The real Little House on the Prairie

[bluestreet]

www.themarysue.com/laura-ingalls-wilder-terrifying-memoir/

Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Gritty” Memoir Will Be Out This Fall, Sounds Historically Accurate And Deeply Upsetting

by Carolyn Cox

The Little House On The Prairie books have inspired a beloved television series, a musical, and my own unshakable belief that I’d be much happier living in a log cabin with Ma, Pa, Mary, and Laura. But book lovers may have to reassess some of their associations with the series: after decades of delays, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s memoir will be finally be published on November 15th, and it sounds horrifying.

Amy Lauters, an associate professor of mass media at Minnesota State, explained to the Christian Science Monitor what Pioneer Girl has in store, saying the book is

full of the everyday sorts of things that we don’t care to think about when we think about history [...] And it’s certainly not the fantasized version we saw on Little House on the Prairie the television show.
Pioneer Girl is reportedly so upsetting that Wilder couldn’t find a market for the memoir during her lifetime, instead using a censored version of her experiences to write the Little House series. The Christian Science Monitor describes some of the (horrifying) true events that will be featured in the autobiography:

The primary source includes scenes and characters that never appeared in the children’s book series. One notable group of characters presented to the public for the first time is the Masters family, who stayed with the Ingalls during the winter of 1880-1881 (the same winter featured in Wilder’s “The Long Winter”)[...] they are not portrayed flatteringly in “Pioneer Girl.” Also featured in the book are love triangles, domestic abuse, and even a drunk man who manages to set himself on fire.
If you’d like to learn more about the strange road with which Wilder’s memoir has come into posthumous publication to spoil our romantic delusions, The Pioneer Girl Project blog is an interesting read. To be clear, I’m happier than a bug in mud (that’s a prairie thing, right?) that the world is getting another book from Wilder—she obviously thought Pioneer Girl was an important story to tell, and there’s no shortage of romanticized Westerns glorifying white settlers. I’m just going to need a stiff drink throughout.

[WOT?*]

I think I'm rather looking forward to this book. I loved Little House growing up but it certainly *is* sanitized. I've gotten more bloodthirsty (er, understanding and appreciative of reality) as I've gotten older.

[IIOY]

I was a huge LHOTP fan as a kid, slavishly watching all the shows and reading all the books. The shows occasionally dipped into troubling territory but overall were pretty mellow.

Then, just two nights ago, I was reading a kids' version of a LHOTP book to my daughter (the first time I'd touched the series since I was a kid myself) and it suddenly occurred to me that there was no way any of it could be that breezy and conflict-free.

[tres3]

$35.95 on amazon.... hmmmm this better be better than Sweet Valley High Confidential. I still can't believe I got into a huge fight with my 6th grade BFF over SVH and who was going to check the book out of the library first....

[Miss Phryne Fisher]

YES I cannot wait.

[stephm0188]

I'm super excited to read it. I'm also curious to see how much the writing style differs.

[Miss Phryne Fisher]

Aug 23, 2014 9:55:51 GMT -5 stephm0188 said:

I'm super excited to read it. I'm also curious to see how much the writing style differs.

Me too...I know Rose's voice is in a lot of the LHOTP books so I am interested to see what the "real" LIW sounds like. 

Just an FYI for any Little House fans who haven't heard it, Episode 2 of The History Chicks is on Laura Ingalls Wilder. Really interesting podcast. There is a following minisode on the books. And the book The Wilder Life is really good. I really want to visit Rocky Ridge Farm. 

[sporky]

Definitely going on my Christmas list this year.

[bluestreet]

Aug 23, 2014 10:06:18 GMT -5 Miss Phryne Fisher said:

Aug 23, 2014 9:55:51 GMT -5 stephm0188 said:

I'm super excited to read it. I'm also curious to see how much the writing style differs.

Me too...I know Rose's voice is in a lot of the LHOTP books so I am interested to see what the "real" LIW sounds like. 

Just an FYI for any Little House fans who haven't heard it, Episode 2 of The History Chicks is on Laura Ingalls Wilder. Really interesting podcast. There is a following minisode on the books. And the book The Wilder Life is really good. I really want to visit Rocky Ridge Farm. 

Ooh, thanks! Will check out the podcast.

[taratru]

I am SO excited for this.

[Deleted]

I think I am going to make Vanity Cakes today.

[pixy0stix]

Why isn't there a kindle edition to buy? harumph.

[IIOY]

Aug 23, 2014 11:23:09 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

Well, I mean, the show itself was hardly sanitized so if it's like that... not shocking? I saw one episode a couple years ago where a circus owner got a young boy addicted to morphine then made him drink lye to burn his vocal cords so he couldn't scream or talk, then promoted him as a "wild boy".

Maybe Michael Landon had a copy of the memoir.

What? I don't remember this at all!  The only bad episode I remember was the rapist dude who wore a creepy mask and died when he fell in the barn.  I did give up on the show when the kids got a bit older, so I don't know if it got harsher, but all I remember was touchy-feely goodness and sap. Oh, and Michael Landon cried for one reason or another in every single episode.

[katfco]

Aug 23, 2014 17:06:12 GMT -5 toledo said:

Aug 23, 2014 16:53:49 GMT -5 IIOY said:

What? I don't remember this at all!  The only bad episode I remember was the rapist dude who wore a creepy mask and died when he fell in the barn.  I did give up on the show when the kids got a bit older, so I don't know if it got harsher, but all I remember was touchy-feely goodness and sap. Oh, and Michael Landon cried for one reason or another in every single episode.

Yeah, this was when Laura was still little.  The boy escaped and was hiding in their barn, and Laura found him.  (ETA: NEVAH MIND, I just realized I was conflating this one with an earlier episode.  The Wild Boy one had Manly in it, so it was later in the show.)

I can't wait to read this book.

I think you're thinking of Laura's neice, played by Shannon Doherty, who was a girl when she found the boy. It was in the last season. 

The rape one, called "Sylvia," was a bad one. The girl had been raped, and her father made her wrap her chest to avoid attention and then pretended it never happened. When she was found to be pregnant (by her rapist), they all thought it was Albert's (who didn't exist in real life or the books). At the end, the rapist attacked her again and she fell and died while trying to get away. 

The show was pretty edgy for a family show--it seemed like Pa was getting beaten up every other episode, plus they had how many plagues, people freezing to death and the like? 

I'm interested to know if it was the way of life that was harsher or their family life. 

[stephm0188]

Yeah. I've never seen an episode of the tv show. It doesn't sound very much like it followed the books though.

[eddy]

Best news evah

[Nonny]

This is exciting news. I wonder how long it is, because for $36 I want all the dirt! Did she call her mom out for being the manipulative meanie she appears to be in the books? If that's how Ma was portrayed in the family version of the books, how awful was she really.

[Miss Phryne Fisher]

Aug 23, 2014 18:05:05 GMT -5 Nonny said:

This is exciting news. I wonder how long it is, because for $36 I want all the dirt! Did she call her mom out for being the manipulative meanie she appears to be in the books? If that's how Ma was portrayed in the family version of the books, how awful was she really.

To be fair though, being married to a guy like Pa had to be tough. He never had success and they moved around A LOT. I am betting some of those moves were escaping from debt or other issues. 

[tres3]

my mother never let me watch the TV show. From the sounds of it it was a good call on her part

[starlily]

Did TWOP take down their forums entirely when they ceased operations? I can't seem to find them. Their thread on Little House was one of the best things ever. (pours one out)

[secretlyevil]

Aug 23, 2014 16:50:09 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Why isn't there a kindle edition to buy? harumph.

::kicks something::

[zelda25]

Aug 23, 2014 11:23:09 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

Well, I mean, the show itself was hardly sanitized so if it's like that... not shocking? I saw one episode a couple years ago where a circus owner got a young boy addicted to morphine then made him drink lye to burn his vocal cords so he couldn't scream or talk, then promoted him as a "wild boy".

Maybe Michael Landon had a copy of the memoir.

I also remember Albert being hooked on opium, and there was an episode in which Pa (and and another character I can't remember for sure) were trying to detox him. 

[secretlyevil]

This would make a good book club discussion I think.

[Miss Phryne Fisher]

Aug 23, 2014 19:23:43 GMT -5 zelda25 said:

Aug 23, 2014 11:23:09 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

Well, I mean, the show itself was hardly sanitized so if it's like that... not shocking? I saw one episode a couple years ago where a circus owner got a young boy addicted to morphine then made him drink lye to burn his vocal cords so he couldn't scream or talk, then promoted him as a "wild boy".

Maybe Michael Landon had a copy of the memoir.

I also remember Albert being hooked on opium, and there was an episode in which Pa (and and another character I can't remember for sure) were trying to detox him. 

Yea this was a big sticking point on the TWOP group (Ma, Pa and the Mime Who Raped Sylvia) 

Albert was hooked on opium in one two-parter, got clean, returned to WG as Dr. Albert Ingalls, per the voiceover.  
He also died of a blood disease as a teenager. 

This show was just all over the place, I am guessing ML did not have a copy of the memoir, just wanted to make it as soapy as possible. 

[katfco]

Aug 23, 2014 19:23:43 GMT -5 zelda25 said:

Aug 23, 2014 11:23:09 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

Well, I mean, the show itself was hardly sanitized so if it's like that... not shocking? I saw one episode a couple years ago where a circus owner got a young boy addicted to morphine then made him drink lye to burn his vocal cords so he couldn't scream or talk, then promoted him as a "wild boy".

Maybe Michael Landon had a copy of the memoir.

I also remember Albert being hooked on opium, and there was an episode in which Pa (and and another character I can't remember for sure) were trying to detox him. 

And then there's the orphanage fire. That one was really disturbing. They actually had a woman and baby burn to death. 

[Miss Phryne Fisher]

Aug 23, 2014 19:49:21 GMT -5 katfco said:

Aug 23, 2014 19:23:43 GMT -5 zelda25 said:

I also remember Albert being hooked on opium, and there was an episode in which Pa (and and another character I can't remember for sure) were trying to detox him. 

And then there's the orphanage fire. That one was really disturbing. They actually had a woman and baby burn to death. 

I was super relieved when I later found out Mary never really got married, never really had a baby, and that baby never died in a fire. That was a disturbing episode. 

[mcsangel2]

Dude, y'all know that the vast majority of the tv show episodes were not based on the Ingallses' lives, right? In fact, the one (two part) episode that I thought was the saddest, "The Lord is my Shepherd", about Laura's baby brother dying, DID happen, but it wasn't in the books. Same with Laura's son with Manly.

I read a biography of her that was written in the late 1970s. Really, between that, and rereading the LHOTP series as an adult....you can read between the lines and just imagine how awful a lot of it probably was.

[mcsangel2]

Aug 23, 2014 18:08:51 GMT -5 Miss Phryne Fisher said:

Aug 23, 2014 18:05:05 GMT -5 Nonny said:

This is exciting news. I wonder how long it is, because for $36 I want all the dirt! Did she call her mom out for being the manipulative meanie she appears to be in the books? If that's how Ma was portrayed in the family version of the books, how awful was she really.

To be fair though, being married to a guy like Pa had to be tough. He never had success and they moved around A LOT. I am betting some of those moves were escaping from debt or other issues. 

The more you reread them as an adult, the more these thoughts occur to you.

[Miss Phryne Fisher]

Aug 23, 2014 21:41:00 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Dude, y'all know that the vast majority of the tv show episodes were not based on the Ingallses' lives, right? In fact, the one (two part) episode that I thought was the saddest, "The Lord is my Shepherd", about Laura's baby brother dying, DID happen, but it wasn't in the books. Same with Laura's son with Manly.

I read a biography of her that was written in the late 1970s. Really, between that, and rereading the LHOTP series as an adult....you can read between the lines and just imagine how awful a lot of it probably was.

Laura's son was in the books. I was startled even as a kid how it was dealt with though. He got like, a sentence. As an adult I was even a bit more disturbed by it. I HATE how they dealt with it on the show though. And yes, I know almost all of the show is not from the books. Sad that there was really no Nellie and Percival though, I loved them :-) 

[penguingrrl]

I can't wait to read this. As a kid I idolized Laura Ingalls Wilder (in fact, in 2nd grade I wore my AG Kirsten dress to school at least once a week pretending I was her) and those books were my favorite. The TV show made me mad even little because it didn't follow the books closely enough.

That said, I've been rereading the books with my girls and said recently to my husband that they're much darker in tone as an adult. Pa was a shiftless type and it sounds like he was probably running from debtors or something and ma was downright bitchy (although if I was stuck for life with Pa I probably would be too).

I'll be really curious to see what life was really like instead of the whitewashed version of the story.