Feathered Quill Book Reviews

 #Bookreview of One of the Boys

By: Lynn Lobban

Publisher: Palmetto Publishing

Publication Date: September 15, 2023

ISBN: 978-8-8229-1907-5

Reviewed by: Diane Lunsford

Review Date: May 29, 2026

In One of the Boys: Surviving Dartmouth, Family, and the Wilderness of Men, Lynn Lobban delivers a compelling memoir of her incredible life journey that includes becoming one of Dartmouth College’s first seven women in attendance in 1968.

Lynn Lobban had an extremely troubled childhood. Her redeeming quality was learning how to navigate the mine fields created by two severe alcoholic parents. Her story is a testament of strength and perseverance to overcome whatever obstacles she encountered along her way. She may have grown up in a privileged environment, but the aftermath of destruction from having been raised by parents with severe alcoholism didn’t keep her down. She went to Dartmouth College in 1968 and was one of its first women in attendance. Lynn often struggled to fit in and immersing herself into a campus of 3,000 men didn’t make such a challenge any easier. She pledged a fraternity and after navigating an abominable initiation, she became a full-fledged member.

Lynn not only coveted ‘male power,’ but she also needed male approval. Lynn details egregious accounts of her Dartmouth fraternity pledge experiences and is unafraid to pen the horrific and devastating dynamics of the family she grew up with. There is a sublime message throughout the memoir that details how she suppressed her traumatic childhood and rose like a Phoenix from the ashes. Overcoming the institutional injustice of a college that refused to accept her as an equal was perhaps her greatest achievement.

I applaud Ms. Lobban for the raw and unfiltered style she adopted to share her story. There are moments of shock and awe as much as there are heart-wrenching situations of blatant mental abuse from her parents: the two people who were supposed to be the ‘safe haven’ and protectors of her and her siblings. Her humor is palpable and it is a salve that provides the reader with a sense that Ms. Lobban is quite capable of overcoming most anything dealt her way. I applaud Ms. Lobban for her courage to not only write her memoir, but to write it with valor and integrity.

Quill says: One of the Boys: Surviving Dartmouth, Family, and the Wilderness of Men was written with intention and the nuance of ‘no victim’ is audible throughout this read.

For more information about One of the Boys: Surviving Dartmouth, Family, and the Wilderness of Men, please visit the author's website at: lynnlobban.com