable and kept it from being so sticky-sweet that you could have distilled it and poured it into a humming-bird feeder. Long live Nellie! I used to turn the TV off when I saw that it was going to be a Nellie-less episode.

      Even though I had fond memories of Alison Arngrim's sneering performances, I hesitated picking up her autobiography. Oh, boy. Yet another washed-up child actor's reminiscences of a long-off-the-air TV show. Could anything be more pathetic? Added to this were the allegations of sexual abuse by her brother. Was it just a sensationalistic ploy to get people to read her book? I decided to give it a try anyway, since it had been recommended to me, and it seemed the type of frivolous read of which I don't do enough. Besides, everyone needs a bag of Doritos once in a while.

      Well, it did turn out to be more than that. Arngrim's book is both snappily and thoughtfully written. Yes, it did have those fun "fast-food" sort of anecdotes that makes people keep turning the pages. Here's her first encounter in the make-up trailor with Melissa Gilbert:

      "....she looked as if she might fit into my purse-and could chew her way out if she had to...then came her stern warning, delivered with the intensity of an Edward G. Robinson in the vocal range of Shirley Temple. 'And whatever you do, you watch out for that Melissa Sue Anderson. She's evil and I hate her.'...it was as if we were suddenly in the middle of a really bad prison movie with an all-midget cast. We had just been told to 'watch our backs' by someone who looked like a talking Hobby Holly Doll."


      Well, did it actually happen that way? Who knows--one would like to think so, though perhaps there was a bit of dramatic embellishment. And of course, she has plenty to say about the underwear-forgoing Michael Landon and the rest of the cast.(Michael Landon's words on the increasingly divergent-from-the book plot lines: "Have you ever read those books? There's a whole chapter on frying an apple fritter! I can't film frying an apple fritter!") Plus there are some wonderful sketches of the crew and make-up artists, which was actually my favorite part of the book.All this is delivered in a tone that is a bit gossipy yet not mean-spirited; time has given her enough distance to give her some perspective without reducing it to mellow haze.

      Arngrim extends the same sharp, yet clear-eyed regard to her benevolently neglectful parents and her older brother. She gives enough detail on her brother's six years of sexual assaults so that you feel you understand what she went through without feeling like a voyeur. And she's refreshingly candid on using her type-casting to work to her advantage on her work for AIDS and child protection charities.

      "Survivor" is a tired word that is used too often, especially for this sort of Hollywood biography. Yet if anyone personifies being able to overcome the odds, it is Alison Arngrim. Here's hoping she can continue a productive and meaningful life. Recommended for anyone curious about reading a well-written account of an unusual childhood and beyond--and not just for "Little House" fans.
    • 5/5
      Highly Entertaining and InformativeThis is by far one of the most interesting memoirs I have ever read. Candid recollections are presented in a down-to-earth, informative, and amusing manner. I could scarcely stand to put this down – a definite page-turner for me.Fun StoriesThe differences between her real life and the one she portrayed on the series are many. Remembrances of her friendship with Melissa Gilbert are quite enjoyable. Especially funny is her anecdote about the two of them buying BabaRums, a special kind of snack available at the time.Growing UpHer mother was involved in voice acting, and it is fun to learn which voices she performed. I always love to see how people, places, and things are connected in ways that you would never expect. She and her family moved around a lot. It is fascinating to learn about the various places and people she met along the way, such as the times they spent living at the Chateau Marmont, and her friendship with Christine Jorgensen.Michael Landon and Melissa Sue AndersonHer stories of working with Michael Landon are insightful and provide perspective as to what it was really like. As with anyone, there are good aspects, as well as trying ones. She talks about the difficulties she encountered during her attempts to be friendly with Melissa Sue Anderson. While she expresses some frustration, it seems justified and does not feel unfairly critical. She notes that she will gladly sponsor the “first pitcher of margaritas” if Melissa Sue Anderson ever decides she wants to be friends.TV husband, Steve TracyRecollections of her friendship with Steve Tracy, her television husband from the series, are touching. Her activism in promoting needed law changes for child abuse victims, as well as AIDS awareness, is commendable. There is much more that could be said about her memoir, but your time is better spent actually reading her account.In ClosingI whole-heartedly recommend this book. It does not disappoint. The experience feels like a long, enjoyable conversation with a friend.
    • 4/5
      Wonderful book! Alison tells a great story, all true. Even if you aren't a Little House fan you should read this!
    • 4/5
      Very enjoyable read. I read it in an afternoon. Alison is very engaging and interesting and it's admirable how she overcame her childhood abuse and has become a child advocate.
    • 4/5
      This book was a quick read, full of fun Little House tidbits and a fair amount of gossip. I love Nellie, love Alison Arngrim and want to be friends with both!
    • 5/5
      This was a very entertaining book to read! It was a nice little insight into the author's life as a child actress and basically life in Hollywood in general. She is a really good writer and funny too. She also covers the topic of child sexual abuse and incest with tact. I really enjoyed this book.