It isn't all Fairy dust...... Or Prairie dust....... (Prairie Tale - Melissa Gilbert)

Member Name: rune_tune

Product:	Prairie Tale - Melissa Gilbert
Date:	21/07/09 (47 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A good insight in to how different public perspection and reality can be

Disadvantages: Publishers made the mistake of leaving 100 pages out. Feel the book suffered because of that

It isn't all Fairy dust...... Or Prairie dust.......


I admit, I've thought long and hard about doing this review for personal reasons. The personal reason is (and I'm not name dropping here honestly) I actually know Melissa personally and don't see her as a well-known actress - but Melissa the person. At the end of the book, my partner's name appears in the acknowledgements, which we both find strange...... and unexpected - we had no idea until our copy arrived this week.

Therefore I've read this from perhaps a completely different perspective, having known Melissa now for around 7 years, and while she is best known as Laura Ingles in Little House on the Prairie - I was never a big fan of the show (the shame).
But I felt that I should approach it in the same way as I do all my reviews, and perhaps add some additional insight in to why Melissa has written the book now as well as some of the process it took to get it published.

~ So just who is Melissa? ~

Well, by her own admission, she's like most grown up women - a wife, mother etc, but added to that, also someone who is well known as an actress. She is best known in the USA for her role as Laura Ingles in Little House on the Prairie, and other TV movies, and she also is known here in the UK but perhaps not quite as well.
She is married to Bruce Boxleitner (Actor), has two of her own children (Dakota - with her first husband Bo, and Michael - Bruce is his father) as well as two stepsons.
She is also now involved in the Children's Hospice Organization in the USA and was formally the president of SAG (a little like our Bafta/Equity rolled in to one).
She is now 45, and lives in L.A.
Melissa also has a younger half sister (Sara Gilbert, best known for her role in Roseanne) and a brother Jonathon who is estranged from the family.

~ The book synopsis ~

This is a memoir (autobiography). As mentioned, Melissa is an actress, who grew up in L.A just as the next generation 'brat pack' (I consider there was only one true brat pack but the media latched on to that name, so I'm using it here) was starting out with their careers. The book basically tells of her early years, how she was adopted, as well as her time with Rob Lowe (before he became famous, and then subsequently the troubles his fame brought). She also shares her drive to find her biological parents.
Melissa has struggled with drugs and alcohol (alcohol being a particular problem and one she only gave up fully 5 years ago) and she tells all unashamedly in this book.
She had a miscarriage, and a further unplanned pregnancy (Dakota) with her then husband Bo Brinkman.

She shares the struggle she had when she became pregnant with Michael and his early arrival having married Bruce Boxleitner, and how a woman who was fixated with Bruce and tapped Melissa's phone conversations stalked them.
She fought a 3-year battle with The National Enquirer over stories they wrote about her (and she believes the stress of this was one reason she went in to Labour early with Michael).
She now campaigns vigorously for the support and care of children with life threatening illnesses in the USA.

~ So thoughts about it all? ~

First, Melissa's drive to write the book isn't because of money or more attention, but to try and show that it is possible to overcome hurdles, and that her life isn't all about the idyllic upbringing people saw on TV, because as she puts it in the book:
"I still get letters from women whose lives were and often still are truly horrible, victims of physical and sexual abuse. These women say the one escape they had growing up was 'Little House on the Prairie.' They wished they had Laura Ingalls Wilder's life the way I played her.
"What I don't ever tell them is that I'm also among those who wish I had Laura's life the way I played her."
She has also said if the book just helps one person - that's all she wants from it. Now from some people this might sound all a bit crass, but knowing Melissa - I know this isn't the case and a genuine and heartfelt reason for her to write this book.

The book doesn't follow a strict pattern in terms of time frames - The first chapter begins when her mother arrives with some mementos she has saved and she places the box on Melissa's table, telling her its all "for her book."
We do though keep a loose timetable that then follows Melissa's early life, through to her current status including her starring role in Little House The musical (she begins a tour of the US and Canada later this year). It also shares her role as a mother, wife and advocate for the Childrens Hospice Organization - she tells of a statistic that 92% of children in the USA die in uncontrolled pain! She hopes this year (at least in California) because of their campaigning that a new law will reduce this number.
She talks candidly about her relationship with Michael Landon, and how he also battled demons of alcohol, unbeknown to her at the time.

Melissa has got a great sense of humour (honestly she does), and this does come across in her writing. She also doesn't hold back in some of her language (she did warn people in advance the book was of a more adult nature and certainly not suitable for children to read). Unfortunately there are still those who believe she is right there on a pedestal and expect her to be Laura Ingles - she really is damned if she does, damned if she doesn't at times (I remember when she had a part in the series Nip Tuck - some fans were totally outraged, even though she had again forewarned them on her website that it was as far from Little House as you could get, and that she was doing her job).

Melissa is totally honest in her life, acknowledging her own actions and mistakes when needed. She also talks about the people she has known, and while some might think she is name dropping (from Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise, to one brief mention of Michael Jackson)..... It was so much a part of her life that it comes across in a very natural and realistic way and doesn't feel forced. And of course, she and Bruce also have friends who aren't in the 'business' - who she also talks about in the same vein.

I don't ever feel it is pompous, far from it in fact, when you read it, I was amazed at how much Melissa had to deal with. Particularly the loss of her father (Paul Gilbert) when she was just 11 years old and the way her family dealt with it, which meant she didn't even go to the funeral. It's amazing she managed to keep off alcohol and drugs as long as she did (By her own admission, she was a late starter, and a dork as a teenager)!

It's also a healthy warning for any up and coming child star as to how your life might be.

The book isn't without its faults. Sometimes the timescales are a little sketchy and dialogue a little jumpy. But I also know that the publishers took out about a 100 pages - and I wonder how much better it might have been had Melissa been able to keep them in this time around, although as she said - it's a 100 pages already written for the next time!

~ Final thoughts and a couple of extras about it all ~

If you're interested in autobiographies, this is one book I would recommend. It isn't a taxing read, but it's interesting nonetheless. Melissa shows perseverance and honesty, which at times she might have otherwise been tempted to gloss over - but she doesn't.

She also didn't allow Bruce to read this book until it was published - and they sat down on her 45th Birthday this year, and she read it out loud to him, which he insisted on. Apparently there were numerous tears, as well as laughter as she did this.
She also spoke at length to Rob Lowe, and he had full access to the book that dealt with her relationship with him and so it is written with his knowledge, and acceptance.

Melissa has her own website (which she shares with husband Bruce). If you want to know more, you can check it out at:
http://www.gilbertboxleitner.com

I'm going to give it 4 out of 5 stars. I've knocked a star off because of the problems on occasion with timescales and dialogue - which is partly down to the publisher.

~ Where can you get it? ~

Unfortunately the stock is very limited in the UK - as far as we know (and I've asked Melissa and she doesn't know anymore than me) its available at Amazon UK for around £15-77 - in hardback.

# Hardcover: 384 pages
# Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment (9 Jun 2009)
# Language English
# ISBN-10: 1416599142
# ISBN-13: 978-1416599142

Summary: Melissa's life wasn't the idyllic upbringing she showed on LHOTP, and this is her story