I picked this book out of the library on a whim. I’m always
on the lookout for a good autobiography and this one definitely qualifies as
that. Alison Arngrim played Nellie Oleson on the television series Little House
on the Prairie. Nellie Oleson as fans may remember was a spoiled selfish child,
the great nemesis of the show’s main character Laura Ingalls. Over the 7 year
span of the show, fans watched as Nellie, Laura, Mary, and the rest of the cast
grew up. Being nosy and not content to leave it at that, I had to check out
this book to go along with my review of the first five Little House on the
Prairie books.
The book starts out, where most autobiographies do, with a
bit of background about Alison Arngrim’s family. Originally from Canada , both
her parents were in show biz. Her mom played a slew of cartoon characters and
happily preformed for Alison’s school friends whenever she was asked. Her father
was a talent manager, not many of his clients were mentioned except for
Liberace but I gather he was moderately successful. Her older brother was in
television as a child but as he reached his teenage years was deemed too old
and rebellious to get many or any jobs. As a result of her parents’ busy
schedules, Alison was left home much of the time with her brother who took his
frustrations out on his little sister in the form of beatings and, later, rapes
and molestation. She figured working would get her out of the house and away
from the abuse so she started going to auditions and finally landed the gig as
Nellie Oleson. From there, she made friends with some of the other cast members
and was out from under the thumb of her brother and his friends. There is more
gossip and behind the scenes info about all the cast and goings on until the
show ended. There are also quite a few stories about her friendships with
various cast members after the show ended. The last part of the book dealt with
her future after the show. How she dealt with the repercussions of her abuse
and the death of her best friend from AIDs, was perhaps the most moving part of
the book. She has used her fame to become a great advocate against child abuse
and for helping AIDs patients.
I really enjoyed reading this book. There was a perfect
mixture of humor and drama. I always like to hear about stars doing well or
people actually coping with their demons instead of using them as an excuse for
acting like a jerk. From what I’ve read about other biographies about the stars
of the same show, I’m not sure I’ll look into more of them. If I do, you’ll be
the first to know. More reviews, coming soon.
~Wolfe
