Memoir of a man’s exploits, mistakes and bad decisions

Anybody can write a memoir. Everyone has a story, after all. But would you write one that makes you look bad?

Steve Friedman does just that in his new book, “Lost on Treasure Island: A Memoir of Longing, Love and Lousy Choices in New York City.’’ The memoir begins when he’s moving to Manhattan for an editing job at GQ.

What follows is a funny but depressing chronicle of his efforts to find “Mrs. F.’’ Nothing seems beneath him. He sleeps with “PR junior powerhouses’’ who want their product mentioned in the magazine. He even attends “meetings’’ to pick up vulnerable women.

Friedman does learn a thing or two along the way - like how to score free trips and cruises in the interest of filling pages.

But he never lets himself get too introspective. Moments of clarity or insight soon give way to the next lousy choice. Perhaps he thought it would make for a lousy read if he bared too much of his soul. What we get is a memoir filled with funny characters and anecdotes that leaves us wondering what the writer learned about life.

AP